{"id":8270,"date":"2026-10-19T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8270"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:24","slug":"saint-honore","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/saint-honore\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint-Honor\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dry pastry, light choux, thin caramel and soft cream are combined in a single round cake. The Saint-Honor\u00e9 is a Parisian pastry that lets you enjoy these different textures all at once. Small choux are fixed with caramel around the edge of a flat base, and cream is piped into the center. It is a pastry shaped by successive refinements for piping soft cream decoratively and getting it to the table before the dry pastry turns soggy.<\/p>\n

From brioche to a base of puff pastry or p\u00e2te bris\u00e9e<\/h2>\n

At Chiboust’s shop on Rue Saint-Honor\u00e9 in 19th-century Paris, brioche filled with cream is said to have been made at first. Soft dough quickly turns soggy from the moisture in the filling. The form handed down as a revision by Auguste Julien, who worked at the shop, and his brothers combined choux with a flat base of puff pastry or p\u00e2te bris\u00e9e. Small choux came to be arranged around a dry base, with the cream mounded inside them.<\/p>\n

The “flan suisse” of Bordeaux also appears in this history. The story goes that Julien traveled to Toulouse and Bordeaux, made the pastry he brought back at Chiboust’s shop, and named it after the street. There is the year 1840, as reported in Lacam’s pastry book, and 1847, as presented by the Ministry of Agriculture and others, so accounts of when it originated differ. Along with the story of adopting a pastry found on his travels, an account of improving it with a base less prone to becoming soggy from the cream has also been handed down.<\/p>\n

A name from Rue Saint-Honor\u00e9 and the patron saint of bakers and pastry cooks<\/h2>\n

The pastry’s name is said to come from Rue Saint-Honor\u00e9, where the shop stood. Saint Honor\u00e9, who bears the same name, is the patron saint of bakers and pastry cooks, and a print depicting him is held in the collections of the Paris city museums. The pastry’s name thus has two connections: the shop’s location and the patron saint of its craftspeople.<\/p>\n

\n\"Homemade\n
A homemade Saint-Honor\u00e9 made and photographed by the author (August 23, 2026; location unknown). Caramel-coated small choux encircle the edge, and white cream is piped in the center. Photo: Daaisy \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Forming the ring with individual choux<\/h2>\n

In one method, when the flat base is baked, a ring of choux paste is piped around its outer edge and baked with it. In Chef Philippe’s chocolate Saint-Honor\u00e9, for example, choux paste is piped onto a sabl\u00e9 disk, and the bottoms of separately baked and filled small choux are attached with caramel to the cooled ring. It is a two-tier structure: a continuous baked ring below and individual small choux lined up on top of it. There are also methods that fix the small choux directly to a flat base such as puff pastry, so even when the appearance is similar, the way they are attached to the base differs. The outline of one large cake is created by the handwork of arranging small pastries.<\/p>\n

Coating the tops of the small choux with caramel forms a thin, hard, glossy layer on the surface. The cream inside, the dry shell and the caramel shell are each prepared at different temperatures and through different processes. After assembly, humidity and the moisture in the cream change the texture, so the timing of the finishing also has to be adjusted.<\/p>\n

Some current methods change the base to a sweet dough containing hazelnuts or use chantilly in the center. With these methods, too, the pastry absorbs moisture once it is combined with cream, so the texture changes depending on when it is finished.<\/p>\n

Using egg whites and gelatin to keep the cream’s shape<\/h2>\n

The cream has also changed according to the season and where it was sold. In an account traced from 19th-century pastry books by Herv\u00e9 This, who studies the mechanisms of cooking and historical documents, it is recorded that, because good cream was hard to obtain, especially in summer, part of it was replaced with egg whites to keep the cream firm, and gelatin was added for sale in shops. The name Chiboust, tied to a shop, is also the name of a cream whose formula has been changed according to the season and selling time.<\/p>\n

The Chiboust cream in the center combines meringue with a custard cooked from eggs and milk. It differs from chantilly, which is made of whipped cream alone, in the ingredient used to incorporate air.<\/p>\n

One recette (the formula of ingredients and the method) that combines Italian meringue with custard also adds gelatin to help it hold its shape. One-third of the hot milk is mixed into the yolk mixture, which is then returned to the pan; it is stirred for 2\u20133 minutes after coming to a boil, then taken off the heat and combined with butter and softened gelatin.<\/p>\n

For the meringue, the egg whites start being whipped when the sugar syrup reaches 110\u00b0C, and the syrup is poured in a thin stream at 121\u00b0C. Rather than leaving a finished foam to sit for long, the syrup’s temperature and the whipping are managed in parallel. When combining, one-third of the meringue is mixed thoroughly into the custard, and the rest is folded in with a spatula so as not to deflate the foam.<\/p>\n

When made with this formula, the cream is piped as soon as it is finished and then chilled. The stages follow one after another: cooking the custard, making the foam with sugar syrup, combining the two and shaping, which differs from methods in which the cream is chilled first and then piped.<\/p>\n

\n\"Saint-Honor\u00e9\n
A single-serving Saint-Honor\u00e9 (August 2010; location unknown). Choux are set on a small base and cream is piped high. Photo: Chatsam \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Piping the cream in folds with a special tip<\/h2>\n

The pastry bag holding the cream is sometimes fitted with a slit Saint-Honor\u00e9 tip. Its shape allows fan-like folds to be piped in the center. The chantilly piped in the center in late-19th-century methods and the Chiboust containing meringue may be piped in similar outlines, but their foam comes from different sources. Filling the gaps between the small choux around the edge and folding the cream in the center creates soft undulations on the flat base. When to fill the cream is also a question of the finished result, carried over from the sogginess of the early brioche.<\/p>\n

\n\"Saint-Honor\u00e9\n
Saint-Honor\u00e9 with chocolate from Au Croquant in Belgium (February 28, 2018; location unknown). The tops of the small choux are also finished in a deep chocolate color. Photo: Trougnouf \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Saint-Honor\u00e9s with cloud-shaped bases or plant-based ingredients<\/h2>\n

Puratos presents a variety of Saint-Honor\u00e9s with different bases and creams. Some combine a sweet base containing hazelnuts with choux filled with pralin\u00e9 cream and a vanilla cream, while others pipe chantilly onto laminated dough cut into a cloud shape. Today, the shape of the base varies as well.<\/p>\n

The company also presents a Saint-Honor\u00e9 in which the fats and cream are replaced with plant-based ingredients. It keeps the combination of the choux shape, hard caramel and soft cream while changing the ingredients. Even when they look similar, they differ in the type of cream, the pastry of the base and the filling of the choux.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Lacam<\/strong>: A 19th-century French pastry cook and author of pastry books. He recorded Julien’s travels and the history dating to 1840.<\/p>

Herv\u00e9 This<\/strong>: A French researcher who studies the mechanisms of cooking and historical documents. He examined how the creams appearing in pastry books changed over time.<\/p>

P\u00e2te bris\u00e9e<\/strong>: A dough made by mixing fat and other ingredients into flour and bringing it together, used for tart bases and the like.<\/p>

Chiboust<\/strong>: A cream that combines custard with meringue; also the Parisian pastry cook associated with the name.<\/p>

Auguste Julien<\/strong>: A pastry cook said to have worked at Chiboust’s shop and, after setting up on his own, to have revised the pastry’s base and outer ring.<\/p>

Saint Honor\u00e9<\/strong>: The patron saint of bakers and pastry cooks. A pastry shop stood on the street bearing his name.<\/p>

Saint-Honor\u00e9 tip<\/strong>: A piping tip with a slit on one side. It creates folded outlines in the central cream.<\/p>

Chantilly<\/strong>: Whipped cream with sugar or flavorings added.<\/p>

Italian meringue<\/strong>: A meringue made by pouring hot sugar syrup into beaten egg whites.<\/p>

Puratos<\/strong>: A company that supplies bakery and pastry ingredients and publishes example creations and recettes for professionals.<\/p>

Pralin\u00e9<\/strong>: A pastry ingredient made by heating nuts and sugar and then crushing them, among other steps.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Puratos, “St Honor\u00e9”<\/a> \u2014 The history as conveyed through an 1893 book; modern reinterpretations with a cloud shape, pralin\u00e9 and plant-based ingredients.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Valrhona, “Cr\u00e8mes utilis\u00e9es en p\u00e2tisserie”<\/a> \u2014 Definitions of Chiboust \/ Italian meringue and chantilly.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    L\u2019atelier des Chefs, “Cr\u00e8me Chiboust”<\/a> \u2014 Gelatin and temperatures, when to pour in the syrup, the full process through immediate piping. The 110\/121\u00b0C and the one-third mixing in the text are the conditions of this practical example.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    French Ministry of Agriculture, “Les secrets vanill\u00e9s du Saint-Honor\u00e9”<\/a> \u2014 The street and shop in 1847, the early brioche, Julien’s revision. It does not present the original shop’s ledgers.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Daniel Zenner, “Le Saint Honor\u00e9”<\/a> \u2014 Presents, from a late-19th-century cookbook in his collection, the early brioche and the Julien brothers’ change to choux. The original book itself was not examined this time. The detail of the relationship between Auguste alone (Ministry of Agriculture) and the brothers (this source) is not settled. Not used as proof that the name of the special tip was in use in 1847.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Paris Mus\u00e9es, “Saint Honor\u00e9 \/ Patron des Boulangers et P\u00e2tissiers”<\/a> \u2014 Iconography of him as patron saint. Not a record of the pastry’s invention.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Herv\u00e9 This, “Ne parlons plus de cr\u00e8me Chiboust,” May 10, 2022<\/a> \u2014 Research in the original texts on Lacam’s 1840, the flan suisse and Julien’s travels; changes involving egg whites and gelatin in line with the season and sales.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Chef Philippe: Saint-Honor\u00e9 au chocolat<\/a> \u2014 Steps 35\u201354 actually read in the directly retrieved HTML text. A structure in which a choux ring is baked on a sabl\u00e9 base and small choux are fixed on top of it with caramel. This does not mean the product description, video and images were all viewed in full.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Chef Philippe: Saint-Honor\u00e9 (2020)<\/a> \u2014 The published steps of a modern type that does not bake a ring into the base were actually read: a separately baked puff pastry base, large and small choux, attachment to the base, chantilly in the center.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Saint-Honor\u00e9 is not a cake made from a single dough. It is a French pastry that combines a flat base, small choux, caramel and cream, placing different textures around the edge and in the center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6632,"menu_order":25,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Saint-Honor\u00e9","subtitle":"Assembling a puff pastry base, small choux and cream","topics":"Laminated dough \/ Small choux \/ Cream and caramel","country":"France","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cream"],"texture":["moist"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[154],"class_list":["post-8270","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8267,8252,8253,8256,8261,8262,8263,8264]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t