Cream-filled pastry tubes: From historical roots to home baking
For years, cream-filled pastry tubes have enjoyed unwavering popularity and can be found in many places, from large bakeries to unassuming stalls on the promenades of tourist towns. Few people know that making them is not difficult at all. You can make them at home; you must purchase the proper moulds.
Initially, the tubes were only covered with whipped cream, but soon, they began to be placed inside the pastries. Later, different fillings became popular, including fruit spreads and various creams. At the beginning of the 20th century, Maria Ochorowicz-Monatowa, a well-known culinary guide author, recommended making the tubes from puff pastry.
The prototype might be Sicilian cannoli
Cream-filled pastry tubes are not just a speciality in the United Kingdom. In Sicily, as early as the 10th century, cannoli were baked, crunchy pastries filled with cream made from ricotta cheese. In the Czech Republic, hořické trubičky, filled with cream of various flavours, has been popular for 200 years.
Traditional whipped cream works great as a filling for the tubes. Chilled heavy cream whipped with vanilla sugar gives the best result. Alternatively, you can fill the tubes with custard cream, whipped cream with mascarpone, or lemon curd.
Recipe for homemade cream-filled pastry tubes
Various types of dough can be used to make the tubes. At home, the best result is achieved by kneading semi-shortcrust dough based on wheat flour, cold butter, and sour cream. Below is a recipe for traditional tubes with whipped cream.
Ingredients
- 300 grams of cake flour,
- 200 grams of cold butter,
- 200 grams sour cream (18%),
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar,
- a pinch of salt,
- 200 millilitres heavy cream,
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar.
Instructions:
- Sift the flour into a bowl.
- Add cold, chopped butter, chilled sour cream, icing sugar, and a pinch of salt.
- Knead the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Then roll out the dough into a thin sheet, cut into strips about 1.5 centimetres wide.
- Wrap the dough strips around buttered metal moulds, brushing the edges with egg white.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius. When golden brown, remove and let cool.
- Whip the cream with vanilla sugar. Fill the baked tubes.
