Daring Bakers: Saint Honorè

When last month I've seen all around the internet a wonderful tower of chocolate crepes (something I'm dreaming/dreading to make since ages), I knew I wanted to be part of this exclusively club!!! So I've pulled some strings of well known V.I.P. food bloggers ;-) and the next day I was part of it... And just in time to discover the May challenge: Saint Honorè!!!!!!!!!
I run to the kitchen, looked at my husband and said: "I'm afraid! I have to make Saint Honorè!!!" He looked at me in disbelief while I was telling him the whole story, and he began to refer to us, Daring Bakers, as "the crazy people on the net that bake"... And at the end is what we are: find me somewhere else so many people that are all exited to bake, all together, from the same recipe, a Saint Honorè, and publishing it on the same day... Find me a "secret" place where all this people (and this month we are almost 50!), from all over the world, meet and chat about the making of one of the most known cake in the world, and put in the open if they made a mistake, if they had a bad time or a good time, and seek for help, advices, support... And they get all that!!!
I've made my Saint Honorè (the first and probably the last) the weekend after the under covering of the May challenge: I had some friends coming over to dinner, so I thought it was the best time to try something so scary!
I was honestly scared by the task, especially the decoration part of it, as I'm not much of a decorator...
Anyway, let's go back to the beginning...
I've decided, as the rules permit me to, to use ready made puff pastry: sorry, but puff pastry is one of the biggest fears I have in baking and I need more than that to get over it!
So, having already set the problem puff pastry, I could concentrate on the rest. I've already made cream puffs in the past, and that gave me to much confidence, and I screw the first batch, making the dough too liquid, so I made it again, and this time it turned out nicely...
The cream was ok, as I have my own way to make cooked cream (and sauces in general): I use a hand mixer directly in the cooking cream, so you can cook it for shorter time at high temperature, it doesn't stick to the bottom, and you don't have to keep stirring all the time...
The assembly was ok... Until I arrived to the caramel part...
I admit it: I'm a caramel challenge person... I'm afraid of it, I don't have a caramel thermometer, it just never caramelized in my hand...
Ok, I'm a bad daring baker: I've used my husband! He made caramel for me, and it was a wonderful caramel!!! All this while the pan I've used to make it in the first place was doomed in the limbo of caramel sticky pans...
The overall product was a success! They all loved it, they all eat it twice!
The cream was very very good, and while at the beginning I was a bit sceptic for the jelly, it was absolutely necessary, and I thing I will put jelly in other creams too from now on...
I'm so so happy to be part of the Daring Bakers: if it wasn't for you I would never made a Saint Honorè!
And now I can't wait to see what the June challenge will be!!!!!!!!!!!

Daring bakers rule and rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!