Honeycomb Cream Puff Cheesecake
Cream puffs are delicious and cheesecake is delicious, so why not combine the two and make a dessert that's doubly delicious?! Between its honeycomb graham cracker crust, homemade lemon honey cream puffs, creamy cheesecake filling, and the adorable fondant bees sitting on top, this honeycomb cream puff cheesecake is an absolute dream of a dessert. What better way to celebrate the coming of spring than with this bee-utiful treat?!
Equipment
- 7 inch springform pan
- Saucepan
- Piping bag
- culinary syringe
Ingredients
- 4 oz graham crackers crushed
- 0.25 stick butter softened
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 0.5 cup milk
- 0.5 cup water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 stick butter
- 1.25 cups flour
- 4 eggs
- 0.5 cup lemon juice
- 1.25 cups honey
- 1.5 tbsp low-sugar pectin
- 16 oz cream cheese
- 0.67 cup powdered sugar
- 4 cups whipped cream
- honey for decoration
- black & yellow fondant for decoration
- almond slices for decoration
Instructions
- Place a large piece of bubble wrap over the base of a 7-inch springform pan and fix the springform pan ring in place. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, softened butter, and honey, mix until smooth, and firmly press the mixture into the bubble wrap on the base of the springform pan.
- Bring the milk, water, sugar, salt, and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sift the flour and gradually stir it into the mixture. Continue stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the mixture cool. Fold in the eggs one at a time until a smooth choux pastry dough forms and then spoon the mixture into a piping bag. Pipe several cream puffs onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, transfer the baking tray to a preheated oven, and cook at 350°F for 25 minutes (do not open the oven while baking, otherwise the cream puffs will collapse). Remove the baking tray from the oven and let cool.
- Combine the lemon juice, honey, and low-sugar pectin in a large pot over medium heat and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool. Fill a culinary syringe or marinade injector with the lemon honey syrup, inject it into the cream puffs, and then arrange the filled cream puffs on top of the graham cracker crust in the springform pan.
- Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and fold in the whipped cream. Pour the cheesecake cream over the cream puffs in the springform pan, smooth out the top, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
- Place a flat serving platter on top of the springform pan, carefully flip the cake over, and remove the springform pan base and the bubble wrap. Remove the springform pan ring and frost the sides of the cake with the remaining cheesecake cream as needed. Drizzle honey over the graham cracker crust and decorate the top of the cake with edible bees made from black and yellow fondant and almond slices.