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How do you amp up the sweet song of a petite French éclair, composed of cream and choux pastry? You extend the dessert to be four times the length and twice the width of the traditional éclair, then label the Australian-French creation an ‘eclairzilla’.
The inventor of the eclairzilla is : the French-born head chef and owner of Sydney’s patisserie/boulangerie. He's also a world-renowned pastry chef who’s gained nationwide fame for his broad éclair repertoire, featuring over 140 modern interpretations of the classic 19th century desert.
“I wanted to continue to push our standard éclair even further than I had done in the past,” says 37-year-old Scherrer. “I also wanted to make an éclair that was as long as possible – the size of my oven was the limit.”
Scherrer's creation, which launched in December 2019, spans 40 centimetres in length and eight centimetres in width. One eclairzilla politely feeds four-to-six people but if you’re really hungry (or determined), you can enjoy the entire beast of a dessert by yourself.
Owner of Clovelly's Madame and Yves, Yves Scherrer, with two of his eclairzilla creations: (L) strawberries and cream, and (R) chocolate and cream. Source: By Yasmin Noone
“Customers love it,” explains Scherrer, the former coach of the 2019 Australian Team in the World Pastry Cup. “It’s a great centrepiece that presents well on the table.”
Although the eclairzilla is unique, it manages to maintain the delicate beauty of a smaller éclair. Just like a traditional éclair, the choux pastry of Scherrer’s long desert is uniformly shaped into a hollow oblong and filled with cream. The long éclair finger also boasts a soft but slightly crunchy texture.
Of course, the eclairzilla has different dimensions to your standard chocolate éclair. It’s also topped with piped cream instead of silky chocolate.![“I wanted to continue to push our standard éclair even further... [and] make an éclair that was as long as possible – the size of my oven was the limit.”](https://images.sbs.com.au/drupal/food/public/eclairzilla.jpg?imwidth=1280)
“I wanted to continue to push our standard éclair even further... [and] make an éclair that was as long as possible – the size of my oven was the limit.” Source: By Yasmin Noone
A tasty beast of an eclair
The strawberries and cream variety is a decadent pastry achievement featuring whipped mascarpone chantilly, a dash of homemade raspberry marmalade, fresh strawberries and strawberry chocolate discs. Then there’s the chocolate and cream eclairzilla consisting of chocolate pastry cream and whipped mascarpone chantilly. It comes topped with a tempered chocolate swirl.
The last flavour of the trio is a salted caramel cookie eclairzilla. The choux pastry, filled with salted caramel, is enrobed in a chocolate glaze with almonds. It’s finished with mascarpone cream, chocolate ganache and Belgian chocolate chip cookie chunks.
As an added bonus, Scherrer also releases special eclairzillas flavours occasionally. In the past, a favourite has been his yuzu meringue made with yuzu curd, matcha soufflé sponge, hazelnut crunch and a marshmallow meringue. “Because of the scale of the éclair, I’m able to play even more with the potential flavours and presentations.”
Even though Scherrer’s eclairzilla differs from the customary smaller éclair, he believes the dessert is still very French.
“People could complain about an éclair moving away from French traditions if I made one with Vegemite. But the eclairzilla is still very much a French éclair.”
Indeed, the various components of the dish hits all the right French notes. The standout tune however is the choux pastry (also known as pȃte à choux), which is as traditional as they come. Scherrer first learned to make choux pastry as a child under the tutelage of his grandmother in the French region of Lorraine. His professional pastry-making skills have also been crafted over 20 years. That's why he perceives the long éclair to be "a refined dessert that uses traditional French cooking techniques".
“The eclairzilla symbolises France and my roots. I have simply taken the traditional éclair and made it my way.”
