Eclairs can be filled with chocolate ganache, raspberry mousse, lemon custard and more!
What is Eclair filling made of
Eclairs can be filled with 4 different types of filling. Each of them are composed of either a custard base or a whipped cream base.
Custard and whipped cream fillings are both thick and have a little movement to them. Therefore this makes filling éclairs very easy. You need to use fillings that can be easily piped into the éclairs without too much force.
- diplomat cream (pastry cream with added whipped cream)
- Chantilly cream (whipped cream base with flavors added to it)
- pastry cream
- mousse
How are eclairs filled
How to fill eclairs by piping filling
Eclairs are filled by using a 1/2″ tip. The tip is placed at the end of a piping bag, then the filling is added to the bag.
Once the éclairs have been cooked and cooled, flip them over to expose the bottom. Push the tip into the bottom to create 2 holes.
Fill the eclairs by pushing the filling into the 2 holes you created. Wipe the excess with a paper towel and place face up.
Then you can add the glaze and any decorations to the top of the éclair, and serve!
How to fill eclairs by cutting them
Another way of filling eclairs is by cutting the éclair in half.
Fit a piping bag with a textured tip (the star one works well, depending on how thick your eclair filling is). Add your filling to the piping bag.
Pipe the filling on the bottom section of the éclair, then place the top of the éclair gently on top.
Add your glaze and decorations to the éclair and serve!
Cookies and Cream
Cookies and Cream eclairs are reminiscent of Oreos and milk.
Cookies and cream eclairs are made with a whipped cream filling that is infused with crushed Oreo cookies and vanilla extract.
Raspberry Mousse
Raspberry eclairs are made by using raspberry mousse as the filling.
Raspberry mousse is made by extracting the raspberry juice out of the raspberries and making a sugar sauce with it.
Raspberry mousse is thickened using gelatin.
Once the sugar sauce has the gelatin added, it is cooled down.
Then the raspberry sauce is infused into whipped cream creating raspberry mousse that is ready to be put into your eclairs.
Salted Caramel
Salted caramel eclair filling is made by first making salted caramel sauce.
Once the salted caramel sauce has come together, it will form the base of custard.
The custard is made by warming milk and vanilla bean paste to the salted caramel sauce. Once the milk has heated up, just before boiling, it is used to temper eggs.
The warm milk is slowly added to eggs creating a custard.
The custard is thickened by placing it back on the heat and letting the cornstarch work its magic.
After the custard is thickened, butter is added to make it extra creamy. Then the custard is cooled down and refrigerated before using it to fill éclairs.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Vanilla eclairs are made by using vanilla custard to fill them.
Vanilla pastry cream is made by infusing vanilla beans into warm milk, and then using that to temper eggs.
The custard is heated until the cornstarch thickens the custard.
Once the custard has thickened enough, it is cooled down and then refrigerated before it’s used to fill eclairs.
Espresso Pastry Cream
Espresso eclairs are coffee filled eclairs. You can top espresso eclairs with white chocolate ganache or dark chocolate ganache.
Espresso eclairs are filled with espresso custard.
Espresso pastry cream is made by making vanilla custard, but it has added espresso powder, or I like to use fresh espresso for my pastry cream.
I like to add the espresso when the milk is warming up, then temper the eggs to create the custard.
The real espresso flavor is much stronger and more flavorful than using espresso powder.
Pistachio Pastry Cream
Pistachio eclairs have a creamy nutty filling.
Pistachio eclairs are made by first making custard.
At the end of making the custard, butter is added while the custard is still warm.
Then pistachio paste is mixed into the custard creating pistachio pastry cream.
Mocha Pastry Cream
Mocha eclairs have a coffee and chocolate flavoring to them.
Mocha eclairs are made by adding espresso powder to your milk when making the custard base.
Once you have created your custard base by tempering your eggs and thickening the custard, the custard is removed from the heat source.
Butter and dark chocolate are added and mixed into the espresso custard.
When the butter and dark chocolate have fully melted and combined into your mocha pastry cream, let it cool.
Chill the mocha éclair filling for a couple of hours, and then fill your eclairs right before serving.
Lemon Eclair
Lemon eclairs have a citrusy filling to them.
Lemon eclairs are made by adding lemon zest and vanilla to your warm milk custard base.
Temper the eggs and let the custard thicken by adding it back to the heat source.
Remove the custard from the heat and let it chill for a couple of hours.
Whipped cream is added to the custard, making it a little less heavy. To finish it off, lemon juice is added to create lemon eclair filling.
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate ganache is a rich chocolate filling for eclairs.
Chocolate ganache is made by first warming heavy cream and pouring over chopped chocolate, and whisked together until it becomes smooth and creamy.
This creates the chocolate ganache base.
Chocolate ganache is chilled, and more heavy cream is added to make the eclair filling.
The filling should be fluffy and soft, therefore you need to add the extra heavy cream to make it into an éclair filling.
