Piping éclairs is much easier if you follow a few simple techniques; with practice, you will be piping perfect choux cases in no time! Firstly, it’s important to draw guidelines on your baking paper. While this may seem a little over the top, it’s actually very hard to pipe perfect lines of choux freehand, and while they may look evenly shaped before they go into the oven, any minute differences will become magnified during baking. We like to draw 10cm x 1cm outlines for our eclairs.

Using the right angle is also important. Try to use a 45 degree angle, if possible, and begin with the tip of your nozzle touching the paper. While some people pipe lengths of choux and allow them to ‘drop’ onto the paper, we find this technique is harder if you are just starting out. 

It’s also important to pipe your choux slowly to avoid any wiggles. Once you’ve reached the end of the outline, raise your piping bag nozzle upwards in a tick shape, to finish the éclair, then use a wet finger to dab the pastry back down. It’s easiest if you keep a small pot of water next to the baking tray in order to do this.

If your éclairs are not rising in the oven, it’s likely that your choux pastry mixture was too wet. When adding eggs to your choux pastry mixture, make sure to add around half to one egg’s worth at a time, ensuring it’s fully incorporated before adding the next. It’s likely that you will not need to add all of the eggs, which is why the eggs are lightly beaten before adding to the pastry mixture rather than added whole. 

It’s also important not to open the oven door for the first twenty-five minutes of cooking time. It’s the steam inside the eclairs and inside the oven that causes the pastry cases to rise, and opening the oven door will drop the temperature and affect this process. We also like to add a few drops of water onto the baking paper around the eclairs (not on the pastry), to increase the amount of steam in the oven and help the eclairs to rise.

There are a few reasons why éclairs crack in the oven. The first is oven temperature; all ovens are unique, and some run hotter than others. If the oven is too hot, your eclairs will crack - try reducing the temperature by 10C next time. Although our recipes recommend cooking the éclairs at 180ºC (fan), we have had to reduce the temperature by as much as 20ºC for some ovens. 

The second reason your éclairs might be cracked on top is that the choux pastry mixture is too dry; try adding more egg next time to achieve the right consistency. 

Éclairs can also crack due to air bubbles within the pastry mixture, so make sure you smooth the piping bag before piping. To do this, lay the filled bag flat onto a work surface and gently flatten out the choux pastry mixture. Using a dough scraper or a rubber spatula, gently push the mixture towards the tip to ease out any air bubbles. Finally, snip off the tip and pipe a little pastry to remove any air bubbles near the tip end.

If your éclairs aren’t evenly shaped and you’ve addressed the pitfalls above, then it’s likely that you had a lot of air bubbles in your mixture. Follow our method for smoothing out the piping bag above.

Since the foundation of an éclair is a plain choux pastry case, the sky's the limit when deciding how to fill and top your éclairs. It’s hard to go wrong with a classic custard or cream filling and chocolate topping, but there are lots of potential variations. Try adding finely chopped nuts, or a drizzle of salted caramel or dulce de leche. Banana custard with a peanut butter topping would work very well, or try experimenting with different liqueurs and flavoured syrups. Fruit combinations are also lovely, such as our mango and makrut lime leaf cream éclairs and black forest gateau éclairs below.