Italian Vegan Éclair | Éclair Vegano
Updated: 6 days ago
This is a vegan éclair written honestly, as a contemporary plant based version of a classic pastry rather than an old Italian recipe pretending to be something it is not. There are no eggs and no butter. The choux paste is built on aquafaba, the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas, with cornstarch to steady it and neutral oil in place of butter fat.
The technical problem is easy to state and hard to solve. Classic choux rises because egg protein sets into a rigid shell around expanding steam, while aquafaba foams and stabilises but sets far more weakly. The shell therefore has to be dried much harder in the oven and helped by starch. Every instruction below follows from that one difference. Done properly the result is genuinely hollow, crisp, and tastes of vanilla rather than of coconut.
Yield: 10 éclairs. Prep: 45 minutes. Cook: 45 minutes. Cooling and filling: 1 hour. Total: about 2 hours 30 minutes. Difficulty: advanced. Course: dessert, pasticceria.
The Story
The éclair is French, fixed in its long piped shape with a chocolate top in nineteenth century Paris and usually credited to the circle around Antonin Carême. It reached Italy by the route most French pastry took, the professional kitchens of Turin and Milan in the years when the Savoy court looked to Paris for everything. Italian pasticceria absorbed it and gave it Italian fillings: crema pasticcera scented with lemon zest, and later chocolate and coffee.
The vegan version has no such lineage and it would be dishonest to invent one. It belongs to the last fifteen years and to the small plant based pasticcerie of Milan, Bologna and Turin, the kitchens that worked out aquafaba as a pastry ingredient under commercial pressure after home bakers first documented it around 2015. What connects the two is the Italian habit of rebuilding a foreign form with local logic: Piedmont supplies the hazelnut and Italian bean to bar makers supply chocolate containing cocoa and sugar and nothing else.
Ingredients
For the aquafaba choux pastry
Aquafaba from unsalted canned chickpeas, 3/4 cup (180 ml)
Water, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Unsweetened soy milk, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Neutral sunflower oil, 1/3 cup (75 ml)
All purpose flour, 1 1/4 cups (160 g)
Cornstarch, 3 tbsp (24 g)
Granulated sugar, 1 tsp (4 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Baking powder, 1/4 tsp (1 g)
For the vanilla plant cream
Unsweetened soy milk, 2 cups (480 ml)
Granulated sugar, 1/2 cup (100 g)
Cornstarch, 1/4 cup (32 g)
Cocoa butter, finely chopped, 1 oz (30 g)
Vanilla bean, split and scraped, 1
Fine sea salt, 1 pinch
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1/2 lemon
For the dark chocolate glaze
Dark chocolate, 70 percent, dairy free, 5 oz (140 g)
Unsweetened soy milk, 1/3 cup (80 ml)
Glucose syrup or light corn syrup, 1 tbsp (20 g)
Neutral sunflower oil, 2 tsp (10 ml)
For finishing
Toasted Piedmont hazelnuts, chopped, 2 tbsp (18 g)
Cocoa nibs, 1 tsp
Flaky sea salt, a few grains per éclair
Preparation
Chilling and whipping the aquafaba
Refrigerate the aquafaba at least 2 hours, or overnight. Cold aquafaba whips tighter and holds air far longer than aquafaba straight from the can. Whip it 4 to 5 minutes, to soft peaks that fold over slowly when you lift the whisk. Do not take it to stiff peaks: an over whipped foam breaks down the moment it meets hot paste. Use it within 20 minutes.
Cooking the flour paste
Whisk the flour, cornstarch and baking powder together and sift them onto paper so they go into the pan in one movement. Bring the water, soy milk, oil, sugar and salt to a full rolling boil in a heavy saucepan. Tip in all the dry mixture at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon until it forms a single smooth ball. Keep beating over medium heat a further 2 minutes, until a thin film coats the base of the pan. Water you fail to drive out now is water that will collapse the shells later.
Cooling the paste and folding in the foam
Spread the paste in a wide bowl so it loses heat quickly, stirring every 30 seconds for about 5 minutes until it is warm to the hand rather than hot, around 120°F (50°C). Beat in a third of the whipped aquafaba vigorously to slacken it, sacrificing that third entirely, then fold in the rest in two additions with a spatula. The finished paste should be glossy and fall in a thick unbroken ribbon that settles slowly. If it drops in lumps, fold in a spoonful more foam.
Piping the éclairs
Fit a piping bag with a large open star tip of about 5/8 inch (15 mm). The star tip is not cosmetic: its ridges set first and act as structure, and round piped vegan éclairs split far more often. Pipe lines of about 5 inches (12 cm) onto a lined tray, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) between them, and press down any points with a wet fingertip, since points burn before the body is dry.
Baking in two stages
Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with an empty tray on the lower shelf. Slide in the éclairs, throw a tablespoon of water onto the hot lower tray and shut the door at once. That burst of steam keeps the surface flexible through the first minutes of expansion. Bake 15 minutes without opening the door. Lower the oven to 325°F (165°C) and bake a further 25 to 30 minutes, until the shells are deep golden brown and feel rigid and weightless. Pale shells are always under baked and collapse within a minute of leaving the oven.
Drying the shells
Turn the oven off. Pierce each éclair once at one end with a paring knife, wedge the door open with a wooden spoon and leave the tray inside 15 minutes. The residual heat pulls the last steam out through the hole instead of letting it condense inside and soften the walls. Cool the shells completely on a rack. A finished shell sounds hollow when tapped underneath and weighs almost nothing.
Cooking the vanilla cream
Whisk the cornstarch and sugar together in a saucepan, then whisk in the soy milk a little at a time so no lumps form, and add the vanilla seeds and pod, the salt and the lemon zest. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, and once it thickens keep it bubbling gently a full 2 minutes to cook the starch out. Off the heat, remove the pod and whisk in the cocoa butter until it disappears. Pass through a fine mesh sieve into a shallow tray, press film onto the surface and chill about 1 hour.
Filling and glazing
Make three small holes in the underside of each shell with a plain 1/4 inch (6 mm) tip. Whisk the cold cream smooth and pipe into each hole until the éclair feels heavy. Melt the chocolate with the soy milk and glucose over a bain marie, stir in the oil and cool the glaze to about 90°F (32°C), fluid but no longer hot. Hold each éclair by the ends, dip the top, lift, and strike off the excess with a finger along one edge. Add the hazelnuts, nibs and salt while the glaze is still tacky.
Plating
For a table, put one éclair on a small flat plate slightly off centre, glazed side towards the guest and the piped ridges running left to right. Nothing else belongs on the plate. An éclair is a closed object and sauce around it only makes the glaze look accidental. Most people will pick it up, which is the point of the shape.
For a tray, line them up parallel with a finger of space between them, all glazed in the same direction, no more than 2 hours before service, alternating hazelnut and cocoa nib finishes along the row. Serve at around 60°F (16°C), which means out of the refrigerator 20 minutes beforehand. Straight from the cold the cocoa butter in the cream is hard, the glaze is dull and the vanilla is almost undetectable.
Professional Technique
Everything here follows from one fact: aquafaba sets weakly. Egg protein coagulates into a firm elastic network that holds a choux shell open permanently, while the proteins and saponins in chickpea liquid only stabilise a foam and leave a thin brittle film. The compensation is mechanical. The cornstarch in the flour blend gelatinises and dries into a rigid scaffold, the quarter teaspoon of baking powder adds a small late lift exactly as the shell sets, and the long second bake removes enough water for the structure to support itself. Remove any one of the three and the shells deflate.
Replacing butter with oil changes more than it looks. Butter is roughly 16 percent water, and that water contributes steam that inflates a classical éclair, so pure oil means less lift from the fat: hence the higher liquid here and the insistence on a real rolling boil. The cream follows the same logic: cornstarch gives body and must boil a full 2 minutes or it thins again when cold, while cocoa butter supplies the mouthfeel egg yolk would normally provide. Coconut oil is the usual substitute and a poor one, because it carries its own flavour into a cream meant to taste of vanilla.
Texture and Moisture Control
Three moisture problems have to be solved in sequence. Inside the paste before baking, solved on the stove by 2 full minutes of beating until a film forms on the pan. Inside the shell during baking, solved by the two stage oven, high heat to inflate and low heat to dry. Inside the finished éclair after filling, solved only by timing, because a wet cream against a dry shell moves water in one direction and nothing stops it.
That last point sets the schedule. A filled and glazed vegan éclair holds a crisp shell about 4 hours at cool room temperature and roughly 8 hours refrigerated, less than a classical one because the egg set shell is denser. The glaze has its own narrow window: at 90°F (32°C) it coats thin and sets soft, hotter it runs and warms the cream underneath, cooler it drags and leaves a thick opaque coat that cracks when bitten. Keep a thermometer in the bowl and hold it over warm water rather than reheating it.
Professional Mise en Place
The aquafaba has to be cold, so this dish starts the day before whether you plan it or not. Everything else arranges itself around the single stretch from boiling the liquid to closing the oven door, about 20 minutes that cannot be paused.
Equipment and tools
Stand mixer or hand mixer for the aquafaba
Heavy saucepan and a sturdy wooden spoon for the flour paste
Piping bag with a 5/8 inch (15 mm) open star tip and a 1/4 inch (6 mm) plain tip
Digital scale, instant read thermometer, fine mesh sieve
Two flat baking trays, baking paper, wire cooling rack
Prepared ahead
Aquafaba drained and refrigerated, 1 day ahead
Vanilla cream cooked, sieved and chilled, up to 2 days ahead
Hazelnuts toasted and chopped, up to 5 days ahead in a sealed jar
Flour, cornstarch and baking powder sifted onto paper, ready to tip in
Empty baked shells, same day, held in a sealed tin
Service setup
Cream whisked smooth and loaded into the piping bag, kept cold
Glaze held at 90°F (32°C) over warm water, stirred but not reheated
Hazelnuts, nibs and flaky salt in open ramekins within reach
Plates at room temperature, éclairs out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before service
Chef Tips
Use the liquid from unsalted canned chickpeas, not water from chickpeas you boiled yourself, which varies enormously and is usually too thin to whip. If your aquafaba looks watery, reduce it in a small pan by about a quarter, then chill it fully before whipping.
Weigh the flour rather than measuring by cup. Choux is one of the few preparations where a 10 percent flour error shows in the finished shape, and a vegan choux with no egg protein to forgive it is less tolerant still.
Never open the oven in the first 15 minutes. The shells are held only by a soft skin at that stage and one door opening drops them flat with no recovery. If your oven has a light, use it. If not, trust the timer.
Taste the chocolate before you glaze with it. Many bars sold as dark contain milk fat. Look for one listing cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar only, at around 70 percent, so the glaze balances the sweetness of the cream.
Common Mistakes
Whipping the aquafaba to stiff peaks. An over whipped chickpea foam is dry and granular and breaks down the instant it meets warm paste, so the air disappears. Stop at soft peaks and fold by hand, never with a machine.
Adding the foam to a hot paste. Above about 140°F (60°C) the paste cooks the foam on contact and the mixture goes soupy and will not hold a piped shape. Cool the paste until it is only warm to the hand.
Under baking the shells. A pale shell still holds water in its walls and collapses within a minute of leaving the oven. Bake to deep golden brown and to a shell that feels rigid and weightless, then dry it in the switched off oven.
Skipping the two minute boil of the cream. Uncooked starch tastes chalky and thins again once cold, so the éclairs weep from the filling holes. Keep the cream at a gentle bubble a full 2 minutes after it thickens.
Glazing while the glaze is hot. Hot glaze runs off, pools on the tray and softens the cream directly underneath, and the top looks streaked. Cool it to 90°F (32°C) and check with a thermometer.
Wine Pairing
Moscato d'Asti DOCG: The Piedmontese answer and the easiest to get right. Low alcohol, gentle frizzante and open peach and orange blossom aromatics lift a pastry that is fundamentally rich, while the acidity cuts through the cocoa butter in the cream. Serve it at 43°F (6°C) so the sweetness reads as fruit rather than sugar.
Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG: A sweet red with raspberry and rose perfume that behaves with chocolate the way a fruit coulis does. Its tannin is almost nonexistent, which matters because tannin against a 70 percent glaze turns dry and metallic, and the light sparkle scrubs a palate the cream otherwise coats.
Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG: The serious choice for the chocolate rather than the cream. Dried Corvina grapes give sweet dark cherry and a faint bitter almond edge that meets the cocoa on its own level instead of retreating from it. Pour small measures, since it is sweeter and fuller than the dessert.
Vin Santo del Chianti Classico DOC: Chosen for the hazelnut finish above all. Long oxidative ageing in caratelli gives exactly the toasted nut, dried apricot and caramel register that sits on top of Piedmont hazelnuts, and high acidity behind the sweetness keeps the match from going heavy.
Alta Langa DOCG: For anyone who wants a dry wine with dessert, and the only one here that works. Traditional method Piedmontese sparkling brings real autolytic bread and almond character and firm acidity, treating the éclair as food rather than sugar. Choose a brut, since bone dry against a sweet cream reads sour.
Storage & Reheating
Store the components separately and assemble late. Unfilled shells keep 1 day in a sealed tin at room temperature and up to 1 month frozen in a rigid box, layered with baking paper. The vanilla cream keeps 2 days refrigerated with film pressed onto its surface and must be whisked smooth before piping, since the starch sets firm when cold. The glaze keeps 1 week refrigerated in a jar.
To revive frozen or softened shells, give them 5 minutes at 325°F (165°C) straight from the freezer, or 4 minutes if merely stale, then cool them at least 20 minutes before filling: warm shells melt the cocoa butter in the cream on contact. Assembled éclairs keep 8 hours refrigerated in a covered box and do not improve over that time. Do not freeze them once filled, since the cream separates on thawing and the glaze blooms grey. There is no reheating step for a finished éclair, only the 20 minutes at room temperature that brings it to serving condition.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 10 éclairs:
Calories: 340 kcal
Total Fat: 18 g
Saturated Fat: 7 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 160 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 39 g
Fiber: 3 g
Total Sugars: 19 g
Added Sugars: 18 g
Protein: 6 g
Lactose: 0 g
Principal micronutrients: iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, vitamin E, potassium
These figures are estimates. There is no cholesterol and no lactose because the dish contains no animal product. Gluten is present from the wheat flour and soy from the milk, so both should be declared when serving guests.
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