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How to make eclairs

These delicious strawberry and cream eclairs will steal the show at any afternoon tea. Kick off by having a look at our video how-to – it’s an easy guide to the main tricks and techniques you’ll want to master, to help make the whole recipe simple. We’ve chosen strawberries and cream for the icing and filling, but once you’ve discovered how easy this recipe is, you’ll want to experiment with other favourite combinations.

  1. A simple video guide

    Making a good choux pastry is a great skill to master and, as this video demonstrates, once you break down the basics it's not so tricky to do. Watch to discover the secret to making the choux, filling a piping bag and piping your choux like a pro. After that you can have fun experimenting with your eclair fillings and icing.

  2. Prepare the dough

    Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Put 80 ml whole milk, 3/4 tsp salt, ¾ tsp sugar, 80g unsalted butter and 80ml water into a saucepan, melt and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add 80g plain flour and mix to form a dough. Return to the heat and cook for 2 minutes, stirring vigorously.

    Prepare the dough
  3. Pipe the dough

    Tip the dough into a bowl; set aside to cool a little. Add 2 large beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating until combined before adding more. Scrape into a piping bag fitted with a wide star nozzle. Pipe 10-12 x 12cm-long eclairs onto 2 baking trays lined with baking paper.

    Pipe the dough
  4. Bake the eclairs

    Bake the eclairs in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Turn the oven off, and leave the eclairs in for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Slice each eclair in half lengthwise with a serrated knife.

    Bake the eclairs
  5. Ice the eclairs

    Mix the 150g icing sugar and 30-35ml water into a thick but just pourable glaze. Mix in a few drops of red food colouring until pink. Dip each eclair top in the glaze. Put on a piece of baking paper and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands, if using. Leave to set.

    Ice the eclairs
  6. Fill the eclairs

    For the filling, using 100g seedless strawberry jam spoon a little into the base of each eclair. Use 100g strawberries, hulled and diced, to top the jam. Whisk together 300g whipping cream and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste until it holds soft peaks. Scrape the cream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.

    Fill the eclairs
  7. Build the eclairs

    Pipe peaks of cream along the length of the eclairs, then place a slice of strawberry between each peak. Place the tops back onto the eclairs, sitting on top of the cream and strawberries.

    Build the eclairs
  8. Finish and enjoy

    Place the tops back onto the eclairs, sitting on top of the cream and strawberries, and tuck in!

    RFO HERO 636x418 eclairs mini

  9. Ingredients

    We've made a handy shopping list so you can get everything you need to make these pretty strawberry eclairs. Don't forget to screenshot before you go shopping!

    80ml whole milk
    ¾ tsp sugar
    80g unsalted butter
    80g plain flour
    2 large eggs
    150g icing sugar
    red food colouring
    100g seedless strawberry jam
    100g strawberries
    300g whipping cream
    1 tsp vanilla bean paste

    Makes 10

    Each serving contains

    • Energy

      0kj
      1347kcal
      16%
    • Fat

      21g 29%
    • Saturates

      12g 61%
    • Sugars

      27g 29%
    • Salt

      0.2g 3%

    of the reference intake
    Carbohydrate 7g Protein 16g Fibre 0.7g