Courtesan au Chocolat

“... then go to Mendl’s and get me a courtesan au chocolat.”   Gustave H, Grand Budapest Hotel

One of the iconic features of the Wes Anderson’s movie, Grand  Budapest Hotel, is Mendl Bakery’s courtesan au chocolat. These were made by Zero’s girlfriend, Agatha. It has been on my list to make for a long time, so I finally bit the bullet and made it.

The courtesan au chocolat is a fictional dessert that only exists in the movie, but has taken on a life of its own via the World Wide Web.  Slate has a good theory that the dessert was named to be the converse of la religieuse (the nun), which is similarly a stack of profiteroles filled with creme patisserie. The courtesan au chocolat is much showier, being filled with chocolate custard instead of vanilla custard, topped with a trio of pastel hued glazes (cf la religieuse, which are traditionally dipped solely in chocolate or coffee glaze), and having three layers instead of two.

The recipe for courtesan au chocolat is all over the Internet. The one released by the movie studio is here. However, some of the measurements and details are vague. I found that the pate a choux recipe did not work for me - the puffs did not rise. I therefore made the puffs over using Dorie Greenspan’s recipe.

I also used this recipe for the chocolate custard filling, as the ingredients were clearer and used all chocolate, no cocoa. 

I used my favourite buttercream recipe for the white and blue piping, and I used a chocolate coated coffee bean on top rather than a cocoa bean.

Here is a peek inside the courtesan au chocolate:

 The top puff is meant to be empty.

Although my courtesan au chocolat are not perfect, and I hated the fact that there were so many fussy steps to make them (not to mention having to make the choux pastry twice), I am glad I finally made this dessert.  Oooh, and it’s delicious!!

Will I make courtesan au chocolat again? Probably not - but as my homage to Grand Budapest Hotel, I am proud I made the effort.