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Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 5 — Choux Ispahan (So Croch')

Note: I updated this post on Sunday, 28 March, to include pictures and an explanation (as best as I can) on how I worked on the choux cap. Click here to jump to the update.

It's a little over halfway through the Amigurumi Bake Off. Week 5 gave me a little bit of trouble.... But I got this French babe done! So here's my take on the little, delicious-looking choux Ispahan by Marie Clesse of So Croch' (@socroch), pattern available here.

// Choux Ispahan, pattern by Marie Clesse of So Croch' (more on IG) //

As Marie explained on IG, the choux Ispahan is a famous dessert created by French pâtissier and chocolatier Pierre Hermé. Hermé's original Ispahan is a rose macaron filled with rose petal cream, raspberries and lychee, first created while he was at Ladureé (see alifewortheating). The choux version is a choux pastry filled with rose cream, raspberries, and lychee. Also, the real life choux Ispahan is baked with a layer of crumble, hence the crackled appearance (see Sugared & Spiced, JW Journeys, Farfelue). There's even a cake version!

The real thing made a cameo appearance in one of my favourite Japanese movies, Patisserie Coin de rue. This 2011 film largely revolves around Aoi Yuu — uh, I mean, L.I.F.E. ... basically, of 2 pastry chefs, one who is a legend in the industry but retired early due to trauma, and the other, a young, budding pastry chef finding her place in the world.

Screenshot from Patisserie Coin de rue at 00:30:19 showing Tomura-san enjoying the Ispahan at Pierre Hermé Paris Aoyama (Tokyo).

Besides being a heartwarming story, the film is definitely for foodies as it has lots of close-ups of delicious French pastries and desserts. And which show revolving around a French pâtisserie, French pastries and pastry chefs could possibly leave out one of the most iconic French pastries by one of the most iconic French pastry chefs?

Screenshot from Patisserie Coin de rue at 00:30:52, Tomura-san taking notes on the Ispahan he ate at Pierre Hermé Paris Aoyama.

The real life choux Ispahan looks delicious, and it is a very popular and well-loved pastry. In fact, it is one of his signature creations, praised and loved as a unique marriage of rose and lychee. Personally, I'd choose a well-made classic choux filled with crème pâtissière any day. But well, things like that can be a subjective matter of preference. I do love roses. And I adore how the choux Ispahan looks. Both the real thing, and Marie's amigurumi version of it!

// Choux Ispahan, pattern by Marie Clesse of So Croch' (more on IG) //

Originally was going to make it with topaz brown, vanilla, and red, reflecting the colours of the real life dessert. However, I had just received my recent order of yarns, which included a lot of pinks. So I decided to use pink shades this time. Unlike my Bunny Rollcake (posted here), for which I had no suitable pinks at the time. As mentioned on IG (here), I have had a love-hate thing with pink since childhood, but that is slowly changing. I do still have a slight aversion to certain pink shades, but am now loving pink shades that are in the peach and coral range. Mostly pink shades that have a bit of orange in them.

I decided to make the rose petal in a medium pink — Scheepjes Catona No.222 Tulip. It was the closest pink shade I had to the namesake of Pierre Hermé's dessert, the Ispahan rose, a silky medium pink Damask rose. And the rose is, in turn, named after the Iranian city Isfahan, famed for its rose gardens. Yup...there's a clear prevailing rose theme going on here....

// Choux Ispahan, pattern by Marie Clesse of So Croch' (more on IG) //

Been grumpy, and haven't been in the right head space the past few days. It kind of started just before the release of Yarn Blossom Boutique's Brownie Sundae pattern last week (which I'm still working on). It's pretty off-putting...even for myself (=__=) and has translated into trouble with crocheting, making noob mistakes one after another, as well as me falling back onto some maladaptive perfectionist reactions. Like the night of the 24th, when I was assembling the amigurumi. Already posted about it on IG (here), so I shan't rehash. Except I wish to add that there are times when we need to remember that it's okay to be imperfect. In fact, it is natural. Of course, that wasn't a reason to simply give up, but to readjust my perspective, and find adaptive, constructive ways to work with it. The sleep helped, as did the encouragement I received. I am very grateful.

// Remaking the choux top (also on IG). The part I hate most about remaking an item? The unraveling, especially when I've already secured the yarn and woven in the ends! Ugh! //

Thus far, taking part in the Amigurumi Bake Off has been very rewarding, all things notwithstanding. Not only because of the amazing patterns which the creators have generously shared for free. More so the experience, the learning, the sense of community.... I've learnt a lot while taking part in the event. Improved on techniques I already knew, discovered new ways to apply the said techniques... learnt new techniques and stuff... challenged myself, worked past some personal limits... experienced a shared sense of community with others who have a passion for the same craft, and who are also learning and working towards the same goals. It's been a lot of fun so far. Frustration too, but ultimately a great sense of satisfaction when a piece is completed. Even if it isn't close to what was originally envisioned.

Update (Sunday, 28 March 2021, 12:45AM GMT+8)

Since posting, I saw on IG that others also had some trouble with getting the choux cap to sit flat on the cream, so I added this section below to share what I did when I faced the same issue. This probably comes too late for Amigurumi Bake Off week 5, but I hope it will still be useful to someone out there, whenever they attempt this amazing pattern by So Croch'!

I tried explaining what I did on IG (here), but I think I did it in a rather confusing way. And nothing beats pictures or, better, a video tutorial to show others what was attempted. I suck at videos, so for now, I will try with pictures.....

For the 1st part of the cap, instead of following the pattern's instructions and working 6 rounds, I only worked 5 rounds, then fastened off invisibly. On how to work an invisible fasten off, see this tutorial by Crochet Arcade (here) and Petals to Picot (here), for example. Then, for the 2nd part of the cap, I worked 6 rounds, according to the pattern instructions.

My 1st part is the bottom piece of the choux cap, and the 2nd part is the top piece of the choux cap. Basically, the bottom piece will be the separate piece which was fastened off; while the top piece is the piece that is still connected to the working yarn and skein (pictured below). I did it this way so that when the 2 pieces are crocheted together, the worked stitches would show up nicely on the edge of the choux cap. Think of it another way: treat the top piece as the "right side", and crochet the stitches according.

As seen from the picture above, both pieces are clearly different in size, and have different number of total stitches in their last rounds. Because I only worked until round 5, the 1st part (i.e. the bottom) had 30 stitches in total; whereas the 2nd part (i.e. the top) had 36 stitches in total. Don't be alarmed by the fact that the total number of stitches don't match up. This will get "fixed" when joining the pieces, which I will explain below.

When joining the 1st and 2nd parts of the choux cap (the bottom and top pieces, respectively), I worked the single crochets according to the pattern's instructions. That is, place both pieces together, with their wrong sides facing inwards. Then insert the hook through both loops of the 2nd part (top) and the furtherest loop of the 1st part (bottom), pictured below. By "furtherest loop", it would be the back loop of the 1st piece (bottom), from where you're facing. (Please correct me if I've used the wrong terminology.)

When working the round that joins the 1st and 2nd parts together, I worked 1sc into each stitch of the 2nd piece (top), but worked the 2nd part (bottom) with (2sc, inc, 2sc) x6. First, you'll notice that this is the same as round 6 of the pattern. Yup. Basically, while I worked the 2nd part (top) as I would the when joining the pieces according to the pattern, I was working the 1st part (bottom) as if I was working round 6.

This is where I'm lousy at explaining how I did that. So, as pictured above, whenever I had to work an inc in the 1st part (bottom), this is what I did: 1sc into 1 stitch of 2nd part (top) and 1 stitch of the 1st part (top bottom), then 1sc into the next stitch of 2nd part (top) and the same stitch for the 1st part (bottom). So, I guess if you flip it around (picture above), and view the work from the bottom, it would look like an inc in that stitch.

So, after working around to the end of the round, you should end up with 36 stitches in total, on both sides (pictured below).

Hope this helps! Again, my apologies if I have not explained it well. Please forgive me, but this is the best I can for now! m(_ _)m

Am very much looking forward to next week's bake off item, which will be by Lauren Espy of A Menagerie of Stitches. σ(≧ε≦ｏ) I'm really excited because I have a copy of her book Crochet Cafe, and really like her amigurumi creations. That, and Lauren is one of the first crochet designers I started following when I first took up crochet, so her work has a huge pull on my heartstrings. (♡ω♡*)☆*。


Materials Used:

  • Choux Ispahan amigurumi pattern by So Croch', pattern here.
  • Clover Amour Crochet Hook 2.5mm
  • Yarn:-
    • Scheepjes Catona No.179 Topaz, No.114 Shocking Pink, No.222 Tulip, No.390 Poppy Rose
    • Sirdar Cotton DK No.502 Vanilla
  • Polyester fiberfill

AMIGURUMI BAKE OFF 2021

(This post was edited and updated on 2 November 2021, 10:27pm GMT+8.)

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