Éclair vs Frankfurter Kranz (Frankfurt Crown Cake)

Both desserts lean on butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla, yet they put them to very different work. In the éclair, eggs are beaten into a boiled butter-and-flour dough that bakes into puffed, golden, firm shells, which are filled with cream whipped to stiff peaks with powdered sugar and vanilla, then dipped in a dark chocolate and butter glaze. The Frankfurter Kranz instead creams butter and eggs into a baking-powder-raised ring cake, split into three layers with jam and a rich vanilla buttercream, then coated in crunchy caramelized almond brittle and topped with glacé cherries. One is airy, creamy and chocolate-edged; the other is buttery, fruity and nutty.