Éclair vs Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce

Both desserts lean on butter, eggs and cream, but they put them to very different work. The éclair boils butter with water and flour, then beats in eggs to make a choux dough that bakes up puffed, golden and firm, ready for a cool filling of cream whipped with vanilla and a glossy dark-chocolate glaze. The pudding instead creams butter with brown sugar and folds in soaked dates for a moist, date-studded crumb, then simmers more butter, sugar and cream into a hot toffee sauce. Where the éclair is light, firm-shelled and bittersweet, the pudding offers deep brown-sugar richness and a warm, comforting heft.