Light, crisp pastry and a cloud of cream inside: profiteroles are one of the great desserts to share after dinner. They're on the dessert menu at Fiena, our family-run Italian cafe, bar and restaurant at 4 Medway Court, Judd Street, London WC1H 9QX, a few minutes' walk from King's Cross St Pancras. Here's what they are, where they come from, and how we serve ours.
What is a profiterole?
A profiterole is a small ball of choux pastry with a sweet filling, usually whipped cream, custard, pastry cream or ice cream. In France it's also called chou à la crème, and in the US and Canada a cream puff. Profiteroles are often finished with chocolate sauce, caramel or a dusting of icing sugar, and stacked high and glazed with caramel they become a croquembouche, a tower often served at weddings in France and Italy.
The word itself is French, meaning "small profit" or "gratification", and it has been used in cooking since the 16th century. The first profiteroles weren't sweet at all. In the 17th century they were small hollow bread rolls filled with things like sweetbreads, truffles, mushrooms and game, sometimes served in soup. The choux pastry version we know today was created in the 19th century. Background from Wikipedia's profiterole page.
How choux pastry works
Choux pastry, pâte à choux, is made from just butter, water, flour and eggs, with no baking powder or yeast. The water and butter are boiled, the flour goes in, and the dough is cooked a little longer before the eggs are beaten in. In the oven, the water in the dough turns to steam and puffs the pastry up, leaving it hollow inside and ready to fill.
There's an Italian legend attached, too. A widely repeated story says choux was invented in 1540 by the pastry chefs of Catherine de' Medici, the Florentine queen of France. Food historians say this is a 19th-century invention: similar pastries are recorded long before. The French pastry cook Jean Avice refined the dough in the 18th century, and Antoine Carême developed the recipe used today. Italy has its own choux classic, though: zeppole di San Giuseppe, cream-filled pastries eaten on 19 March, the feast of Saint Joseph. More on Wikipedia's choux pastry page.
Our profiteroles
On our dessert menu, the Profiteroles with cream are choux pastry cases filled with Chantilly cream, which is whipped cream, usually sweetened and often flavoured with vanilla. They're vegetarian, and like all our desserts and gelato they're served all day, so you can stop by for a coffee and something sweet in the afternoon.
The rest of the dessert menu is a tour of the classics: Tiramisu, the Souffle al cioccolato with its liquid chocolate centre, a vanilla Cheesecake with forest fruit sauce, a warm Chocolate brownie, and a Vegan & gluten-free chocolate brownie with blood orange sorbet. Gelato comes three scoops at a time, in vanilla, wild strawberry or salted caramel, and the sorbets are mango, blood orange and lemon. Our guide to desserts covers them all.
James finished a Friday dinner with us with pasta and cheesecake: Both very good.
(James S., Google review) And one guest found The food and drinks were delicious and beautifully presented
(Google review).
Coffee on the side
Profiteroles and coffee are made for each other. Order an espresso, a macchiato or a cappuccino, or go all in with an Affogato, ice cream with espresso poured over. Our posts on Italian coffee and cappuccino, latte and flat white explain the list. If it's evening, a limoncello shot or an Espresso martini from the drinks menu works well too.
Sharing a plate of profiteroles is also a good way to end a date night. Before them, there's pizza, pasta, risotto and grills on the main menu from midday.
“Service was amazing by Amy and Lucy… I felt like a VIP”
Matt, Google review, 2026
Good to know
- When: desserts and gelato are served all day. We open at 08:00 and close at 22:00 Monday to Saturday and 21:00 on Sunday.
- Booking: tables for up to eight can be booked online, and walk-ins are welcome whenever we have space.
- Allergies: information on the 14 major allergens is available on request. Please speak to your server before you order.
- Address: 4 Medway Court, Judd St, London WC1H 9QX. Phone 020 4618 6314.
Choux, cream and a coffee, all day. Book a table or walk in at 4 Medway Court, Judd Street.