A small pastry filled with cream flavored with vanilla, coffee, or chocolate or iced with fondant icing.
The frosted, cream-filled buns known as eclairs acquired their name, French for lightning bolt, not from their shape but from the speed with which they vanish from a plate: like lightning, they are gone in a flash. The word developed through Latin from an Indo-European source, pronounced something like klar, that meant to shout dearly. This shouting sense of the Indo-European source is not apparent in eclair, but it is evident in other descendants of klar such as exclaim and clamour. In contrast, eclair developed from the clear sense of klar, as did the word clairvoyant (one who sees clearly) and also the word clear itself. Still other descendants of the Indo-European klar seem to hang between the shouting sense and the clear sense: clarinet (a musical instrument with a shrill, but clear, sound) and chaunticleer (the traditional name for a rooster, meaning clear singer). English borrowed eclair from French in the mid nineteenth century.
This excerpt refers to a type of pastry cake that is bar-shaped and relatively light in texture. The interior of this cake is typically filled with cream or custard, and the exterior is often frosted with chocolate.
A dainty cake that is shaped like a small finger and prepared using choux pastry is commonly referred to as an “éclair.” This pastry is typically filled with either whipped cream or pastry cream, with the top being coated in either chocolate or coffee glaze.