Sheffield Opens First Museum Dedicated to Profiteroles and Éclairs Made Entirely Out of Steel

Sheffield — long celebrated as the UK’s “Steel City” — has added an unexpected entry to its cultural calendar this week with the opening of The National Museum of Metal Pastry, the world’s first gallery dedicated entirely to profiteroles and éclairs crafted from stainless steel.

Located in a converted cutlery factory, the museum houses over 400 pastry-shaped sculptures, from life-sized éclairs plated with chrome to profiteroles forged from recycled train parts.

THE VISION
Founder and curator Malcolm “Mally” Briggs says the idea came to him while eating a chocolate éclair at Meadowhall Shopping Centre.

“I was halfway through and thought — imagine if this was indestructible,” he explained. “A profiterole you could pass down to your grandkids. A steel choux bun that laughs in the face of time.”

Briggs immediately set about recruiting local metalworkers, pastry chefs, and “anyone with both a blowtorch and a piping bag” to bring the vision to life.

THE EXHIBITS
Highlights include:

The Eternal Éclair — a 12-foot éclair made from solid stainless steel, weighing 3.8 tonnes and requiring a forklift to move.

Profiterole of the Gods — plated in platinum and filled with molten LED “custard.”

Victoria Sponge in Exile — an interactive piece where visitors can attempt to saw through a sponge-shaped block of reinforced iron (unsuccessful attempts are added to the “Wall of Defeat”).

The pièce de résistance is the Chocolate Ganache Cannon, a fully functional, steam-powered device that can fire molten steel in decorative patterns across the gallery ceiling.

VOX POPS: OPENING DAY REACTIONS

Sandra Whittaker, 53, retired dinner lady from Barnsley:

“It’s the most Sheffield thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve always said — we make the best steel and we make the best cakes, so why not smash them together? The éclair that plays the ‘Arctic Monkeys’ when you tap it… I nearly cried.”

Dean Purvis, 29, forklift operator from Doncaster:

“It’s brill, innit? I liked the big profiterole you could sit inside. It’s like a little metal igloo, only less warm and slightly more dangerous.”

Lesley Grant, 41, teaching assistant from Killamarsh:

“The kids loved it. Although my youngest did lick the steel éclair and now he’s stuck to it in the family photo. We’ll treasure that picture forever.”

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
Sheffield City Council has praised the museum as “a perfect marriage of local industry and patisserie nostalgia,” noting that it could become “the Bilbao Guggenheim of baked goods made from metals.”

Local historian Dr. Pauline Hesketh says the project captures “the essence of Sheffield — craftsmanship, resilience, and the faint smell of burnt sugar from a misjudged welding experiment.”

VISITOR EXPERIENCE
Tickets cost £8 for adults, £5 for children, and include a complimentary steel teaspoon “as a memento or minor weapon, depending on your mood.”

The museum café offers regular pastries “to balance all the dental work caused by looking at the exhibits,” and the gift shop sells keyrings, miniature éclairs, and a line of “choux bun” paperweights strong enough to dent a car bonnet.

Briggs hopes the museum will inspire future generations.

“Some cities have art galleries, others have opera houses. Sheffield now has the only place in the world where you can say, with complete honesty, ‘That profiterole could kill a man.’”