It is quite a challenging dessert to make, as there are so many different components involved, but time can be saved by preparing the pastry and filling in advance, which then just leaves the assembling. Of course you can save even more time by buying the ready-to-roll puff pastry, but I assure you that it is incredibly satisfying making your own, and the quality is far better than what you can buy in the shops.
I used generous amount of caramel to coat my choux buns (since I have a very sweet tooth!) and used this to stick them to the puff pastry base. I also attempted to make a sugar cage to by drizzling caramel over a greased plastic bowl but unfortunately it broke into pieces once I tried to remove it! Nevertheless, I still used the broken bits to sit on top of the gateau, and actually, it doesn't look too bad!
Overall, I thought this dessert was a winner but it does tend to go a little soggy after a while so is best eaten fairly quickly after assembling, which is not exactly too difficult to do!
