Happy Valentine's Day

The easiest way to get straight to my heart?

Chocolate & Meringue & Macaron & rasberries wrapped in a heart shaped cake!

Sweet memories...

Sometimes I just can't help myself... I admit to taking pictures of food, especially sweet food.

Looking at the photo lets me travel back to a specific moment and will often put a smile on my face. Without wanting to revel in memories, it is nice to remember the smell, the taste, the atmosphere, the occasion and the company of that place in time. You remember conversations, feelings and situations without having to see a person's face or a place.

Nothing beats a box of chocolates in my book... those who know me well will confirm!

Homemade mousse au chocolate is a close runner-up.

Best made with Swiss chocolate!

Pavolva is high on the family favourite list of desserts.

Les merveilles de Fred are a truly Parisian discovery

Les macarons can vary widely in quality and taste!

An authentic crema catalana is also hard to come by.

Parisian interpretation of a tarte tatin and a lemon meringue pie

Parisan rooftop honey is hard to find.

A modern version of a chocolate easter egg, I wonder?!?

What do you know about French pâtisserie?

Curious to see inside the new building of world renowned Cordon Bleu culinary school I signed up for a course of cultural history of pastry which in French naturally sounds much more impressive: "L'histoire de la pâtisserie à travers l'édition culinaire."

I have participated in many culinary classes in the past but this was to be a lecture rather than a hands-on experience. We were taken on a journey of the evolution of French pastry from the earliest preparations, through 20th century decadence, to modern technology's influence on today's chefs.

Guided by the literature on French pastry we learnt that the distinction between cooks and pastry cooks was recognised in the Middle Ages. It all started off with the pain d’épice which was traced back to ancient times (as far as the Egyptians) and was brought to Europe from China by the Crusades. As they brought back the recipe and the spices, this distant ancestor of the ginger bread was spread over Europe during the Middle Ages.

In 1358 we find the first mention of the gateaux de Savoie, the posh French description for sponge cake! Apparently Nostradamus was the first person to write a recipe containing marzipan in 1555.

The first ice creams were served at the wedding of Catherine de Médicis and the future Henri II, along with pâte à choux, light pastry dough invented by Popelini. Who knew it was thanks to Catherine de Médicis, who not only brought with her Italy's white gold of the time but also the know how - or as the French would put it, the savoir-faire - of incorporating the new discovery called sugar into delicious recipes.

The world-famous French macaron made its entrance in 1552 but supposedly there is a recipe dating from the 12th century by the Abbaye de Cormery claiming this iconic invention.

In the 17th century, Anne of Austria brought chocolate to France from the Spanish court, and the concept of "pièces montées" (decoratively mounted confectionery centrepieces) made its entrance in Versailles. Vatel whipped up the first Chantilly cream, yet it wasn't until the 19th century that French pastry began to really take flight, quite possibly because patisserie was a privilege coveted by the aristocracy until then.

Today in 2017 la pâtisserie française is much more a chemical science than intuitive ingenuity. Not much space is left for improvisation although creativity still plays an important role especially in the presentation of such delicacies. Le savoir-faire comes avant tout!

Smashing view from the new Cordon Bleu building in Paris

Back to school and ready to take notes!

Who's who of Cordon Bleu chefs!

While others were busy signing the Treaty of Paris in 1815 and 

the act confirming the neutrality of Switzerland was signed on the same day, 

Monsieur Antonin Carême was making culinary history!

My own "Jour du Macaron"

Oh no, I missed it. Last weekend was macaron day. The official spring date of Sunday unveiled the 11th annual Jour du Macaron in Paris. Initiated by the Picasso of Pastry, Pierre Hermé, Macaron Day is a charitable event which is followed by the high-end pastry chefs of French pâtisserie throughout France.

Well, instead of fretting over spilt milk, I thought I'd share my own private Macaron tour which my Flaneuses friends and I came up with a few years back. The goal was to discover the best Chocolate macaron in town.

It all started with the Figaroscope's top ten chocolate macaron list which four friends drooled over, before they decided to put France's speciality to the test themselves.

Therefore, Ms Organized came up with a list of her own that made me giggle and impressed Ms Communication to no end. Ms Task-Oriented could not wait to start and get through the list within the morning.

We met at Café Carette which was full of chic French business people (not one single tourist in sight at 9am!) and I promptly got told off for taking fotos. The waitress couldn't resist a smile when we ordered two macarons each along with our coffee. Why two? Well, being slightly over-ambitious, we had decided to try a chocolate and a second flavour in each store.

We headed down Champs Elysée to hit world-renowned LaDurée. I will reveal that LaDurée is way over-rated but it's presentation, decoration, packaging and branding are extraordinary. How DID they get the entire world to remember their French name as well as the product itself? A charming salesman asked if we'd like fraise coquelicot (strawberry poppy) or fraise guimauve (strawberry marshmallow), chocolat ganache or chocolat classic. Doesn't he want to ask if I prefer pink cherry with white polka dots?

Striding down the Champs Elysée to Lenôtre we got diverted by two handsome young Abercrombie boys with whom we had our picture taken. No, I will NOT publish it! We (the girls), in return, distracted an enchanting chef at Lenôtre who promptly burnt his madeleines during the patisserie class he was giving.

We were - again - slightly sidetracked by Maille's window display of violet&blueberry flavoured mustard in pink jars which of course we had to taste! I know, I know the combination sounds terrible but hey, we're in France!

The only positive point Fauchon got in our books was for their fuchsia coloured box, tables and chairs. The macarons tasted stale. I will say no more.

By now we had gone from tasting two macarons each to sharing one between the four of us - I actually hate admitting to this fact. We therefore decided to stop for lunch at the Cinema du Pantheon which following to a review is a Parisian utopia: hidden beneath an art house cinema, a sophisticated café frequented only by beautiful, intellectual people… Delicious snacks, light meals and glasses of pouilly-fuissé. 

After four glasses of Sancerre we were ready to hit the macarons from Hugo et Victor, Pierre Hermé and Aoki which we had bought before lunch. We spread them out on our table much to the waiter's surprise and continued our dégustation.

In conclusion, my absolute personal favourite of all macarons came from Aoki. Not only are their flavours extremely delicate, the packaging and the presentation is refined in a way only the Japanese know how to craft.

Following closely were the macarons by Lenôtre and Carette. Ms Communication tends to agree with me while Ms Organized and Ms Task-Oriented concluded that Pierre Hermé was their favourite macaron source followed by Carette.

We did not manage to get through all ten macaron shops in one day but we found a definite consensus that Carette (as runner-up) was appreciated by all of us including Figaro's critic. And you'll never guess what my hubby bought home as a surprise today! Yum!!!

A sweet tooth in Zürich

A recent survey has shown that nine out of every ten people love chocolate. The tenth is lying. 

Confiserie Sprüngli, one of Switzerland’s most famous family businesses, was founded in 1836, and is now a household name for people from all over the world, synonymous with the finest Swiss chocolate, truffles, pralines and confectionery.

Need I specify that it is my absolute favourite spot in Zürich? Every time I head back "home" I stop at their shop on Paradeplatz to indulge in a Luxemburgerli, a praline, a chocolate truffle or their scrumptious Birchermüesli. For the past decades Sprüngli has never ever disappointed me since - true to their Swissness - they make absolutely no compromise on quality!

So just let me indulge a bit more by daydreaming over the photos I took last time I visited my personal chocolate heaven.

I remember my very first white box of Sprüngli chocolates my mother received as a gift when my little brother was born!

Now, my favourite are champagne and raspberry Luxemburgeli

The Swiss version of a macaron but ohh so much tastier!

A Sprüngli classic: Truffes du jour

Endless supplies

Sprüngli's petit four are also worth tasting. Yum!

Any kind of chocolate under the sun, just make your choice!

Not contempt, I also opted for some Ragusa served with my coffee after lunch ...

...and if you can still feel that sweet tooth of yours.. there are always the cupcakes left to try!

The secret of making Parisian macarons

Living in Paris makes you totally biased towards macarons. How can you NOT have an opinion about them when they call out for you every time you hit the streets and where macaron boutiques are de rigueur?

In the past, I have organised my own macaron tasting tour for my friends where we visited 9 different shops to decide which brand is worthy of Number 1 in taste, texture, colour and packaging. The only consensus we came to at the time, was that Ladurée macarons are the worst of all... newsflash!

I have also taken macaron-making classes, but the one thing I have not done was to go “behind the scenes” of a Paris pâtissier, to watch how to make macarons, therefore I decided to sign up for Gérard Mulot's macaron workshop.

For two hours, I enjoyed the special opportunity of stepping inside their kitchen and discovering Gérard Mulot's secrets of the most perfect macarons that Paris has to offer. 

The atelier produces over 6,000 macarons in 18 different flavours each day! Watching the team of three flawlessly linking up the workstations you can see how they manage to create so many of the little delicacies.

The most surprising fact: Monsieur Leclerc mixes the macaron batter by hand! There are a lot of factors that can make a macaron batter behave differently such as the type of ground almonds used or how fine they are ground, the egg whites and even the weather make a difference he claims. Therefore the most reliable way to make sure the batter is “just so” is by hand. 

This chef has been making macarons for over 30 years, so he obviously knows his stuff. I dare say after tasting a dozen of scrumptious flavours before lunch, I can vouch for M. Leclerc and his team. 

Maître du macaron is working his magic.

Chef Leclerc mixing by hand

Working fast and focused 

Can you guess what this is?

The piping machine viewed from above filled with delicious chocolate French meringue mixture

 The macaron-piping machine in action.

10 minutes later we have switched flavours to caramel.

The macarons rest on giant wheelie carts of trays for a try while before ...

... they are whipped into the revolving ovens for 12 minutes sharp ...

... whereafter they are left to cool for a little bit before ...

... they are filled by hand one by one!

Servez-vous! (Help yourself) No need to tell me twice!

Perfect-looking coffee macarons in the shop window.

Prêt-à-Portea at The Berkeley Hotel

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, my Godmother's family had a real treat in store for me.

Having discovered that the Hotel Peninsula serves Pink Afternoon Tea during the month of October, I waited for a special friend to come to town and we splurged, sitting comfortably on the hotel's terrace café on a sunny late autumn afternoon.

You are wondering what could possibly be better than a Pink Afternoon Tea in Paris? Well, I'll let you in on a secret: The Berkeley's Fashionista Prêt-à-Portea in London!

This high tea - served in the Caramel Room - is inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world and the menu is transformed every six months to follow the changing fashion seasons. We all gasped and gushed when the three-tiered stand arrived with a fantastic selection of miniature sweet and savoury works of art.

The current Autumn/Winter collection sees designers such as Jimmy Choo, Valentino and Dolce&Gabbana grace the Berkeley’s tea stand as Prêt-à-Portea adds a creative twist to the classic elements of the traditional English afternoon tea with cakes and pastries resembling the latest catwalk designs for the style conscious. Apparently, The Berkeley's head pastry chef, Mourad Khiat, is now invited to fashion shows to generate ideas for his new collections.

How cool is that?

Paris move over, here comes London!

... and you even receive - I dare call it such -  a doggie bag! Any cakes left at the end are given to you in a bespoke handbag take-away box to take home ... after you've shopped until you drop just around the corner at Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

The cake stand delights are fully explained by the waiting staff 

who showed us the fashion catwalk inspiration for each tasty treat.

Cakes, biscuits, fancies and sandwiches were all replenished so we dug in.

Matthew Williamson sequin macaroon with Mont Blanc cream ganache 

and psychedelic swirl of black and white

 Gorgeous cakes, biscuits, and mousses

Dolce&Gabbana's whimsical night owl with blackcurrant bavarois and star anis panna cotta savouring the designers' Sicilian forest fantasy

For those who prefer the savoury options, the cake stand included savoury canapés 

and they were replenished too.

Prêt-à-Portea take-away handbag comes in fuchsia and neon green.