I can’t even remember the countless hours I spent on the kitchen counter at my grandparents house. I loved to listen to my grandmother while she was cooking.
She always explained me everything in detail: why she should add this or mix that way…
But the part I prefered was the one about le gâteau craque.
This cake was of my biggest food fantasy. I litteraly dreamt about it several times.
Maybe because I had never seen my grandma making it and thus, I didn’t know how it looks nor how it tastes.
So my favourite game was to try and imagine how the gâteau craque could be, and with a name as the only hint, all I could say is that it sounded yummy.

Craque is the adjective for craquer.
Craquer can mean both to crumble or to fall in love with something/someone.
My grandmother was teasing me: she would say how good it was, but woudn’t give me a clue about its taste, texture or ingredients.

I recently spent a week at my grandparents’. And when my grandmother asked me if I wanted to make the gâteau craque, the only thing i could answer was YES.
It’s actually a chocolate cake covered with a chocolate-almond meringue icing.

Though, it’s not your usual chocolate cake. I was pretty astonished because it contains:
- no butter
- just 50g of flour and 50g of potato starch
The cake itself was very moist and not very sweet, so the meringue icing is a good option.

Le gâteau craque de ma grand-mère
This is a nice little cake that has a great texture.
Note that it’s best served in small portions (hence the 10-12 servings) because of the frosting is somewhat… rich.
Next time, I think I’ll go for a butterless frosting, hence an all meringue, chocolate and almond one.

Manslois mousse with fraises au vinaigre balasmique.

I have a great love affair with cheese. I love to eat it and even more, to make it. It might be linked to the fact that I’m French and thus, brought up on Camembert and Roquefort…
Indeed, more than 400 different cheeses are produced in France, 42 of these having a quality label called AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) and lots being made under the AB (Agriculture Biologique) label.
This doesn’t mean that all French cheese are necessarily good — both in taste and quality.
But when you buy your cheese, try to know where it comes from: a farm or an industry.
And if you ever come to France, I deeply advise you to visit local farmers, to talk with them and eventually to buy their produce. This way, you can’t be wrong.

I have no idea on how people from other countries eat their cheese, but as a French, I can’t imagine a weekend lunch without a well-furnished cheese platter.
Usually, I like to keep it simple with 3 or 4 different cheeses. I try to serve big portions so the people don’t get afraid to help themselves and I like to combine strong and mild flavours:
- a blue cheese (like Roquefort or Bleu d’Auvergne)
- a fresh goat cheese (now I’ve worked on a farm, making goat cheese, I can’t live without this cheese. It is so versatile and delicious)
- a Corsican sheep’s milk hard cheese served either with some fig jam or chestnut honey.
- a piece of Brie de Meaux: a soft mild-in-taste cheese

But a full cheese lunch could be a good idea as well if the flavours are well combined. Here, I tried to put together for this 4-course lunch. No main course! Just 4 small dishes, high in taste yet subtle.

Tarte fine aux asperges et au chèvre frais
[Asparagus and fresh goat cheese tart]
I made this for my birthday a month ago and everyone loved it. Three simple flavours: green asparagus, fresh goat cheese and fine puff pastry.
This is far better if you make your own puff pastry — I know it’s time-consuming, but the difference is real: homemade puff pastry is so delicious.
The goat cheese should be 2-3 days old, as I think a fresher cheese would had more creaminess than taste.
(Recipe)

Soufflé au bleu d’Auvergne
[Bleu d’Auvergne soufflé]
I love soufflés because they’re light and tasty at the same time. Don’t be afraid to make them — it’s so easy. The only thing you have to keep in mind is: soufflés must be eaten straight away from the oven or they’ll just fall.
An easy way to make soufflés without having to be in the kitchen during the lunch is to prepare the batter up to an hour before you start eating and to pop the small filled soufflé tins in the oven when you get the tart out of the oven.
These soufflés are nice served with some bitter leaves like rockets and a vinaigrette made with a nutty oil (like walnut oil).

Individual soufflés make for a highly rewarding treat!

Camembert aux fruits secs, aux noix et au miel
[Camembert with dried fruits, nuts and honey]
This is hardly a recipe. You should consider it as a reminder: camembert goes well with dried fruits and nuts which go well with runny honey.
For this ‘recipe’ you should choose a mild camembert: if it’s too strong it will be overpowering and you won’t get that soft ‘longueur en bouche’ (literally - length in mouth, which means great after taste).

Yum, runny honey. I love the contrast between the tenderness of the camembert and the crunch of the nuts.

Entremet mousseux au Manslois et fraises au vinaigre balsamique
[Manslois mousse with balsamic vinegar strawberries]

Manslois is a strange little cheese. It’s cow’s milk fresh cheese from Charentes, where it’s used to make a delicious cheese tart called ‘tourteau au fromage frais’. I could have taken the easy way and make this tart but I reckon it would have been a bit too heavy after that 100% cheese lunch, so I went for the cold mousse.
I think you might have troubles getting Manslois cheese. Anyway, you can replace it by any fresh cheese — goat cheese would be a good option.

The mousse is served with balsamic vinegar strawberries. So refreshing!