Pâtisserie Lac, part four – She who let the summer enter the pâtisserie

There are probably a couple of things I should tell you before you go on with the reading of this post. One: don’t hate me. Two: as I’m writing this live from a lounge chair, wearing my very favourite Burberry bikini.
Now, I know it’s not spring – let alone summer – yet, and the fact [...]

Pâtisserie Lac, part three – She who got ready for her exam… by making a tarte bourdaloue

Do you remember that time when cream pies were being thrown at foodbeam? Well, this would be so very appropriate. Again.
The thing is that, aside from the long overdue bûches de Noël manifesto and the launch of la moustache, I’ve made a promise to Tony. A promise about something very exciting.
A taste of Mediterranean. Seven [...]

On happiness, CAP pâtissier and a tart – Tarte chocolat au lait et fruit de la passion, ananas rôti

This past Monday. Yesterday, in fact. I made a choice. One of the most critical choices I’ve ever been confronted to. The kind of choices that leaves you in an uncanny state of uncertainty; but definitely one that makes you happy, one that you can’t help but think about – days and nights and every second in between -, one that comes with a CAP (Certificat d’Aptitude Professionelle) pâtissier, chocolatier et glacier.

The tart. What can I say? An insanely delicious passion fruit ganache encased in a crisp pâte sucrée shell and topped with syrupy pineapple dices [...]

Réussir la pâte feuilletée, pas à pas – Mastering puff pastry, step by step

If you know how to use a rolling pin, then you know how to make pâte feuilletée. This could be the tagline of this pâte feuilletée 101 post.

For those of you who don’t know it yet, pâte feuilletée [literally, layered dough] – pat fe-yeah-teh – is the French for puff pastry, a fine and versatile pastry used in many pâtisseries and baked good: from mille-feuilles to flans. It consists in a basic dough, the détrempe – deh-tramp – spread with a good share of beurre manié – bear man-yeah –, then successively folded and rolled out [...]

Des petits nids dans les citronniers – Lemon meringue tartlets

[Lemon trees nests]

A few years ago, when my mum went to the pâtisserie on Sundays to get us dessert, I would invariably ask for lemon meringue tart with the exciting promise of a smooth and tangy treat in mind. Apparently, the flavour of those Sunday tarts always seemed to be nowhere close to my dream.
There is no such thing as bad lemon meringue tarts. Damp crust. Eggy filling, nonetheless flavourless. Tooth-aching meringue.

I’ve been pretending to hate lemon meringue tart ever since. But well, a couple of months ago, as my sister begged me to make her favourite dessert, I couldn’t help but change my mind. The lemon meringue tart I had made was simply perfect. And to be honest, I had the inner feeling that it was matchless [...]