Pastry inside pastry. Quelle idée!I don't know if they are cartoon characters or what. The guy on the left is a chocolate covered cake called a gâteau opéra (looks like he might be singing an aria), and the guy on the right is a pain au chocolat named Nico. Are they familiar to any of you?
I found out that the gâteau opéra was invented in the 1960s by the famous French patissier Gaston Lenôtre. It's made with layers of biscuit Joconde (made from almonds), coffee flavored butter cream, and chocolate ganache. Sounds good to me!
Never heard of those! Of course, opéra is a classic pâtisserie pastry, I don't think I have ever seen anyone bake one at home. But I guess your pâtissier have just been creative :)
ReplyDeleteI like le pain choco, but need to try l'Opera for sure the next time I'm in France.
ReplyDeleteI looked for féves on Ebay and there were lots and lots of them. Disney ones seemed to be the favorites to collect.
Never heard of l'Opéra, except as a structure or musically speaking. But in the sixties, I already was an expat! As for the petit pain au chocolat, it's been here for years. It's some kind of rectangular brioche or croissant with a small chocolate bar running all the way through. It was one of my favorite when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteThere is a cake called Opera ( Had it for New year's day here in Montreal) . I buy it instead of making it ( too much work as far as i am concerned).
ReplyDeleteHere is a site to show how it looks and is made:
http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/fr/recettes/gateau/opera_ill.html
Thank you beaver for the Opera recipe. That cake should have been called Louvre instead, since biscuit joconde, whatever that is, is a primary constituent. Unless it is because of Ponchielli's La Gioconda which is, as everybody knows, an Italian opera. That's a little farfetched, though! That cake looks delicious, but a little difficult to make I think.
ReplyDeleteLenôtre is my hero. I made one of those years ago and it was very good.
ReplyDeleteDarn, I've been drooling so much while reading your last posts that I need to clean my keyboard. Given that I adore both puff pastry and frangipane, galettes des rois sounds like my idea of a heavenly dessert (or is that the with all the pope's hats?) Help -- I've got my metaphors all mixed up.
ReplyDeleteMy Montreal sister says:"Un gâteau opéra, c'est toute une job!" She bakes everything. I eat!
ReplyDeleteRead your meme (3). Cash (loose change) on its way to: Walt IV, Loire Valley, France. Happy belated Birthday!
The first time I had a galette des rois was in Berkeley. French friends had us over for dinner and we ate one for dessert. It came from a French bakery in Berkeley called La Farine. It was horrible. I never forgot it.
ReplyDeleteLast Sunday we bought one at the market. I found the feve. It was better than the one we had years ago but I still am not a big fan. Maybe I would like it better if we got to wear pope hats when you win rather than crowns.
We shared a few galettes in Switzerland this year and, to our surprise, found two feves (with two crowns)... apparently a testament to their sense of equality and sharing. Anyway, those are two great specimens. So often, today, the galette makers end up "cutting corners" and making the feve a singular disappointment.
ReplyDeleteminter, I know what you mean. Thanks for stopping by. I'll be checking your sites out over the next few days!
ReplyDelete