Petit four comes from the French for "small oven". Wood-fired ovens held heat long after the bread was out, and the small, fine things were baked in that falling warmth. Most words on a patisserie menu have a plain explanation like that behind them. Here are the ones that come up most often in our cabinet.
Gâteau
A gâteau is a cake, but in French usage it means a sophisticated, multi-layered one rather than something baked in a single tin. Ours are four layers, which is why a slice shows stripes and holds a clean edge. All ten of our specialty layer cakes are priced the same regardless of flavour, and come as a 15cm for twelve to fifteen people, a 20cm for twenty to twenty-five, and a 25cm for thirty to thirty-five. Count heads before you choose a flavour, because the serving numbers are larger than most people guess.
Choux, and ganache montée
Choux is pronounced "shoo". It is a paste rather than a dough, cooked on the stove before it goes in the oven, where the water in it turns to steam and blows the pastry hollow. That hollow is what you fill. The Carolina is a choux shell filled with dulce de leche mousse and dark chocolate ganache montée, finished with roasted white chocolate and salted caramel. The Paris-Brest is a choux ring holding roasted coconut cream and passionfruit whipped cream.
Ganache is chocolate and cream. Ganache montée is that same mixture rested, then whipped, which lightens it until it behaves like a mousse while keeping the chocolate flavour of a ganache. It is the difference between a filling that coats the mouth and one that dissolves in it. If you want to make choux yourself, our choux pastry class caps at four people, so you are shown rather than watched over.
Petit four
Now it means a small, finished dessert eaten in one or two bites, made to the same standard as a full-size one rather than scaled down in ambition. A tray of petit fours holds fifteen pieces across flavours including Mocha, The Pear, S'more, Emerald, Tronco and Miniature Tiramisu. All ten flavours are made with no added gluten. Our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur, and nothing is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease.
Dulce de leche, and pudim
Dulce de leche is condensed milk cooked slowly until it caramelises: thick, golden, and more milky than a sugar caramel. It runs through much of our menu, most obviously in the Dulce Caramel Cake and in the Banoffee Cookie Tart, a chocolate chip cookie baked into a tart shell, filled with dulce de leche and topped with caramelised banana.
Pudim is Portuguese for pudding, and in Brazil it means a baked custard with caramel. Dhi's is slow-baked so the caramel develops and glazes the outside in a golden syrup, and the texture is denser and smoother than a French crème caramel. A Pudim Caramel Flan is made with no added gluten.
Travel cake, and "dirty"
Travel cake is our own term for the bundt and loaf range, and it is meant literally. No delicate frosting to bruise, no refrigeration needed, built to be carried by the person who bought it. A 20cm loaf serves eight; a 25cm bundt serves sixteen. The whole tea cakes and loaves range works this way. On the drinks side, "dirty" means a shot of espresso added to a drink that would not otherwise have one, so a dirty anything is the same drink with coffee through it.
All of this is more useful with a second person at the table. Bring one, order two different things from the mini desserts, and swap halfway: you each get two, and you leave with an opinion rather than a guess. Every mini dessert is one serving, so nothing has to be divided. We have written more about where the Paris-Brest came from, about why petit fours suit a shared table, and about the difference between a patisserie and a bakery.
Ordering and visiting
Anything in the cabinet needs no notice, so a first visit can be a walk-in. Most made-to-order items need two days, some larger desserts three and petit four trays seven, and the checkout date picker only offers dates the kitchen can meet. Collection is in person from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street in the central city, since we do not deliver. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday, and the frequently asked questions page has the rest.
