Petit four comes from the French for "small oven". Wood-fired ovens held their heat long after the bread came out, and the small fine things went in to bake in that falling warmth. Most words on a patisserie menu have a plain story like that behind them. Here are the ones that come up most often over our cabinet.
Gâteau
A gâteau is a cake. In French usage it means a sophisticated, multi-layered one, not something baked in a single tin. Ours are four layers. Cut a slice and the stripes stand up in bands, the edge clean where the knife went through. All ten of our specialty layer cakes cost the same whatever the 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 first, flavour second. The numbers run larger than most people guess.
Choux, and ganache montée
Choux is pronounced "shoo". A paste, not a dough, cooked on the stove before it ever sees the oven. In the heat the water turns to steam and blows the pastry hollow. That hollow is what you fill. The Carolina holds dulce de leche mousse and dark chocolate ganache montée inside a choux shell, finished with roasted white chocolate and a drizzle of salted caramel. The Paris-Brest is a choux ring packed with roasted coconut cream and passionfruit whipped cream, and the passionfruit cuts straight through the coconut.
Ganache is chocolate and cream. Ganache montée is that same mixture rested, then whipped until it lightens and behaves like a mousse while keeping the chocolate flavour of a ganache. One coats the roof of your mouth. The other dissolves off it. Want to make choux yourself? Our choux pastry class caps at four people, so you get shown, not watched over.
Petit four
Now the words mean a small, finished dessert eaten in one or two bites, built to the same standard as a full-size one and not scaled down in ambition. A tray of petit fours holds fifteen pieces. Flavours include Mocha, The Pear, S'more, Emerald, Tronco and Miniature Tiramisu, and all ten 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, milkier than a sugar caramel, and heavy enough to drag on the spoon. It runs through much of the menu. Most obviously through the Dulce Caramel Cake, and through the Banoffee Cookie Tart: a chocolate chip cookie baked into a crisp tart shell, filled to the brim with dulce de leche, topped with caramelised banana.
Pudim is Portuguese for pudding. In Brazil it means a baked custard with caramel. Dhi slow-bakes his so the caramel develops and glazes the outside in a golden syrup, and the texture comes out denser and smoother than a French crème caramel. It wobbles on the plate, then gives all at once on the tongue. 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 we mean it literally. No delicate frosting to bruise, no refrigeration needed, built to be carried home 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, and the crumb stays close and faintly tacky for days. On the drinks side, "dirty" means a shot of espresso added to a drink that would not otherwise have one. A dirty anything is the same drink with coffee run through it.
Bring someone who will disagree with you
Two people, two different things off the mini desserts list, and a swap halfway. Sit at one of the movable tables with the open kitchen going behind you, push both plates into the middle, and take a spoonful of each in turn. You each eat two. You each leave with an opinion instead of a guess, and one of you will be wrong about the pudim. Every mini dessert is one serving, so nothing has to be cut in half.
More on where the Paris-Brest came from, on why petit fours suit a shared table, and on what separates a patisserie from a bakery.
If you want to come and look at the cabinet
Anything already 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. The checkout date picker only offers dates the kitchen can actually meet. Collection is in person from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street in the central city, because we do not deliver. Open 10am to 9pm Tuesday to Saturday. The frequently asked questions page has the rest.
