Cakes as black as darkness, vampire masks… what achievements have left you baba?
Mercotte: I'll be frank: Halloween is not really my cup of tea… Even if the candidates compete in their imagination to scare us. What impressed me the most was the bloody heart, inspired by a Taylor Swift music video, that the candidates had to reproduce. It was super impressive: you stuck a knife in the middle of the cake, and a strawberry marmalade mixed with a red grape elixir squirted out like blood!
You have formed a harmonious duo with Cyril Lignac for thirteen years… What is the recipe?
We get along well because we're both cash, no filter, and we have fun. He is kind and very protective of me. He is a bit like my fifth son. He's a thriving businessman, but at my level, I'm also hyperactive.
For Laëtitia Milot, finding her place in the middle of your duo shouldn’t have been a cakewalk…
We did everything to welcome him well. What's funny are the mini-sketches that we play at the start of the show: for Halloween, she's a police inspector, I'm a gendarme, and we're investigating a crime. The fact that she is an actress brings a little touch of fantasy.
You always have several projects on the go. What are they?
After Toquicimes, the mountain cuisine festival, in Megève, I will go to the Pâtiss'Art fair, in Deauville, then to the Salon du chocolat, in Paris. I have just returned from filming Best Pastry Chef in Algeria. I will also film Tous en cuisine with Cyril Lignac, and will lead workshops at the Impérial Chocolat salon, at the Château de Fontainebleau.
What icing on the cake would make you happiest?
I'm already satisfied. At 82, I can't stop! With all these plans, I won't return home to Chambéry before February 13!
The best pastry chef, every Thursday at 9:10 p.m. on M6
