With Epiphany just around the corner, Alesian bakers and pastry chefs are bringing out the cakes and crowns of kings.
January 6 will mark the traditional return of the galette des rois to the Alésiens table. But you still have to buy them in the bakeries and pastries of the Basin. How do marketers compete for ideas to create attractive cakes? Without forgetting the eternal debate: frangipane or crown of kings?
“Today we’re doing 50/50”
Let’s go through the door of the Maison de la Fougasse, to find Ludovic Ladreyt. Here, cakes and kings’ crowns rub shoulders. The master craftsman doubling follows “the evolution of fashion to stay in the game.“Previously, they made a few pancakes and a lot of brioches. Then”the trend has reversed. Today we’re doing 50/50“, with products “nobles“, like Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) butter, and candied fruits mostly from Gap.
To compete with chains that sell frozen foods, they build loyalty: “for every five purchased, you get one free“For beans, Ludovic signed a partnership with a real estate agency last year, but “we got our fingers slapped“, while this partnership had a charitable ambition, that of helping battered women. This year they are based around Finding Nemo, an animated film from the Pixar studio. “We take more risk“, confides the craftsman.
“Pralines, chocolate chips, almond pieces…”
At the Martel bakery, Marjorie Baille favors a single frangipane, but of various kinds. “We prefer to focus on a single pancake.“To which the baker adds”pralines, chocolate chips, pieces of almonds or even candied fruit“. There are natural ones of course. Without forgetting the beans, especially collectibles, all around the theme of baking: “baguettes, brioches…“. These are “always the same“customers who come back,” explains Marjorie.
When we order her a galette des rois, she asks: “which ? A brioche or a frangipane?“, she laughs. “Cakes, crowns, kingdoms. Everyone calls them whatever they want.“
The manager confides that these are “very long days“. Do the day before, including the “turning the lamination upstream”. Count minimum “24 hours in advance for beautiful pancakes!“
“A nod to what was done before”
Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE
Head to the Veyret bakery. “Tradition oblige !“, Sylvain Veyret has been producing his pancakes for 15 years. In these he puts “lots of love and tenderness“. A little frangipane too. Only one kind of pancake, but the baker of course hides beans inside. Collectible ones, adored by children and which “often create arguments“. And the others, who do “talk a lot“.
A real bean bean. “When you buy a pancake, and the first time you come across the bean, you criticize me, you insult me! But when you eat the other part, and you discover another bean, you understand.” Sylvain makes a “a nod to what was done before“. And for him, no hesitation: “frangipane is a snack, but sorry, with coffee it’s brioche!“.
