If ever there’s a cake that evokes summer holidays, the beach, the sun and the Med, it’s the Tarte Tropézienne. A fluffy light buttery brioche, with a hint of orange flower water, filled in the middle with a mix of two creams and sprinkled on top with crunchy sugar. Oh heaven! Until I moved to “summer-holiday-land” this cake would take me there if I needed a fix of southern warmth. Now, I don’t need that fix as I live here but that doesn’t stop me from indulging every so often in this wickedly delicious cream pie. And a couple of days ago I tested the very original “trademark” tarte.
Like so many great classics, the exact ingredients of the Tarte Tropézienne are a closely guarded secret and only known to the “official” creators in a handful of pâtisseries. The legend of its origins however are not a secret and live up to the glamour of its home town, St Tropez.
In 1955 a Polish baker, Alexandre Micka, opened a pâtisserie on the Place de la Mairie in the sleepy fishing village St Tropez. In it he proposed a brioche with cream based on his grandmother’s recipe. Now it just so happened that the mythic film And God created Woman was being shot nearby and Micka provided the catering. A certain young rising star fell in love with his cake and suggested its name. This star was none other than Brigitte Bardot and it was the success of this film that launched her career and established St Tropez as the place to be for the rich and famous.
In 1973 Micka registered the trademark for the name and in 1985 Albert Dufrêne took over and continues to this day as the head of the brand. The recipe remains the same and traditional methods are still used to create the cake, for example the sugar sprinkles are made on site in copper cauldrons.
I recently had the pleasure of eating lunch at the Tarte Tropézienne boulangerie now on the Place des Lices in St Tropez. It serves light lunches as well as a fine selection of breads, cakes and of course la tarte which comes in several shapes, sizes and options such as the addition of raspberries or strawberries. After a delicious salad of warm goat’s cheese in filo I chose my favourite dessert – café gourmand – which came with a mini tropézienne of course. As Tarte Tropézienne is my kids’ favourite I had to take a big one home too. I decided to try a raspberry version and oh….my, it was gooood! It didn’t last long that evening I can tell you!
What’s your favourite dessert/pâtisserie? Do you have a famous dish from your local town/area? As ever I love to hear from you and I always reply to comments.
Related Reading:
La galette des rois – another jewel in the French gastronomic crown
Easter in France: chocolates at the pâtisserie
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Amazing post.
Oh dear, it does rather take the oumph out of shreddies, sorry! (Though I do like shreddies I have to admit!)
Oh yes, sure is delicious!! 🙂
They are amazing Rachel!
Just the sort of post to read pre-breakfast, totally robs the zing from a bowl of sad Shreddies! ;P I need to learn how to make this, sounds lush!
Never heard of it before but my god it looks delicious!
That looks amazing!!! I’ve never heard of them before but they sound amazing! #lab
Thanks for stopping by Kerry 😀
Melanie, you’ll just have a take a trip to the south of France! Good point about the origins from Poland, no one else has commented you’re right!
Your hubby has great taste, clearly!
Very beautiful, agreed! 🙂
I don’t know Teurgoule, it sounds Breton, is it? Yes I’ve seen your Pinterest board, very tasty..
Good advice Dana, though sometimes you just *have* to take some home for your kids in which case it’s worth th erisk of a soggy bottom!!
mmmmm this look so good! Wouldn’t mind a slice right now! Visiting from #LAB Blog Club x
I’ve never heard of these before! But how can I live now knowing that somewhere in Europe, these delicacies exist?! These just seem like the perfect pastries! But am I the only one that thinks it’s funny that it wasn’t someone from France (which after all seems to be the origin of the some of the best pastries in the world), but from Poland that first came up with them? 😉
Oh my goodness, this takes me back to when we were living in Nice, this is one of my French husband’s favourite desserts, and I know he’d love to be able to make it!
#TastyTuesdays
Wow definitely live up to their name, don’t they, so beautiful! Thanks so much for Thanks so much for linking up to #tastytuesdays, honour to have you x
Gosh – I am drooling reading this blog, Phoebe! As for our local desserts well it has to be a Tarte Normande – perfection when made with simple, fresh and local ingredients. I’m not averse to a bit of Teurgoule either
I recently enjoyed a slice of the La Tarte Tropézienne at the Place de Lices location in St. Tropez and it did not disappoint! I would suggest eating it fast as opposed to taking it home and saving it for later as the bottom tends to get a bit soggy.
Definitely time to rectify!
I’m a berry fan too, not so much apples for me though.
Ha ha Rene, it’s a hazzard of living in France!!
🙂
I know, I get cravings every time I look at the photos!!
I don’t know gateau basque, I must check it out. Glad this brought back good memories for you.
Good luck, I hope it works out well for you, it’s certainly not easy! (See comments above)
The first 2 photos were really unusual shapes and so pretty in the window of the bakery, I fell in love staight away!
I do too Lynsey, there are so many fascinating stories to be told.
The raspberry one was heavenly ! 🙂
Thanks for commenting Alison.
Ooh sounds delicious. I’ve spent many holidays in Southern France but never had one. Must rectify pronto!
I am so hungry, now. I want one of each;)
I like any dessert with berries or apples!
YUM! My thighs are doubling just looking at them though 😀
that looks sooo good!
Those tortes look amazing! What am I saying! It all looks amazing!!
I’m a bit of a Gateaux Basque fan (with cherries not the custard version) – brings back lovely memories of our summer holidays. Your post makes me want to get back there NOW!
This looks amazing! I am definitely going to try this recipe 🙂
Wow. That looks amazing! And I always love learning about the history of food. 🙂
Oh wow…my sweet tooth is so craving every item. They all look so pretty, sweet, and yummy! Thank you for linking up with us for Travel Tuesday!
The raspberry version looks delicious! I’m easily pleased with sweets, anything chocolate for me! X
Oh noooo, that’s a funny mistake, was it edible at all? 😉
Pleasure! 🙂
I was struck by that too Marcia, I somehow assumed, like with so many French specialities, that is had been aroundf for ages.
This looks gorgeous, I have never heard of it. Great story too
And thanks for linking up this week!
What a lovely story, Phoebe! I was surprised to see that this was created less than 60 years ago — this tarte is quite ‘young’! I like the Bardot connection. Hope to be able like you to try some in St. Tropez.
I *did* try to make one once. It went a bit wrong after I (the only time I’ve ever done this, and a dumb, dumb mistake) used levure chemique instead of actual yeast for the dough. It turned out like a giant cream biscuit! Looking forward to trying again soon though. It’s soooooo good.
Love to see such enthusiasm Ramon!! 😮
Definitely in my top 3 of food-I-would-(almost)-kill-for, orgasmic!
You’re braver than me, I absolutely do not want to try making my own as I know it could never be as good as the ones in the boulangeries around here! But yes, you’re right you can freeze egg whites. Let me know if you give it a go.
I have always wanted to try making one. The insane amount of egg yolks has always deterred me, which is silly because I think you can just freeze egg whites and unthaw as needed…