Gateau au chocolats from Des Gateaux et du Pain

The other day we visited with our friends Val and Hubert, along with their beautiful and delightful children Arianne and Gabriel.  Since we were going to be at their apartment during the le gouter time of day, we stopped at a nearby patisserie to pick up something delicious to share.

We had visited Des Gateaux et du Pain once before some years back and were struck by the art gallery like arrangement and presentation of the pastries.  As I recall we had tried one of their croissants (OK) as well as a petit pain aux cereales (delicious), but ultimately we were put off by the snobbish behavior of the staff and the fact that they did not allow any photos to be taken. 

This time I wanted to give it another try, partly because the pastries are indeed works of art, but also because the chef happens to be a woman.  Let's hear it for the ladies!

And so we went.

We opted for the gateau au chocolats, a triple (or even quadruple!) chocolate creation from chef Claire Damon - a base of biscuit au chocolat, then a ganache layer topped with chocolate mousse and finished off with chocolate glaze.  Wow.  

It was delicious!  Luscious and chocolate-y yet light and oh-so-good.

While we made a pretty good dent into it, there was plenty left over for a split between Val and Hubert and us to take back to our apartment.  Oh boy - dessert for the next couple of nights!

On a final note, as an accomplished shortbread creator and taster, I simply to had buy some of Claire's sable au caramel et fleur de sel.

These were a disappointment.  The texture and flavor just weren't there.  Sorry Claire!