Eclairs: The Cupcake Of Paris

Cupcakes took the culinary academy by storm in recent years, but since that trend has slowly lost its steam, many chefs are looking to the City of Lights for the latest in baking & pastry arts.

Coined “the cupcake of Paris” by the BBC, eclairs are the dessert of the moment in Paris, but in all honesty, the French have loved this decadent delight for decades. Although you may have had a chocolate eclair or two in your lifetime, the pastries coming out of the pâtisseries are experimenting with ornate and jewel-like decorative designs and fondant icing.

According to The Financial Times, the luxurious pastry pastry shop in Paris called Pain de Sucre is experimenting with flavors that you might not expect from an eclair, such as pineapple, verbena and mint chocolate. During the annual Quinzaine des Eclairs festival in March, Pain de Sucre plans to unveil three new eclair favorites to the culinary world: peach-raspberry, vanilla-caramel and apple-almond.

Not a fan of sweets? No problem. L’Atelier de l’Eclair is paving the way for many pastry chefs by including savory versions of the classic pastry, such as goat cheese-pesto or sundried tomato-chorizo.