Patisserie des Reves, 75006 Paris

January in France is time for the Gateau des Rois, a puff pastry tart filled with almond paste, which celebrates Epiphany and the Coming of the Three Kings.  Each tart contains a little porcelain “feve” and the person who finds it in his piece of cake becomes King or Queen for the day, and gets to wear a gold paper crown!

A favourite  pastime of Parisians is to find the patisserie with the best gateau des rois, and this January we must have tried at least five – the winner  being without a doubt the offering from Dalloyau, a long established cake shop near the Luxembourg Gardens. Their gateau had not only air-light pastry with almond paste inside but a good sprinkling  of rum too.

But while we were on our gateau hunt I discovered  Philippe Conticini’s Patisserie des Reves, where the cakes purposely take you back to your  childhood cake tastes  but are infinitely  more sophisticated in their presentation.I couldn’t resist taking some photos of these wonderful creations which sit as if encased in glass bubbles as you come into the shop, and are truly works of art.

And even better news is that Mr Conticini has just opened a shop on Marylebone High Street just round the corner from where I live in London . And apparently he’s going to be  looking at well established English cakes  on which to work his magic too.