This post is one of many documenting my week in Paris, a present to myself for graduating pastry school in the fall of 2012. Every moment was spent eating and one post wasn’t enough. It’s now a short novel. Kidding. I hope.

Sadaharu Aoki is a small patisserie that incorporates Asian flavors into French pastries, any one of which I’d recommend taking and enjoying in the nearby Luxembourg Gardens. If in the mood to make a real picnic of pastries, also stop by Pierre Herme a few blocks away for traditional French items.

The rainbow of layered cakes above: macha azuki (red bean), cheese cake citronne (lemon), chocolat pralin, sensuelle (chocolate, raspberry), cassis chocolat (blackcurrant), zen (sesame, green tea, white chocolate), bamboo (green tea, dark chocolate)

This post is one of many documenting my week in Paris, a present to myself for graduating pastry school in the fall of 2012. Every moment was spent eating and one post wasn’t enough. It’s now a short novel. Kidding. I hope.

Staying in an apartment a mere couple of blocks from Patrick Roger’s chocolate shop was such a treat. Every time I passed by I was tempted to press my face up against the window to admire these chocolate hippo sculptures. Patrick Roger is the artist behind these creations. He treats chocolate like a raw material that can he transforms organically into life-size models or with incredible precision to make  truffles and bars.