A Christmas Café Surprise

I am so looking forward to next week. I'm taking the whole week off for Christmas, and am very excited for a very much-needed holiday. I've been so busy lately that I haven't really had time to enjoy the season. Christmas is just over a week away, and it hardly feels like the holiday season at all yet.

I think that my wonderful fiancée could tell that I was a little sad not to be home in the US this year like I had planned (thanks, dumb pandemic). The other day, she surprised me with a morning out that really put me in the holiday spirit. She told me that she was going to take me out for coffee, and led me to a hidden side street downtown where we found a café called Patchworks Pâtisserie. 

Patchworks

It turned out that my fiancée had made a reservation, and they were already expecting us!

inside the cafe

We ordered coffee and sat down to wait. I still didn't know exactly what was going on, but I could tell that she was super excited about the surprise that she had planned. It turned out that she had made a reservation, and they were already expecting us! 

morning coffee

As we sat to sip our coffee, three of the most beautiful and festive cakes I had ever seen arrived. Well, technically they weren't cakes, but French pâtisserie - very elegant works of art which had to be ordered in advance. Patchwork only makes ten of each every day, and change their menu for each season, festival, and holiday!

three festive Christmas cakes to share

The three pâtisserie were each unique, designed like Christmas baubles in the style of a Christmas tree, a red-nosed reindeer, and Santa's hat respectively. They truly did almost look too beautiful to eat!

Christmas tree, Rudolph, and a Santa hat

The Christmas tree was made of matcha (Japanese green tea) cake, vanilla and matcha mousse, matcha and dark chocolate ganoche, matcha white chocolate glaze, and a dark chocolate crispy cracker as the base.

matcha and dark chocolate

The reindeer was made from vanilla lemon zest mousse, fresh blueberry compote, passion fruit cream, and a white chocolate glaze atop a soft vanilla cake and a dulcey cracker.

*Dulcey is "blonde chocolate", or roasted white chocolate that is evidentially becoming quite the trendy ingredient in the world of high-so desserts. It was the first time I had tried it!

blueberry, passionfruit, and vanilla

Santa's hat was made from a soft vanilla cake, a red wine strawberry and cinnamon compote, and fresh strawberries. It was topped with a ruby chocolate strawberry mousse and served upon a delicate mascarpone cream and a sweet tart crust.

* Ruby chocolate is also something new! It was just created in 2014, and is characterized by a sweet and sour taste and a distinct natural pink coloring.

ruby chocolate and red wine strawberry compote

It was a wonderful morning, and I left the café in a very festive holiday spirit. I'm looking forward to a few more Christmassy things this week, like a Christmas light walk downtown, but this was really the first time that I felt like it's actually the holiday season. 

amazing pâtisserie cakes

I'm so grateful for this very sweet surprise!

they change their treats for each season

Merry (almost) Christmas!!!