Cake: Les Cakes Étonnants de Jean Sulpice

This book's subtitle proclaims The Amazing Cakes of Jean Sulpice and it plays extensively with the idea of what a cake is. For those of us expecting the familiar comforts of home gateaux, such as those presented by Alexsandra Crapanzano, this book from a Michelin-starred chef best known for his cooking at an eponymous restaurant in the French Alps, is an eye-opener.

Sulpice’s cakes are both savory and sweet. The chef seems to find cake inspiration everywhere and riffs on both flavor and shape. The forms of his cakes range from tiny little morsels that resemble Chinese dumplings to renditions of Spanish tortillas. One cake made with whole-wheat flour looks like a club sandwich. A lemony pound cake is hollowed out to hold chocolate fondue into which one dips pieces of cake taken from the interior.

One cake is made from re-assembled claufoutis and another from waffles. There is a cake gratin and others flavored with crayfish and with snails.

Unlike any other cake book we have ever seen. 

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout. In French.