You may have noticed by now that I've mentioned David Lebovitz several times already. Well, he's a common hero among Americans studying abroad, and his blog tips about the Paris food scene have yet to fail us. With our confidence bolstered by positive experiences at L'As du Falafel, West Country Girl, and Crêperie de Josselin, four of us set out on Sunday to check out Vandermeersch, a bakery in the 12e arrondissement, dubbed by David (as we fondly call him now) as "King of the Paris Kuglof."
For those of you who don't know (because before this, I sure didn't!), kouglof is the French spelling of the bundt-shaped, yeasty bread-textured pastry of German/Austrian/Swiss/Hungarian/other Eastern European countries origin, known by various spellings in each of these countries.
We arrived at Vandermeersch on a very wet Sunday morning, and joined the line extended beyond the bakery's doors. We peered in the window with anticipation, salivating over the variety of kouglof sizes (the largest was 16 euros; we got the smallest at 4euros and change I believe). Since it was already lunchtime, and I had missed breakfast, I also ordered a quiche printannière, which was chock full of broccoli and carrots and kindly warmed by the bakery employees. A. and I ate our quiches outside while we waited for the others to finish faire la queue.
We decided to walk off the quiches before diving into the kouglof - thereby heightening the anticipation - so we strolled down avenue Daumesnil until we found a café with a few outdoor tables under an awning, opposite this fountain (below). We figured if we all ordered coffees and sat outside, we could surreptitiously consume our kouglof without incurring the wrath of the café proprietors.
Somehow, from the pictures on David's blog, I was expecting the kouglof to have a pound cake-like texture, so I was surprised to find it was much lighter and airier, almost like brioche or challah.
This light airiness is beautifully contrasted by the crunch of large sugar crystals encrusting the outside. When we cut it into four, we discovered that the "hole" of the bundt-like kouglof was filled with candied nuts and raisins!
A few dips of this pastry into our little French coffees seemed only natural. The results of our little outing looked like this:
Finally, since I cannot talk about anything bundt-related without thinking of the classic scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," I'll leave you with this link (start at 1:55):
I can't believe you split that four ways.
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