Goodbye cream-filled sponge cakes, rhubarb crumble and chocolate gateaux. Hello delice of passion fruit and mango, banana parfait, and an Opera cake of dark chocolate and praline layers, swathed in bitter chocolate icing. While Dubliners will never give up traditional Irish desserts, they are gravitating toward small, elegantly crafted confections with a distinctively French accent.
On a recent Saturday afternoon there's a queue at the Patisserie Creme de la Creme at Dublin's Epicurean Food Hall on Lower Abbey Street. As a youngster wavers between a dome-shaped Orange Blossom, filled with fluffy mousse and encased in an orange-chocolate shell, and a miniature raspberry cheesecake presented on an oval of gold foil, the clerk informs me that all the bitter chocolate mousses are gone, as are the individual lemon tarts.
Seated at one of the tables in the central dining area, Niamh and Stephen Clarke, their three-month-old son, Jack, and Niamh's mother Mary Foley are enjoying a weekly ritual: shopping followed by a glass of wine and pastries from Creme de la Creme. Mary is having cheesecake, Niamh a narrow molded cylinder of mixed-berry tiramisu, and Stephen a white chocolate delice and a pear frangipane (almond-flavoured pastry cream) tart.
"Dublin needs more places like this," says Niamh, referring to the pastry shop. "A mediocre dessert isn't worth having." As for the cost of her dessert - £1.40 to £1.75 per item - it's no problem.
Indeed, there's a shift from homely to refined sweets all over the city, from cafes to gourmet markets and restaurants. According to Michael Martin, the former owner of the Tea Room at the Clarence Hotel and now a restaurant consultant, the ubiquitous dessert trolley laden with large portions of gloppy puddings is giving way to individually plated, elaborately presented and eclectic offerings that command prices of up to £6.50. John Howard, owner of Le Coq Hardi, agrees: "The days of apple tarts that had two inches of pastry and a quarter inch of apples are gone". Even so-called fusion restaurants are getting into the swing. Where once basic ice creams were the mainstays of Asian dessert menus, offerings now include Pacific Riminspired flavours such as coconut and lime married with French pastry creams and mousses.
So how do restaurants keep up with the demands of an ever-more-savvy public - especially if they can't afford the luxury of employing their own pastry chef?
Meet brothers Mohamed and Mustapha Ouchbakou, who have changed the face of desserts in Dublin. Moroccan-born French nationals who were trained in Toulouse, France, and whose credentials include stints with Michelin-starred chefs Alain Ducasse in France and Raymond Blanc in England, they have, in the past six years in Dublin, worked at the Shelbourne Hotel, Peacock Alley at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, One Pico restaurant, and the Tea Room at the Clarence. Last January, they opened Creme de la Creme, a retail and wholesale business. The list of eateries and shops to which they supply their desserts includes Bijou, Ocean, No 10, Expresso, the Morrison hotel, the Brandon House Hotel, Kelly's Irish Food Hall and Caviston's food emporium.
"Their chocolate tart is brilliant," says Derry Clarke, owner of L'Ecrivain, who calls on the brothers to back up his two pastry chefs. "People realise the labour and cost that goes into these things."
Classic French patisserie, as we know it, developed in the 17th century and reached its apex in the 18th and 19th centuries. The greatest innovator at the beginning of the 19th century was Antonin Careme, who is reputed to have invented nougat, meringue, the croquembouche (a tower of cream puffs affixed to each other with caramel) and vols- au-vent. Despite the advent of modern mixing equipment, refrigeration and ovens, patisserie still demands tremendous technique and attention to detail. In France, no one makes patisserie at home; they buy it from professionals.
At 4.45 a.m., an aroma of butter and bananas emanates from the Ouchbakou brothers' 2,000-square-foot commercial kitchen in a former warehouse Sherrif Street, Mohamed (31), the elder of the pair, greets me with a hearty smile and leads me through the operation's small front office. A photo of his infant daughter - dressed in chefs' "whites" with a dab of flour on each cheek - beams out from a bookshelf.
In the main work area, ringed with stainless steel refrigerators, freezers, ovens, cooling racks and marble counters, movement is silent and focused, although a radio blares out the latest pop tunes. As usual, the brothers and their apprentice, James Treacy, are working to a deadline; some 300 items must be completed and delivered by mid-morning. Mohamed spoons sabayon, an airy mixture of beaten egg yolks, sugar, whipped cream, white chocolate and pureed mixed berries, into three-inch hexagonal steel molds, smooths the top surfaces with a spatula and pops the parfaits into the freezer to set for a few hours before delivery to L'Ecrivain.
In a flash, he is across the room paring dozens of Golden Delicious apples at a hand-operated fruit peeler - "you don't want Bramleys; they're the wrong taste and texture" - for apple compote. He then glazes four large peach and frangipane tarts with a warm apricot glaze to create a shiny finish.
Meanwhile Mustapha, the shyer of the brothers, slices apples, oranges, grapefruits, bananas and kiwis with surgeon-like precision into ovals, crescents, wedges and disks. He arranges them artistically over pastry cream in pastry shells, their varying heights and shapes creating a graceful "landscape".
James Treacy slices strawberries and places them in tart shells.
Mustapha uses a blow torch to caramelise the surface of a golden raspberry and lemon cheesecake.
The brothers go through at least 75 kilos of unsalted butter a week. They receive three weekly deliveries of cream, select their own fruits daily at the Dublin Corporation market, and import dozens of speciality ingredients such as cocoa, vanilla beans and fruit syrups from France.
Has Mohamed been inspired by any Irish ingredients? No, he says - then mentions Baileys Irish cream liqueur, the foundation of a Baileys and Milk Chocolate mousse, one of his best-selling retail items. He has also used Guinness as a flavouring for ice cream, and developed some hybrid Irish-French confections - "crumbles" that substitute bananas and lime for traditional apples, and delicate cheesecakes flavoured with summer blackberries.
At 7 a.m., when a driver arrives to take away the first deliveries, the team is still working at full throttle. Mohamed and Mustapha generally work 13-hour days and get one day off every two weeks. Banking on the theory that the general public is ready for more fine pastry, they plan to expand their retail operation and open outlets in the city centre, south Dublin and/or other locations.
Will a city of unapologetic pudding and pie-lovers bite?
"There is always a market for quality," avers chef-consultant Michael Martin. "These guys are hot."
The Ouchbakou Banana and Apple Crumble
Serves eight
For the sweet pastry:
300g flour, 150g sugar, 150g butter, 1 egg
In a bowl, place flour, sugar and butter. Crumble together with a fork. Add the egg. Mix together for one minute. Wrap in cling film and set aside in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour.
For the apple compote:
1 kg Golden Delicious apples, 200g sugar, 100g butter, 20g cinnamon
Peel and coarsely chop the apples. Place the sugar and butter in a saucepan, over medium heat. When they begin to caramelise, add the apple. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Pour the mixture through a colander set over a bowl to remove excess liquid. Set aside.
For the banana compote:
1 kg bananas, peeled and sliced, 200g sugar, 100g butter, 20g cinnamon, Juice of 1 lemon (set aside)
Prepare the banana compote exactly as you prepared the apple compote, allowing the sugar and butter to begin to caramelise, then adding the banana slices - but cook the mixture for just five minutes. Then add the lemon juice. There is no need to strain the mixture. Set aside.
For the crumble mix:
300g soft flour, 150g sugar, 150g butter (cut in small chunks), 60g water
In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients with a fork. Gradually add the water and mix until large crumbs form.
To assemble: Preheat oven to 170C. Take the sweet pastry from the refrigerator, and place on a floured board. Roll thinly so that it will be a bit larger in diameter than an eight-inch pastry tin. Line the pastry tin with it. Return to the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Line the unbaked crust with parchment paper or cling film. Fill with uncooked rice, which will allow you to prebake the shell without it losing its shape. Cook blind for 10-15 minutes, until light golden. Do not allow to burn. Remove the parchment and rice; then allow to bake for another five minutes until golden coloured. Remove from oven.
Raise the heat to 190C.
Spoon the two compotes into the pastry case, either placing the apple mixture in first, or combining both mixtures together. Sprinkle the crumb mixture on top. Bake for four to five minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.
If desired, reheat in a 150C. oven for a few minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream or a vanilla custard (sauce anglaise).