The “president”, a friendship cake that has develop into a gastronomic image | EUROtoday

DWandering each massive ceremony, there’s typically a dish that has completely marked the spirits. In 1975, in the course of the presentation of the Legion of Honor to the chief Paul Bocuse by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, a dessert was going to enter the legend: the “president” cake, imagined by the grasp chocolatier Lyonnais Maurice Bernachon. Fifty years later, he continued to seduce gourmets and presidents.

“As I said the other day, the presidents pass, ours remains,” smiles right this moment Philippe Bernachon, one of many three heirs of the Bernachon home. But at the beginning, the “president” was not so referred to as.

Bocuse-Bernachon friendship

Created within the Seventies by Maurice Bernachon, the cake then bore the identify “Montmorency”, in reference to a wide range of cherries. But in 1975, when Paul Bocuse obtained the very best French distinction, Bernachon renamed his creation for the event. “They arrived with this cake and therefore they have renamed it to call it” the president “. That day, Bocuse also served his famous soup with VGE truffles for the first time, in honor of President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

Beyond dessert, this is the story of a bond. “My grandfather Bocuse and my grandfather Bernachon were very friends. Of course, my grandfather Bernachon had a very great respect for him, ”recalls the descendant. When Paul Bocuse asks him to make a cake for the ceremony, Maurice Bernachon agrees with fervor: “It was an honor for him and, essentially, he put all his love there. »»

A goldsmith’s work

In the workshops of 6^e Lyon arrondissement, the recipe stays trustworthy to the unique. Jean-Philippe Collonges, the manufacturing supervisor, delivers the secrets and techniques of the recipe for the well-known cake. A sponge cake minimize into three, soaked in a syrup made with a selected alcohol of the Mountains of Lyonnais. Inside, a hazelnut praline ganache referred to as “Ganache President”, enriched with white candied white bigarreaux. Mounted on three flooring, it’s hidden with a thick layer of smoothed ganache with a knife.

Everything is roofed with a spectacular chocolate shavings positioned one after the other by hand by the pastry chef Christophe Sautard. Thanks to a machine, the chocolate cabinets are crushed to create a skinny movie, much like lace. “It takes me about 3 minutes to place the chips on a cake. “Delicate and fragile, they do not touch up once in place,” for concern of melting them “, specifies Philippe Bernachon.

Since 1953, Maison Bernachon has masked each manufacturing stage. Chocolate mixes ten varieties of cocoa beans, which reflects the requirement of the house. “My grandfather wanted a chocolate that looked like him: gourmet, generous, with a touch of vanilla. A unique and unchanged creation has always been, which is voluntarily distinguished from those of colleagues.

The return of the “President” cake at the Élysée

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

Fifty years later, the “president” made his comeback on the Palais de l’Elysée. The cake is served in a person model on the Café de la Maison Élysée, at 88, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré within the fifteenth^e Paris district, reverse the presidential palace, for 2 months, between September 19 and November 15, 2025.

Symbol of a historic second and an unwavering friendship, the president of President illustrates splendidly this sentence of Paul Bocuse: “There isn’t any good delicacies if at the beginning it isn’t made out of friendship for the one for whom it’s supposed. »»