This Payard Cake is All About Apples

[Photographs: Niko Triantafillou]

If you're in the mood for a fancy pastry that's not built around chocolate, nuts, caramel, or berries, your options are limited. Enter Francois Payard's Pomme Verte ($7.25). This strikingly beautiful glossy green cake is all about apples.

The dominant feature of the cake is a tart-but-sweet apple mousse flavored like Granny Smith apples. Cut into the cake to find a tiny pocket of soft, cinnamon-coated apple bits with a fresh apple aroma. A ring of crunchy almond croquant (almond candy) surrounds the cake and adds a bit of crunch to the smooth, glassy exterior. Apple lovers: get on this.

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