Tarte tropézienne — Saint-Tropez, France

Alexandre Micka, a pastry chef of Polish origin who had settled in Saint-Tropez, sold a cream-filled brioche in his shop, made to a family recipe. In 1955, the crew of the film And God Created Woman was shooting in the village; according to the story that has stuck to the cake, Brigitte Bardot suggested he name it tarte tropézienne. The name was trademarked soon after, and the exact cream recipe has stayed a shop secret ever since. What is generally known is the structure: a soft brioche, flavoured with orange blossom water, its top brushed and studded with pearl sugar. Once baked and cooled, it is sliced horizontally and filled with a thick cream that sits somewhere between a pastry cream and a butter cream, sometimes lightened with a little whipped cream. Making it at home means building two components separately before combining them. The brioche dough is kneaded, left to rise twice, shaped into a disc and baked until golden and glazed with sugar on top. The cream is a vanilla pastry cream enriched with butter, then folded into a second batch of creamed butter until the two form one smooth filling. Bakeries around Saint-Tropez and along the coast now sell versions under other names, since the trademarked one is reserved to Micka's shop and its successors; some lighten the filling further with more whipped cream, others keep it dense. It is served cold, cut into wedges, generally on the day it is filled.