Bad But Beautiful Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pâtisserie

A mille-feuille ("thousand sheets" or more poetically "thousand leaves") is an elegant pâtisserie whose name reflects the fact - albeit with some exaggeration - that the puff pastry used to make the dessert consists of many buttery, flaky sheets. In North America it is also known as a Napoleon. In between each piece of puff pastry is a cream, custard or crčme pâtissičre. The top layer of puff pastry is then typically decorated with icing (frosting) that has chocolate feathered into it. There are many variations of this dessert, a lot of which involve the introduction of berries.

On the British versions of the competitive cookery shows, 'MasterChef' and 'MasterChef: The Professionals', it has seemingly become something of a tradition to make a really bad attempt at pronouncing mille-feuille. Even Anglo-French chef and judge, Michel Roux Jr., couldn't prevent contestants saying "mill-foy" or "mill-fay".

Answer: Pâtisserie

Religieuse is a pâtisserie that is instantly recognisable - it looks like a nun! It is typically made from two pieces of choux pastry - one piece slightly larger than the other - with the smaller piece placed on top of the larger one (perhaps more pithily described as a small profiterole on top of a large profiterole). Each piece of choux pastry is topped with a ganache - typically chocolate or mocha - and filled with crčme pâtissičre.

The two pieces of choux pastry are held together using buttercream icing.

Answer: Pâtisserie

The éclair is a mainstay of the pâtisserie counter; it is an elongated choux bun that is traditionally topped with chocolate fondant (though a variation called bâton de Jacob features a caramel glaze). The éclair also has a cream or crčme pâtissičre filling that can either be piped directly into the pastry or be spread in between two layers once the pastry has been sliced along its length.

The cream or custard filling can be flavoured with a wide variety of additional ingredients.

Answer: Pâtisserie

In terms of pâtisserie, profiteroles are delicate balls of choux pastry that are generously filled with cream, crčme pâtissičre or even ice cream. Choux puffs can also be filled with savoury ingredients such as meats and cheese but that would take us far from the world of pâtisserie and desserts! In the case of profiteroles au chocolat, the choux buns would be covered in a chocolate sauce or chocolate ganache.

Profiteroles can be enjoyed as standalone items or they can form part of a larger dessert, be it as a topping on a cake, part of an indulgent ice cream sundae or, perhaps most splendidly, stacked high as part of a show-stopping croquembouche.

Answer: Pâtisserie

The Paris-Brest is a pâtisserie that takes the form of a ring of choux pastry that is cut in half along its length and filled with cream. The cream can be flavoured with many different ingredients but the traditional Paris-Brest has a cream that is enhanced with praline. In a further celebration of nuts, sliced almonds can be sprinkled over the top of the dessert.

The ring-like shape of the dessert is symbolic of a bicycle wheel, with the Paris-Brest pâtisserie being created in honour of the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race that first took place in 1891.

Answer: Viennoiserie

Internationally speaking, the croissant is arguably the best known example of viennoiserie, a term which acknowledges the fact that the inspiration and origin of this classification of sweet treats can be traced back to the Austrian capital city of Vienna. Viennoiserie is yeast-leavened (like a bread) but also sweetened or enriched with ingredients such as sugar, eggs and butter.

The simplicity of the croissant - a crescent of laminated dough enriched with butter - makes it an incredibly versatile offering. Whilst it can be enjoyed as a standalone item, a croissant can also be filled with sweet ingredients (jam and other preserves) or savoury (cheese, tomato and cured meats such as prosciutto).

Answer: Viennoiserie

Pain aux raisins, which can be translated into English as "raisin bread", is an indulgent viennoiserie that is often eaten in the morning; it is a common offering in hotels that serve a continental breakfast. In its typical form, pain aux raisins is a spiral of butter-enriched leavened dough that contains a mixture of raisins and crčme pâtissičre (pastry cream or custard) in between the layers.

For those who find all this a little too sweet first thing in the morning, there is also a slightly less sugary boulangerie (bakery) product that shares the name "pain aux raisins"; it is a more literal conceptualisation of a bread containing raisins and is sometimes covered in cinnamon (so not that savoury after all!).

Answer: Viennoiserie

The kouign-amann is a luxurious viennoiserie that consists simply of a laminated dough that is enriched with butter and plenty of sugar. During the baking process, the sugar caramelises to form a crispy outside that protects a fluffy centre. The traditional version takes the form of a large cake but a modern version - that is easier to sell to individuals on the high street - is more akin to a cupcake.

The name of this delicious treat has its origins in the Breton language of Brittany, where "kouign" (sounds like "queen") means "cake" and "amann" means "butter".

Answer: Viennoiserie

Whereas a lot of viennoiserie seems closer to pâtisserie (pastry) than to boulangerie (bakery), brioche - in its pure, unadulterated form - is an example of viennoiserie that is clearly more akin to a bread than a pastry. Whilst brioche is a foodstuff that rises like bread, it is known and desired for its richness and fluffy texture that is achieved through the addition of a copious amount of eggs and butter (along with other dairy products) during the baking process.

Brioche can start to take on more of a dessert-like appearance when it is adorned with candied fruits, creams and other sweet fillings. An example is Brioche des Rois, a regal ring or crown shaped brioche that is bejewelled with candied fruits and laced with aromatic liquids such as orange blossom water.

Answer: Viennoiserie

Chausson aux pommes is a viennoiserie that can be likened to an apple turnover. The name chausson aux pommes is said to have arisen from the method used to make this baked good, with the pastry being filled with a sweetened (chunky) apple sauce or smooth purée much like a foot sliding effortlessly into a slipper ("chausson").

As with most viennoiserie, there are variations on a theme; the apple sauce may contain additional ingredients such as vanilla and cinnamon, or the pasty-like casing can be drizzled with icing (frosting).