CAKEsickles from La Patisserie Chouquette
 
St. Louis is home to many great bakeries. However, there is one French bakery looking to stand out from the crowd and transform food into an artistic experience. La Patisserie Chouquette comes from talented pastry designer Simone Faure, who honed her skillset in New Orleans.

So how does one decide to open a French bakery in the Midwest when New Orleans is such a natural connection given its strong French roots? As Faure tells it, she has no idea. She began her career at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans, eventually working her way up to Executive Pastry Chef. Not long after, she made her way to the hotel’s St. Louis location. The hotel needed a pastry chef with kosher wedding cake experience, her area of expertise.

An opportunity presented itself when St. Louis restauranteur and former James Beard Award semifinalist Ben Poremba looked to partner for a new bakery. Today, La Patisserie Chouquette is one of the most celebrated bakeries in not just St. Louis, but the entire Midwest.

Faure is known for her inventive custom cakes. She loves to use creativity in her designs.

Simone Faure with one of her creations
 
“My favorite orders are from the people who say, ‘Do whatever you want.’ That is always interesting to me. I start to dissect this person. I love it. That’s when we get to play,” she says.

That creativity leads her down interesting avenues, coming up with creations like the shop’s popular CAKEsickles. These popsicle- like cake pops are like regular cake pops, but because of their size and shape they are a fun canvas on the outside while having more room inside to fill with sauce, cream, jam, or layers of crunch. They are ideal for celebrations like weddings, showers, bachelorette parties, and graduations.

Simone Faure is most proud of her macarons. Her signature item is what she calls “the chocolate chip cookie of France” in that it’s so ubiquitous abroad. While that hasn’t quite translated to the U.S., pastry chefs like Faure are doing their part to make it more prevalent.

“It’s a labor of love. They’re so temperamental, time-consuming, and expensive to make, which I understand why you can’t find them in a lot of places. But they’re such a blank canvas. There are a million flavor combinations for you to try. There are so many different colors and designs, and really fun things you can do with them. When you get it right, it’s wonderful,” she says.

The bakery's Gatorade macarons
 
La Patisserie Chouquette gets them right. They are elegant, but come in many fun flavors that make them more accessible. For instance, one year it created a Gatorade flavor for a marathon that was going on outside of the shop. “We thought, why don’t we pass out drinks? Why don’t we pass out cookies? Why don’t we pass out Gatorade-flavored macarons? We have customers who to this day still ask for them.”

The bakery offers unique options like Cheeto, Sangria, Vietnamese Coffee, and Fruity Pebbles. These and other tasty flavors are made available in its Macaron of the Month Club, which delivers across the country. Customers receive a small box of six macarons the first week of each month, typically including one limited-edition members-only flavor.

Faure's bakery is certainly one to watch in the culinary scene as it continues to make its name on its delectable pastries and cakes.