The other week at college I had the chance to make some classic French pastries, based on two that I had seen on my travels to Paris- the classic Gateau Opera and the famous Mont Blanc. Now if you havn't heard of these already, I'll give you a brief introduction!

The Gateau Opera is a classic French cake made up of layers of joconde sponge soaked in coffee syrup, which are sandwiched together with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache. It is a very rich and decedant pastry, and goes down rather nicely with a cup of coffee (although is probably best served in small slices)!

The Mont Blanc you may be less familiar with unless you have actually been to Paris or are generally fanatical about patisserie (like me!), but it actually dates back to the 15th century. I first came across this pastry in Angelina, as they are well known for their version. It basically consists of meringue, vanilla cream and sweetened chestnut puree, but is certainly an unusual looking dessert! Infact, you might say that the chestnut puree looks a bit like worms, but I like to describe it as 'spaghetti' as this sounds a little more appetising!

I took both of these recipes from Claire Clark's fantastic book, Indulge, as I am a big fan of the woman and her work. I have made a couple of cakes from this book before which were delicious, and I'm happy to say that these two I tried this time were as good as I had expected. My personal favourite out of the two would have to be the Gateau Opera as I love both chocolate and coffee, but the chesnut cream in the Mont Blanc is also absolutely divine!

I would say that these aren't the easiest of desserts to prepare as there as so many different components to each, but the end result is certainly worth it! I guess if you don't really have the time or energy to make them, you could always travel to Paris and try them there!