The art of the patissier is enjoying a startling commercial rennaisance in France, with a boom in pastry stores, TV shows and recipe book sales, reports BBC News.
No French high street would be complete without a patisserie, and words such as "gateau", "eclair" and "flan" indicate that French pastry chefs are esteemed as much abroad as at home. But in the last couple of years, patissiers have shot to stardom, joining the top ranks of France's celebrity chefs.
French patisserie used to be delicious but predictable - the chocolate eclair, the vanilla or raspberry flavoured macaroon, the classic French apple tart or the mille-feuille (a sophisticated vanilla slice).
Something has changed. Ever heard of the caramel popcorn, pistachio-orange or pecan eclair by Christophe Adam? Or the olive-oil macaroon with mandarin orange and cucumber water by Pierre Herme?
These are a couple of the audacious creations a new generation of French pastry chefs have launched on a startled but delighted French public.
France has always loved patisserie, but for some reason it now loves its patissiers more than ever.
Their books are filling the shelves of book shops, and their stores are multiplying - five new "patisseries de luxe" opened in the month of September, in Paris alone.
And while The Great British Bake Off has gone from strength to strength, France has developed its own competitive baking shows, such as this year's Who Will be the Next Great Patissier? For the last episode contestants had to make a piece of fashion out of chocolate.
Another show, The Gateau of My Dreams, where a chef goes to someone's house to help them bake a challenging cake or dessert, began in February 2012 - starting with mille-feuille with caramelised maple syrup, and Black Forest gateau with acidulated morello cherry - and published a spin-off book in its first year.
One explanation for the sudden rise of the pastry chef is as a consequence of the recession.
In these times of crisis, patisserie has become a relatively affordable luxury - compared say with going to the restaurant - says Sebastien Gaudard, one of today's up-and-coming pastry chefs.
He has noticed a change in his customers' habits. Instead of buying a big cake for a Sunday lunch or a dinner party, couples are now more likely to visit during the week to buy one or two patisseries for themselves alone.
Patisserie, he says, is a form of comfort food.
"What drives the world of sweets, I think, is that eating sweets brings us back to a time in our lives when we had no worries, the carefree time of childhood."
Read more of this report from BBC News.