This weekend I’ve visited Caprices by Sophie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This small beautiful bakery owned and head baker, Sophie Jager. Sophie believes in baking with all-natural, local and organic ingredients. This bakery is specializes in primarily two items, the merveilleux (called capricieux), a light and airy Belgian pastry made of meringue and luscious whipped cream, and pâte à choux (they are called “magic choux” here), a light cream puff pastry.
The selection of “magic choux” available that day were raspberry, chocolate, rose water and raspberry, vanilla (topped with pecan), passion fruit, lemon curd, salted popcorn, and matcha green tea. We liked the most the delicate floral flavors of the rose water raspberry and the brightness of the lemon and passion fruit. The tender pastry itself was superbly made. The craggy craquelin to add a subtle crunchy texture and the flavored fondant to reinforce the flavor and it’s not too sweet.
Unlike a more dense pavlova, the merveilleux are crisp and airy, aided by the luscious cream piped on top, which comes in flavors like coconut, Speculoos, cappuccino, praline, caramel, Mont Blanc, and chocolate. We enjoyed these ethereal pastries. For me, I adored the Mont Blanc (reminds me of autumn) and the cappuccino held down the coffee flavor pretty well. (I should note, this is only the second bakery that sells this particular pastry.)
What really caught our eye was the elegant swan choux. The swan choux is like the pastry cream filled counterpart except it’s filled with vanilla bean speckled whipped cream. We sort of felt bad we had to demolish the beautiful swan and eat it.
There are savory options available at the bakery like gourgeres and quiche but we stuck with the sweet namesakes. If you’re in the neighborhood and or craving delicious choux and merveilleux, you should head over here.
To view more photos of this visit, please CLICK HERE or view the gallery below:
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Caprices by Sophie
Website
138 N 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Phone: (347) 689-4532
