Sonic's French Pastry Experience

I love dessert.  It's my favorite part of any meal, and I don't ask for much.  A small dish of vanilla ice cream.  A humble slice of chocolate cake.  Cookies and milk.  I always feel a little weird eating fancy desserts, it doesn't feel right to enjoy bite size delights with exorbitant prices.  Occasionally, I'll come across a fancy dessert that is presented modestly, and yet has a very rich history behind it.  One such dessert is a raspberry almond babka I sampled and greatly enjoyed yesterday.

The babka is a sweet cake common to Eastern European countries, common mostly in Poland, Belarus, and Russia.  It's not generally considered a French dessert, however the French-German bakery that we bought the babka from had created and mastered their own French-German variation.  The bakery, Alsace Lorraine Fine Pastries, is located in Long Beach, California and got  its name from a small town in France that lies at the border between France and Germany.

Over the years, the area would revert back back and forth between French and German control, and the population thus comprised of both peoples, with culture and cuisine to match.  Like the town, the Alsace Lorraine Fine Pastries bakery comprises of recipes that are both French and German inspired.  Opened in 1947, the baker has changed ownership a few times and makes a variety of pastries and cakes, but the focus still remains exclusively on French and German.

The raspberry almond babka that I ate definitely tasted French, my first bite shattered the flaky crust quite easily, allowing me to first taste the moist almond cake.  There are wonderful swirls of raspberry that does not overpower the almond taste, allowing for a very healthy balance between the two flavors.  In addition, there was a heavenly-sweet almond glaze that was drizzled on top, giving a nice shiny look to the babka as well as giving the crust its own unique flavor.

When my aunt was telling me about the babka, she remarked, "If you know anything about the French, you know it's good.  If you know anything about the Germans, the measurements are correct."  It's like a perfect blending of both styles of cuisine, even just looking at it.  The babka itself doesn't tend to be on the heavy side, but at first glance, it does look like it has a heavy style.

-Sonic