Why would a French woman want to bake?  Not out of necessity.  In towns large and small, professional bakers produce crusty baguettes, dense country loaves and golden rounds of brioche every day.

For the same reason a French homemaker has little incentive to bake dessert.  She can simply go to her local pastry shop or supermarket and select from a fabulous assortment tarts, éclairs, cookies, puff pastry  and layer cakes.  Some pastry shops excel at making candy and rich ice cream as well.  If she bought a different patisserie each day, it would take more than a month to sample them all.  (Note to self – try this sometime.)

When French women do bake at home it’s usually a special treat not available anywhere.   Enter, Le Cake, the most recent home baking phenomenon.   It is a savory bread leavened with baking powder.  There are sweet ones similar to our zucchini and banana breads, but the ones flavored with herbs, vegetables and cheese are most in vogue.