{"id":26972,"date":"2025-06-30T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26972\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T11:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:19:19","slug":"the-best-trompe-loeil-fruit-desserts-in-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26972\/","title":{"rendered":"The best trompe-l’\u0153il fruit desserts in L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 115 million people watched a video<\/a> of French pastry chef C\u00e9dric Grolet<\/a> make fruit pies that resemble giant blueberries, peaches, oranges and raspberries. A peach dessert<\/a> molded and spray-painted to look like a real peach drew 63.6 million views. Caramelized banana and peanut butter logs clumped together to mimic a bunch of bananas captivated nearly 33 million people<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Grolet is known for his trompe-l\u2019\u0153il desserts, elaborate creations constructed from various fruit, nut brittles, mousse, cake, creams, custards and chocolates. He\u2019s created desserts that look like oversize peanuts, Buddha\u2019s hands and just about every other nut, stone fruit and berry. I have spent hours on TikTok, mesmerized by these edible works of art. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of desserts have been around for a while, but Cedric would be the one who started the trend and brought these kinds of desserts into popularity,\u201d says Catherine Zhang<\/a>, chef and partner at Tu Cha boba and dessert shop in Koreatown. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Thanks to Zhang, and a handful of other chefs in Los Angeles, the trompe-l\u2019\u0153il fruit and nut-shaped desserts have made their way west. <\/p>\n

Tu Cha<\/p>\n

Zhang and her partners opened Tu Cha<\/a> in March with a short menu of fruit-shaped desserts and what she calls \u201cdream cakes.\u201d The most popular is the My Man Go ($14.50), made with fresh mango encased in cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche mango mousse with hazelnut praline in a tropical chocolate shell made to look like a real mango. When you crack into the chocolate, the mousse is smooth and almost jellylike with a center that tastes like you\u2019re biting into a ripe mango. <\/p>\n

The Berry3 ($14.50), pronounced \u201cberry cube,\u201d is presented like a cube-shaped raspberry. It\u2019s a striking red dessert covered in crimson velvet spray that gives the surface the textured, almost hairy look of a real raspberry. Inside, there\u2019s a core of pistachio praline with both raspberry mousse and strawberry coulis. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A mango dessert from Tu Cha in Koreatown. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty crazy how popular these desserts have been with the help of social media,\u201d Zhang says. \u201cWe have food creators who have made it a trend<\/a> to eat these desserts in your car. Those videos get millions of views and people come from that.\u201d <\/p>\n

A small team of chefs works around the clock to produce about 1,000 desserts a day, but it\u2019s never enough. Tu Cha sells out of every cake, every day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think people understand the complexity behind the desserts and how long it takes to create each one,\u201d Zhang says. \u201cWe are capped at the number we can produce each day because of our freezer space and the number of molds.\u201d <\/p>\n

Each dessert takes three days to make. The various components are all made by hand, layered, chilled, molded, chilled again, dipped and sprayed. <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Dubai Pistachio ($22). It\u2019s a heart-shaped cake embedded in a black tin, layered with matcha sponge cake, pistachio knafeh, matcha mousse and matcha white chocolate. You use a spoon to crack the matcha white chocolate, then navigate through the many layers to the bottom of the tin. The matcha flavor is intense, bitter and grassy, tempered by the sweet chocolate and crunchy, nutty knafeh. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we launched, these desserts have become massive,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s everywhere now. Everyone has picked it up. Every dessert shop is trying its own version.\u201d <\/p>\n

Altadena Bakery<\/p>\n

The Grigoryan family has been making a wide array of Armenian pastries at their Burbank bakery<\/a> since 2014. Owner Art Grigoryan started experimenting with fruit-shaped mousse desserts. Now, the bakery produces half a dozen varieties that resemble pears, red and green apples, oranges, raspberries and mangoes. <\/p>\n

The core of each dessert is a fruit filling, with fresh diced mangoes in juice that oozes from the center and a wallop of sweet and bitter citrus in the orange. <\/p>\n

The apple filling conjures images of cinnamon-spiked apple pie. All the fillings are sheathed in silky mousse with an outer layer of Belgian chocolate. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re planning on bringing back pistachio, coconut, avocado and lemon soon,\u201d says Art\u2019s son David Grigoryan. <\/p>\n

At $10 each, they are the most affordable of all the trompe-l\u2019\u0153il desserts we tried<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Aurora \"Desserts <\/p>\n

Desserts being prepared at Aurora in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

(Mr. Mirco Magliocca)<\/p>\n

When Kay Kara opened Aurora on South La Brea Avenue in the fall of 2023, the glass case that lines the store was filled with classic French desserts and chocolates. His executive pastry chef and master chocolatier, Nour Ramlawi, was trained in Switzerland and spent years as a pastry chef in Dubai.<\/p>\n

Kara and Ramlawi first introduced a lemon-shaped confection in March 2024, and it quickly became one of the shop\u2019s top sellers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pretty much following an international trend that started in France, and we thought we could do something similar for L.A.,\u201d Kara says. \u201cThe city was being underserved and the choices were not as novel as what was going on in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kara tasked Ramlawi with transforming an existing mango dessert into a mango-shaped creation called Mango Madness ($15). It\u2019s a sunset-colored orb with a crunchy white chocolate shell, mousse and a fresh mango center. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A selection of fruit desserts from Aurora in Fairfax. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw the trend of the fruit-shaped desserts was catching, we thought maybe we should follow the theme and we changed the shape,\u201d Kara says. \u201cI needed to have something that was Instagrammable, and eventually people caught up with what we were doing and it became viral,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been going viral for over a year now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ramlawi introduces a new fruit dessert every couple of months. Recently, there was a Meyer lemon-filled Lemon County ($12) and a banana-shaped Musa ($15) built with layers of double chocolate and Speculoos, banana coulis, caramel and chocolate fondant spongecake. <\/p>\n

The Orangiumum ($25) and Rose Razzleberry ($25) are massive approximations of the fruits they are meant to resemble. A cross-section of the orange boasts eight different preparations of orange and multiple days of assembly. There\u2019s orange cake, a crispy crepe, orange rind, mousse and coulis. Near the center is a round of rice pudding and the entire thing is dipped in white chocolate that\u2019s decorated to look like a sun-kissed orange. An actual leaf (I learned this the hard way) protrudes from the top. <\/p>\n

The Rose Razzleberry is just as elaborate, with a base of chocolate cake, Pop Rocks candy, Champagne mousse, chocolate mousse and raspberry coulis. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s time for L.A. to evolve beyond the doughnut and the cupcake,\u201d Kara says. \u201cThe city deserves more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cool Bites P\u00e2tisserie<\/p>\n

Anita Aykazyan says the La Pistache is \u201cthe best dessert\u201d in the pastry case at the Glendale shop. The dessert mirrors an unshelled pistachio, with beautiful striations of green and brown and an uneven surface covered in realistic grooves. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is actually his,\u201d she says. \u201cI took classes with Grolet and was inspired by his work.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A pistachio dessert from Cool Bites P\u00e2tisserie in Glendale. <\/p>\n

(Jenn Harris \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The La Pistache ($18) is a three-day process that involves a pistachio cream crunchy with pistachio praline, pistachio ganache and white chocolate. Each one is molded and decorated by hand. <\/p>\n

Before La Pistache, there was the Raspberry Petit Gateau, a dessert originally offered when the shop opened in April 2024. It underwent a series of transformations, including a heart-shaped design, before Aykazyan found a raspberry mold. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started a year and a half ago with the raspberry dessert, there were not a lot of places doing them,\u201d she says. \u201cSome places were making lemon or orange but no raspberries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aykazyan only offers the raspberry during the summer, and makes an effort to keep her dessert case as seasonal as possible. The petite gateau may be the most lifelike of them all, with a deep red color and a furry velvet exterior. Inside is a light, luscious mousse she learned to make while studying under Ksenia Penkina<\/a>, a Russian baker based in Vancouver, Canada. And in the very center, a whole raspberry. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a little behind Europe, but right now, this is a trend in L.A. because they look realistic,\u201d Aykazyan says. \u201cI also think it\u2019s because they are fun and really yummy.\u201d <\/p>\n

To see our favorites, watch a full taste test of all the desserts mentioned above in our video here<\/a>, or on YouTube<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Where to find Trompe-l’\u0153il desserts in Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Tu Cha, 2968 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, (213) 232-3838, www.tu-cha.com<\/a>
Cool Bites P\u00e2tisserie, 932 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (424) 877-2233, coolbitescatering.com<\/a>
Aurora, 211 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 747-1333, aurora-la.com\/aurora-la<\/a>
Altadena Bakery, 2801 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, (818) 588-3078, altadenabakery.com<\/a><\/p>\n