SnackTime With Jen— Let Them Eat Carrot Cake, November 1st

Welcome to my newest feature, SnackTime With Jen. This midweek morsel is a small taste of something fun. Topics range from food (of course) to fashion, amusing little discoveries both locally and abroad, and a variety of interesting intel too tempting not to share. So let’s get snacking…

“Let them eat cake” is the traditional translation of the French phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche,” most notably attributed to Marie Antoinette. Although considered to reflect either her frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight, if Marie would have graced the peasants with the goodies from Clover Bakery in Paris, there would have been a whole different kind of French Revolution because of their exceptional Carrot Cake!

Inside this tiny storefront off Rue Montogueil in the busy 2nd Arrondissment sits Clove Bakery. This postage stamp-sized sweet emporium was created by a few hungry Americans living in France and nostalgic for their favorite treats from home. Known for their pies, cupcakes, and the all-American chocolate chip cookie (named best in Paris by both Vogue & Glamour magazines), I stopped by to pick up a slice of their homemade Carrot Cake.

Never have I tasted anything like this in my life. Carrot cake often has a shredded, gritty texture and it’s usually loaded with my nemesis, raisins. Also the frosting tends to be way too sweet, overpowering the cake. But each bite of this tall tower was incroyable! The cake layers were insanely moist and springy and the cream cheese frosting had a slight sugary crunch on the very top while the middle frosted layers were dreamy and delicious. Also, there was not a single raisin to be found. My BF Michael who intensely dislikes carrot cake became an instant fan and dare I say addict after just twelve heaping forkfuls of this spectacular sinner.

Clove Bakery has now skyrocketed to top of Jen’s Little Black Book must try places in Paris list. It doesn’t take royalty to figure out that we should all be eating the Carrot Cake at Clove.