pear william cake

nearly forgot to make note of the wonderful pear william cake, from the much lauded ceci-cela patisserie on spring street. at ceci-cela, you'll see cakes and pastries that are so lovely, part of you can't imagine laying knife to them and wrecking 'em all to pieces...
but then the glorious smell of sweet dough baking will knock you on your heels, and inspire thoughts of a day-long binge. you'll want to try everything. i was so overwhelmed by how good everything looked that i asked for help. i wanted a cake and some pastries, for a special occasion, so i asked the lovely, if slightly distracted, girl behind the counter what her favorite cakes were. without hesitation, she pointed me to the pear william cake.

i'd never tasted pear william cake before, but i can't imagine it being any more delicious than ceci-cela's version. it's a vanilla cake, layered with delicate mousseline custard creme, and fresh pears, poached in poire william liqueur. what i love about this dessert, is that it can be relished in generous portions, yet it's so light, you never feel as though you've overindulged. with the pear william cake, you put your fork down and all you can think is, wow, that was really, really good.

there were two other pastries that we tasted. the first, a raspberry chocolate napoleon, was disappointing to some of us--the raspberry cream was actually a bit sour (no doubt the fruit was fresh though). it could have used a richer, sweeter chocolate filling to balance it out. the opera cakes--topped with flecks of edible gold--is terrific, and best with "brave" coffee.

55 Spring St.between Lafayette and Mulberry Sts.
212-274-9179

166 Chambers St.between Broadway and Greenwich St.
212-566-8933