The tarte tropézienne, the cream-filled brioche that has been a St. Tropez obsession since 1955; Brigitte Bardot, who gave the dessert its name while filming *…And God Created Woman.*

Let Them Eat Tarte

It seems no distance is too great for the smart set in pursuit of the tarte tropézienne—the cult St. Tropez dessert whose recipe remains a tightly guarded secret

By William D. Cohan

I’d like to think I know something about delicious desserts. My late mother made a mean graham-cracker-crusted cheesecake from scratch. My late father was partial to strawberries Romanoff. For my 50th-birthday dinner—held in a private room at Blue Hill at Stone Barns—I commissioned the most scrumptious homemade red velvet cake. It was gone instantly.

But I wasn’t prepared for the dessert I encountered at the most beautiful wedding a few weeks ago on Nantucket: a massive, 80-pound la tarte tropézienne, three feet and three inches in diameter. I had never heard of it, either. According to La Tarte Tropézienne’s Web site, the tarte is “a delicious brioche generously filled with a tasty blend of two smooth creams, sprinkled with granulated sugar.” I can vouch for its wonderfulness.