To taste the best Paris-Brest in the Île-de-France region, you’ll have to leave Paris. On November 1, 2026, at the Salon du Chocolat at the Porte de Versailles, fifteen pastry chefs competed for first place in a contest entirely dedicated to this great French classic. And in the end, it was Timothée Boussat, from Frédéric Cassel in Fontainebleau, who won first prize.
The Paris-Brest Grand Prix, organized for the first time this year by the National Confederation of Artisan Pastry Chefs, had one unique requirement: contestants had to follow the traditional recipe. There was no room for exotic chocolate creations or completely altering the cake’s shape. The jury, under the patronage of Pierre Hermé, was tasked with evaluating the artisans’ skill in making a pastry that everyone knows, but whose preparation requires great precision.
To determine the winner, the competition allocated 120 out of 200 points to taste, compared to 50 for visual presentation and 30 for the quality of the cut. The consistency of the choux pastry, the texture of the cream, and the balance of the praline thus made all the difference.
At Frédéric Cassel, the Paris-Brest combines a ring of choux pastry, a hazelnut cream filling, and a crunchy praline with hazelnut pieces. The pastry shop, which opened in 1994, enjoys an excellent reputation, thanks to its founder, a former employee of Fauchon, where he notably worked alongside Pierre Hermé.
Parisians can also take comfort in two distinguished spots in the capital. Benjamin Roc, from the bakery and pastry shop L’Équilibre on Rue Blomet, and Toshiya Takatsuka, located in the same 15th arrondissement, also made it onto the podium for this inaugural edition.
The history of this cake is, in fact, closely tied to the Paris region. In 1910, Louis Durand, a pastry chef in Maisons-Laffitte, in the Yvelines department, is said to have created this ring of choux pastry filled with praline cream as a tribute to the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race. Its round shape resembles a bicycle wheel—a detail that explains why the dessert’s shape has never really changed.
More than a century after its creation, this classic continues to make waves in the Île-de-France region. To discover the award-winning shop, head to downtown Fontainebleau, just a few minutes’ walk from the famous château.