Sweet Beginnings: How top pastry chefs showcase spring’s freshest flavours
Spring: the season when nature awakes and pastry chefs are ready for change. Gone are the heavy desserts of winter, replaced by lighter bites that explode with seasonal flavours. The transition is subtle but inspiring and comes with the chance to play with colour, texture and the fleeting beauty of spring’s best ingredients.
Asuka Matsubara, pastry chef at the Japanese Italian Pasticceria La Piccolo Citrino in Central, embraces spring with a quiet elegance. “As winter gives way to spring, it’s about finding ingredients that bridge the gap between the rich, deep flavours of winter and the fresh, vibrant notes of spring,” she says. For Matsubara, this means combining delicate Japanese seasonal fruit such as strawberries with Italy’s bold blood oranges. “Together, they create a dialogue of cultures and seasons, with colours and tastes as bold as they are nuanced.”
Asuka Matsubara at La Piccolo Citrino
Kotoka strawberry almond custard tart
At contemporary pastry café Tozzo in Tai Kwun, chef-founder Fabio Bardi takes a more exuberant approach, welcoming spring with a burst of citrus and floral notes. “Spring brings a sense of renewal,” he says, “and with that, the desire for lighter, fresher desserts.” The rich, nutty winter flavours make way for citrus, tangy berries and floral accents. This spring, Bardi is showcasing a millefeuille celebration cake layered with lemon and Italian extra virgin olive oil. “The floral, grassy notes of high-quality extra virgin olive oil from Italy pair elegantly with the bright, zesty lemon peel,” he explains. “It’s both fresh and indulgent, all at once.”
Tozzo’s lemon olive oil millefeuille
Fabio Bardi of Tozzo
Jonathan Soukdeo, executive pastry chef at Rosewood Hong Kong, takes full advantage of spring’s vibrant colours and fragrant fruits. “Spring heralds the arrival of strawberries, cherries, rhubarb and citrus,” he says, turning his attention to the season’s fruit in pies, tarts and sorbets. But Soukdeo doesn’t just stop at the obvious. He’s equally captivated by edible flowers such as violets, cornflowers, basil and mint. “They add unique flavours and aesthetic appeal,” he says. It’s about making his desserts an experience that works on and appeals to all the senses. “Simple, elegant presentations using fresh ingredients can emphasise the natural beauty of spring produce.” Soukdeo’s desserts are about letting the season’s colours and textures shine—confirmation that sometimes, less is more.
Butterfly Patisserie’s strawberry roll cake
Jonathan Soukdeo, Rosewood Hong Kong
Finally, Léo Faler, head pastry chef at Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic at Landmark, brings a poetic touch to spring’s transition. “It’s liberating to embrace lighter, fruity and more refreshing elements,” he says. This year, he’s tinkering with genmaicha, a green tea with roasted rice. “The flavour of tea mixed with the roasted taste of puffed rice and geranium is the definition of spring,” he explains of an approach that combines complexity with freshness. The result is a dessert that’s a treat not only for the tastebuds but all the senses. “It’s a delightful discovery, an interplay of aromas and textures,” Faler says. This is spring in its most sophisticated, multisensory form— something familiar yet completely new.
Le Millefeuille Blanc with geranium chantilly, candied ginger and crispy tuile genmaicha crémeux
Spring is, by its very nature, fleeting—a season caught between extremes, where everything seems to bloom and fade in an instant. And yet, what these pastry chefs understand is that the beauty of spring lies precisely in its transience. They don’t try to capture it; instead, they distil it—transforming the momentary freshness of seasonal ingredients into something that lingers a little longer. There’s a lesson in that: we may not be able to hold onto spring but we can certainly honour it, if only for a while.
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