Yolanda Gampp has built a fan base of 4 million-plus on YouTube for her novelty cakes—a following that earned her the title “Queen of Cakes” and caught the attention of bakery-café chain Paris Baguette.
Working closely with Paris Baguette’s culinary team, led by Yvette Castillo, and the coffee experts at Lavazza, the Toronto-based “caker” came up with two tennis-themed baked goods for the summer menu: a bomboloni or filled doughnut and a cake slice, as well as a latte. The ideas were all brainstormed through video calls with Castillo, then Gampp polished the recipes in her home kitchen before heading down to the chain’s R&D kitchen in Moonachie, N.J. to scale up production and ready the items for launch in 118 U.S. locations.
The baking journey
Castillo and Gampp decided a cake slice would work better than a whole cake for a summer LTO and came up with a takeoff on the brand’s best-selling strawberry soft cream cake. “We already had the fresh-baked vanilla sponge layers in house and the franchisees are used to working with them,” said Castillo.
Yolanda Gampp
Gampp aimed for a summer flavor profile, so she developed a lemon-lime filling that’s complemented by the sweetness of fresh blackberries. “The cake is filled with fresh lemon-lime curd blended with real whipped cream,” she said. “I love citrus because it adds fresh brightness to the filling, and the rich whipped cream holds the flavor well. I could never fill one of my own novelty cakes with whipped cream because the layers are too heavy.”
The cake layers are also soaked in lime syrup to carry through the flavor profile. “When I tasted the cake alone, I realized the idea would work,” said Gampp.
The resulting First Serve Lemon Lime Blackberry Cake Slice was relatively easy to execute, since most of the ingredients are already in house and the assembly is similar to other Paris Baguette layer cakes. “When Yolanda came into the R&D kitchen, she showed me how to create the cake slice. I then shot training videos, using my hands to demonstrate, and sent these out to our franchisees along with a recipe manual,” said Castillo. “Consistency is key.”
The bomboloni was a little more challenging. “I never made bomboloni before, but I love doughnuts,” said Gampp. “Texture-wise, it’s lighter and fluffier than a doughnut.”
Working off Paris Baguette’s bomboloni recipe, she filled it with vanilla bean custard and used a smooth icing for the glaze. “But I had to figure out how to color the glaze to look like a tennis ball to fit the theme,” said Gampp. “I have many more tools and food colors in my own kitchen than Paris Baguette has in their units. I had to work with their basic food colors to get it right.”
It took several tries to get the glaze color right on the bombolini.
After a bit of trial and error, she perfected the formula and the Drop Shot Bomboloni was finalized; the icing is a vibrant green with white chocolate lines.
Rounding out the LTO
For the latte, Gampp focused on two of her favorite flavors: vanilla and coconut. She worked with the Lavazza team to get the proportions right with their coffee. The result is the Courtside Coconut Oat Milk Latte, crafted with espresso coffee and coconut oat milk.
When Gampp came into the Paris Baguette kitchen, she wrote down and costed out all the ingredients and perfected the flavors.
“We had so much fun collaborating with Yolanda to create these delicious limited-edition baked goods,” said Castillo. “This is a first of its kind partnership for our brand and these menu items bring the signature style our guests have come to expect from us, with the added flair and expertise Yolanda brings.”
The trio of items is on the menu through August 21, at which time Paris Baguette will introduce a fall LTO, but the exact lineup is still a secret.