L'Opera Cake Geometry

The famous l'opera gateau is not exactly unrelated to my Paris trip. I keep staring at my rectangular suitcase

and thinking about pastry geometrie instead of packing.
 

I tried opera cake at Sadaharu Aoki's patisserie

on 35, rue de Vaugirard, 75006
Sadly, I cannot report how it tasted.

I was too busy admiring it's perfect architecture and lovely dimensions.

The cake was first created by Louis Clichy in 1903.
But Dalloyau renamed it after the grand Paris Opera
and is reknown for their version. I stole a shot at Galerie Lafayette Gourmet.

Every French patisserie makes a version of this popular multi-layered chocolate decadence.
L'Epicerie has their monster versions...I would love to figure out why a squared cake in the US connotes an
office party birthday or a banana cake?
Where is the panache?
Where's the ganache? Humm.

Pierre Herme makes what looks like an opera cake but he changes the equation.
Called the Carrement Chocolat, it is not layered.
Inside is:
(biscuit "molleux chocolat", creme onctueuse au chocolat, mousse au chocolat, fine feuilles de chocolat craquant)
Well I see the word feuille / leaves, so maybe it is layered?
Help me out here.

I brought the petit four version home to paint.

There's nothing like the challenge of painting a square
on a rectangular piece of paper.But I think I forgot to taste it...
Uh ohThese (20!) step-by-step demo pictures are from

the Meilleur du Chef.dom..
Here's what's inside the cake:
Giaconda biscuit
Coffee syrup
Coffee buttercream
Chocolate ganache
Chocolate glaze
Not exactly "a piece of cake" to make!
I think I better focus on the 20+ layers going inside my little suitcase...ahem

Carrément Chocolat - Pastry Geometry

I'm down to my last few delicious SQUARES of chocolate from the Fancy Food Show a month ago...Pierre Hermé likes SQUARES too.His Carrément Chocolat shows up in many sizes - as a gateau for 4, a popsicle, as a portion individule (I bought this one).

The interior - Chocolat noir, gelé de chocolat et croustilland de chocolat = this is a whole lot of chocolat!

Google translates carrément chocolat as 'straightforwardly' but I think "SQUARELY chocolate" would be better.
Any help from the audience is appreciated.

Paris pastry chefs use plenty of geometry in their creations.

Desserts naturally take the form of abstract geometric shapes-cubes, spheres, cylinders, pyramids, triangles what with the SQUARE and circular pans used for baking. But What's so great about geometric forms and why ever would these influence French pastry chefs?

Pierre Hermé Gateaux, watercolor, 10 1/2 x 7 1/2"

Cezanne said, if you can draw a cube, a sphere, a pyramid...you can draw anything. Most art foundation courses start off drawing these same shapes. They're the basis of all forms.

Ok not mashed potatos, but the head, the figure etc can all be carved out of a cube.

There's an inherent harmony in these shapes.

They're pleasing aesthetically to the eye and no chefs are more conscious of aesthetics than pastry chefs IMO.

Everywhere I looked in Paris I saw these pure geometric shapes. Square within a square at La Maison du Chocolat, rectangles at Christian Constant, triangles and circles at Lenotre, on and on.
BTW if you buy any of these don't let them sit around as I did on my drawing table -- you'll have a nice penicillin farm in no time at all.

The vendeuse at Jean-Paul Hévin said ONLY 3 HOURS OUTSIDE THE FRIGO! after I left a raspberry rectangle out while I went south for 3 DAYS!!!

And let me tell you, even in the Frigo - do not forget these guys! OK do you think I'm nuts?  Feel free to tell me know your opinion of the Paris pastry geometry theory.