The signature pain suisse is made from chocolate dough, chocolate crème and topped with chocolate crémeux
A WAREHOUSE on an industrial estate may seem like an odd home for a dessert shop run by a winner of TV show Bake Off: The Professionals.
But foodies with a nose for exploring off-the-beaten-track should follow the sweet smells wafting from behind Costa Coffee on Penarth Road.
What they will likely find is a queue of people competing for freshly-baked pastries, cookies, brownies and elegant hand-made desserts.
“We’d been plodding along quite nicely,” said Michael Coggon, owner of Petit Four Patisserie.
“We’ve had enough stuff to last until we’ve closed. Sometimes we’d sell out of one or two things.
“But now we sell out by 10am.
“It’s kind of been hard to keep up, I’ll be honest.”
The outlet has been wholesaling desserts, patisserie and afternoon teas to businesses across Cardiff since it opened in 2023.
But Mr Coggon, 34, opened a bakery counter for workers at the Freeman’s Parc trading warehouse in February this year.
“We thought, we’re here anyway, we’ll just put the counter in and see if anybody trickles in,” said Mr Coggon, who is originaly from Bargoed.
“A lot of people didn’t know we were actually here.”
Thanks to a viral social media post last week with more than 173,000 views, demand has now skyrocketed for Petit Four’s goodies, which include Nutella croissants, almond slices, cinnamon buns and lemon and raspberry meringue tarts.
One customer even travelled 72 miles last weekend to sample the sugary confections.
“It’s crazy,” Mr Coggon said.
The pastry chef is famous for his appearances on Channel 4 show Bake Off: The Professionals. He first competed in 2018.
“The first time it was absolute hell. I hated every second of it. It was just because I didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
“We didn’t show what we could truly do, that’s why I went back on.”
He returned in 2021 to redeem himself.
“I was like, ‘I haven’t represented myself well. I need to go back on and show what Wales has to offer and what we can truly do’,” the businessman said.
Mr Coggan won that year’s series with Andrew Minto, his partner at the now-closed Gin & Bake in Cardiff Bay.
‘Everybody loves a bit of indulgence’
Mr Coggon had a simple answer to explain the public love for the bakery scene: “Everyone likes a little sweet treat.”
At Petit Four however, the pastry chef likes to put a twist on all of his desserts.
“I think it takes it to the next level. You’ve got something that’s been done for years – it just makes it a little bit more indulgent,” he said.
The patisserie’s signature item is their pain suisse. Unlike the traditional pastry, which uses croissant dough, filled with vanilla custard and chocolate chips, Petit Four’s uses a chocolate dough, and is filled with a chocolate crème pâtissière and topped with a chocolate crémeux.
Buying from local producers is also a source of pride for the Welsh-born chef, who grew up in Bargoed.
“Wales has good produce, we have such producers around here of fruit and veg and dairies in particular,” Mr Coggon said.
Pastry academy ambitions
With the bakery now growing in popularity, Mr Coggon is thinking about future plans, and hopes to set out a seating area and expand the range of patisserie they offer.
For Mr Coggon however, his main ambition lies with education.
“I suppose the end goal for me has always been too open a pastry academy,” he said.
The 34-year-old said that in France and the rest of Europe, a career in cookery is highly respected. In the UK however, he believes there is a different attitude.
“Here it’s almost seen as, if you go into cheffing or hospitality, it’s kind of ‘you didn’t do very well in school’, and I think that stigma needs to change,” Mr Coggon said.
He has begun to offer an apprenticeship at Petit Four to help people learn more about patisserie.
“You still learn, I still learn,” he said.
“There’ll always be a new technique or someone will think of something different.
“It’s not really a job where you know everything. Someone can always show you a different way of doing something that might be better than your way.”
The Bake Off winner hopes that more people will come and discover the desserts and bakes he creates.
“It’s nice to know that people are traveling to us to get some good pastries and good patisserie,” he said.
“Patisserie is for everyone. People see it as being posh just because I think you hear the word patisserie and think ‘Oooh that’s fancy’ but essentially it’s just a fancy dessert. It’s no different to having a dessert when you go out for a Sunday roast. It just looks a bit prettier.”
