List of products by brand Cerf-Dellier

With its sophisticated and high-quality products, Cerf Dellier is one of the most important companies for great and easy-to-make pâtisseries and pralines. In addition to the small packaging units that you will find in our shop for use in your own kitchen, Cerf Dellier also delivers large quantities of the individual ingredients. These are sold to bakeries, patisseries and restaurants.

The company began quite differently. in 1918, the young Belgian Auguste Dellier came to France to help with reconstruction after the Second World War. However, he was not trained as a bricklayer or anything similar, instead he specialised in building traditional brick ovens. So it was that Auguste set up his own business in 1932 under the name Dellier.

Eventually, he also obtained a licence to sell various materials to bakers. This opened up a whole new range of possibilities for him and he was soon delivering much more than just baking ovens to bakeries. in 1945, he opened a shop where bakers, pâtissiers and confectioners could buy various tools for their craft directly. As he ran it with his fiancée, the shop in Lens bore the name Dellier-Wiart.

The business was then taken over by the daughter of the two, Marie-Antoinette. After her death, Dellier was taken over by her husband Albert Cerf and from then on bore the name Cerf-Dellier. The business was expanded to include further products and was finally handed over to her son Jean-François. He, too, proved to be very enterprising and saw to the introduction of various American products into the French market. He also created the website.

In 2011, Cerf-Dellier got a new boss, Jérôme Sergent. Isabelle Sergent, a trained architect with her own small business, also joined and is now the director of the marketing department. Together, the two of them run the business and are always coming up with new innovations. They also came up with the idea of selling the many products for professional use in smaller units. In this way, they give hobby bakers and patissiers access to high-quality ingredients, because 5 kg of praline paste or 10 kg of Mirror Glaze are a bit too much even for real sweet tooths.

With this combination of professional products and distribution to private individuals and producers, Cerf-Dellier has repeatedly enjoyed great success. For example, a new location was opened in Hénin-Beaumont. In addition to a huge storage area, there is also a large shop and a modern kitchen. Courses and baking competitions, which are often broadcast on television, take place there. In addition, instructional videos for Youtube are also recorded there time and again.

Cerf-Dellier offers unusual products that can be used to create particularly exquisite creations. The liquid fondant, which is available in various colours, is often used for éclairs, choux pastry or cream cakes. It only needs to be warmed slightly, then the éclairs and choux can be dipped halfway and the cream slices, which have previously been spread with apricot jam, can be poured over.

Mirror Glaze works very similarly, but is usually used for tarts or pâtisserie. The cake or small dessert should be as smooth as possible, fill in small holes beforehand with cream or whipped cream if necessary, and be frozen for about 30 minutes, depending on the size. This prevents the warm mirror glaze from melting the cream and running down with it.

Pralines are another great treat. Filled with delicate mousse and beautifully decorated. With the products from Cerf-Dellier, you can also make the classic chocolate beetles that you normally find in confectioners' shops.

Chocolate beetles

To make your own chocolate beetles, you need small praline Easter egg half-shells, couverture or, if you don't want to use tempering, cake icing, a suitable filling, a piping bag, a small spatula and cornet paper.

Now you can prepare the desired filling. The masses from Cerf-Dellier can be used in different ways. You can refine a ready-made praline ganache with the pure hazelnut or pistachio paste. Stir in a little at a time and taste until you like the flavour.

The hazelnut gianduja, on the other hand, only needs a little couverture for the perfect consistency. For a simple praline filling, mix 200 g of gianduja with about 80 g of melted milk couverture and pipe it into the egg half shells. Praline fillings, such as the cashew nut praline mass, can be stirred a little or whipped and moulded directly into the eggs.

For the exact application of the individual masses, you can always follow the description on the product page or, if available, the description on the packaging. Once the filling has been filled to just below the rim, everything can be chilled briefly, then the praline shells are sealed with tempered couverture using a piping bag or spatula. The pralines can then be chilled again for about half an hour until the bases are completely firm.

Then get a normal or a tampering fork and dragées ready. In our online shop you can find chocolate and almond dragées, so you can choose freely according to taste and desired colour.

The pralines are removed from the foil one by one and the round part is placed in the tempered couverture. Each praline is pressed into the couverture with the fork, turned and lifted out again. Then briefly tap the edge, place the stamped praline on a piece of baking paper and the next half can be added. Before the couverture sets on the praline, the dragées are placed as wings on the slightly wider part. If you miss the perfect moment, you can still stick the wings on afterwards with a little couverture.

Once all the chocolates have been stamped, wings have been added and they are well chilled, the eyes can be applied using cornet paper and white and dark couverture. Put them in the fridge once more and the cute little bugs are ready!