Éric Lanlard (born 1968) is a
French pâtissier
A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, ...
and
celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
. He was previously a chef for the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
, but moved to the UK in 1989 to work with
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
and
Michel Roux
Michel Roux, OBE (; 19 April 1941 – 11 March 2020), also known as Michel Roux Snr., was a French chef and restaurateur working in Britain. Along with his brother Albert, he opened Le Gavroche, later to become the first three Michelin starred ...
. He left their company in 1995 to set up his first business, Laboratoire 2000, which was replaced by his shop Cake Boy in 2005. He had previously appeared on British television in guest spots on a number of channels before
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
gave him his own television series, ''Glamour Puds'' and ''Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard''.
Biography
Born in
Plomelin,
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...
,
Éric has described his original inspiration to become a
pâtissier
A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, ...
was at the age of five, where he would stare through the windows of a
patisserie in his town Quinper called "Le Grand". He would go on to work there at the age of 18, training as a pastry chef. Lanlard has also stated that the French legend Chef Antonin Careme was an inspiration He moved to Luxembourg to become a
chocolatier
A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients.
Education and training
Traditionally, chocolatiers, ...
at
Arens-Scheer.
After his apprenticeship, he was then called up for
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
, joining the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
where he served on board the
cruiser ''Jeanne d'Arc'' while it was the flagship. While on board, his cooking impressed the
French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, ...
, who gave Lanlard a pair of gold
cufflinks
Cufflinks are items of jewelry that are used to secure the cuffs of dress shirts. Cufflinks can be manufactured from a variety of different materials, such as glass, stone, leather, metal, precious metal or combinations of these. Securing of ...
.
Leaving the Navy, he was recruited by the Roux brothers,
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
and
Michel and moved to the UK in 1989. He became their head pastry chef within two years before leaving to set up his own business in 1995.
Lanlard still maintains links with the Roux family and makes a yearly "pilgrimage" to
Michel Roux Jr.'s
Le Gavroche
Le Gavroche (''The Urchin'') is a restaurant at 43 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. It was opened in 1967 by Michel and Albert Roux at 61 Lower Sloane Street, its premises until 1981. Albert's son Michel Roux Jr is the current chef patr ...
in London. Laboratoire 2000, his first business which opened in 1995, was rebranded in 2005 as Cake Boy. The shop itself doubles as a cookery school, and the premises from where Lanlard operate it were opened by UK TV celebrity
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...
, in an area which Lanlard was familiar with as when he worked with the Roux brothers, it was the same area they were based in at the time.
Among Lanlard's publicised works are a
croquembouche
A ''croquembouche'' () or ''croque-en-bouche'' is a French dessert consisting of choux pastry puffs piled into a cone and bound with threads of caramel. In Italy and France, it is often served at weddings, baptisms and first communions.
Name
T ...
for the wedding of
Madonna and
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the '' Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchie left school at age 15 and wo ...
,
[ and wedding cakes for ]Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Jane Hurley (born 10 June 1965) is an English actress and model.
As an actress, her best-known film roles have been as Vanessa Kensington in '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997) and as the Devil in '' Bedazzled'' ( ...
and Claudia Schiffer
Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...
; as well as both the first birthday cake of Brooklyn Beckham, son of David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending f ...
, and the cake for the Queen Mother's 101st birthday which featured two Corgis wearing tiaras. His television appearances have included guest spots on UKTV Food
Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009. ...
, the BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
show ''Girls on Top'' and ITV's ''This Morning'', and he has had his own television shows on Channel 4 called ''Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard'', and ''Glamour Puds''. He has twice been named Continental Patissier of the Year at the British Baking Awards.
Lanlard is now part of the "Food Heroes" for P&O cruises, looking after signature Afternoon Teas on board the whole fleet, as well as running classes and creating recipes. Lanlard is also a Food Ambassador for Marriott International, creating an "Afternoon Tea" concept around the world across their high end brands, like the St Regis & Luxury Collection. Lanlard's latest venture is with Virgin Atlantic, where he has designed an Afternoon Tea concept across all airline cabins and in Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse airport lounges.
Personal life
After moving to the UK, Lanlard lived in Putney
Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
History
Putney is an ancient pa ...
, but moved to Battersea
Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park.
History
Batte ...
in 2004.
He has also signed to go on a sub-orbital spaceflight
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...
with Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company ...
. He has stated in interviews that despite his trade, he doesn't have a sweet tooth and that his weakness is cheese.
Bibliography
* ''Glamour Cakes'' (2008)
* ''Home Bake'' (2010)
* ''Cake Boy'' (2011)
* ''Cupcakes from Cox Cookies and Cakes'' (2011) Coauthor Patrick Cox
* ''Master Cakes: Inspirational step-by-step recipes from a master patissier'' (2011)
* ''Tart It Up! Sweet and Savoury Tarts and Pies'' (2012)
* ''Chocolat: Seductive Recipes for Bakes, Desserts, Truffles and Other Treats'' (2013)
References
External links
"Cake Boy", Eric Lanlard official site
H Talent Management Eric Lanlard Client Biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanlard, Eric
1968 births
Living people
French chefs
20th-century French LGBT people
21st-century French LGBT people
People from Quimper