Valrhona Brings Together Pastry Icons Pierre Hermé & Dominique Ansel in New York
This July, Valrhona is honored to welcome Pierre Hermé to New York City for a series of exceptional moments celebrating creativity, transmission, and the future of pastry. From July 21 to 26, this special program will bring together some of the most influential voices in the industry, culminating in a highly anticipated collaboration with Dominique Ansel that promises to capture the imagination of pastry lovers everywhere.
At Valrhona, we believe our role goes beyond providing exceptional chocolate. We believe in creating the conditions for dialogue, inspiration, and connection — bringing chefs together across cultures, generations, and creative worlds.
Welcoming Pierre Hermé to New York, and helping spark this exchange with Dominique Ansel, reflects exactly that ambition: to stand at the forefront of pastry’s evolution while fostering the conversations and collaborations that shape its future.
Pastry Pioneers
Among the highlights of the week will be Pastry Pioneers, an invitation-only event taking place in Dumbo, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, July 22.
This gathering will feature an inspiring dialogue between Pierre Hermé and Dominique Ansel, two of the world's most visionary pastry chefs.
Together, they will reflect on the current and future landscape of pastry, exploring themes such as cultural adaptation across borders and the evolution of pastry brands on the international stage. The evening will also include an exclusive tasting of signature creations from both chefs, a rare opportunity to experience their artistry side by side.
A private event with Pierre Hermé at L’École Valrhona Brooklyn will follow the next day, further reinforcing Valrhona’s commitment to meaningful exchange and high-level pastry transmission.
A Pop-Up the Pastry World Will Not Forget
The weekend’s main event will be a special pop-up at Dominique Ansel Bakery Soho from July 23 and throughout the weekend. Known around the world as the creator of the legendary Cronut®, Chef Dominique Ansel is joining forces with Chef Pierre Hermé to bring three exclusive creations to New York for a limited time:
🥐 Ispahan Cronut®: combining Chef Dominique's iconic creation with the flavors of Chef Pierre's signature Ispahan macaron, filled with lychee ganache, raspberry jam, rose fondant, and a delicate fresh rose petal.
✨ Paradoxe Entremets: an original recipe by Pierre Herme, crafted to celebrate Valrhona's Guanaja's 40th anniversary, with buckwheat shortbread and praline, soft chocolate biscuit, Guanaja dark chocolate with soy powder and fleur de sel, and Guanaja dark chocolate mousse.
🍫 Flan Infiniment Chocolat: an ultra-rich and creamy French-style baked custard (flan pâtissier) infused with Valrhona 80% dark chocolate surrounded by shortcrust pastry, finished with cocoa nib nougatine.
This exclusive pop-up will offer guests the chance to discover a one-of-a-kind pastry dialogue between two iconic chefs, each bringing his own distinctive creative language to the collaboration, offering New York pastry lovers a rare opportunity to experience exclusive creations born from a shared pursuit of excellence.
📍 Join us July 23-26 at Dominique Ansel Bakery Soho for an exclusive pop-up celebrating this one-of-a-kind partnership. Available from 8AM til sold out.
Some collaborations create excitement. Others become part of pastry history. This one promises to be both.
When Pastry Icons Meet
Few names in pastry carry the resonance of Pierre Hermé. Often described as one of the great architects of modern pastry, he is celebrated around the world for his precision, bold flavor combinations, and iconic creations such as Ispahan, which has become one of the most recognizable signatures in contemporary pâtisserie. Pierre Hermé is also President of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, underscoring his continuing influence on the global pastry landscape. Valrhona’s ties to Pierre Hermé are longstanding: he has collaborated with the Maison on major reference works and has long been part of the broader ecosystem of chefs, ideas, and technical excellence that shapes our world.
Dominique Ansel, for his part, changed the course of modern pastry in the United States by transforming a familiar American format into a global phenomenon. Through creations such as the Cronut®, he has shown how technical rigor, playfulness, and innovation can redefine pastry culture for a new generation. A James Beard Award-winning pastry chef, chef Dominique Ansel has built a universe that is both deeply creative and unmistakably New York.
Valrhona is the natural partner for chefs of this caliber because our brand has always been about more than ingredients. We are a Maison of transmission, creative dialogue, and shared ambition. Through L’École Valrhona, our Cercle V community, and our long-standing relationships with pastry professionals around the world, we work to connect the chefs who are not only defining excellence today, but imagining what pastry can become tomorrow.
