masse's pastries

As with restaurants, the Berkeley/Bay Area has a plethora of cupcake shops (and carts!), bakeries, creameries, and the like. I must confess now that I am not, or rather, was not, a fan of baked goods. It took this girl multiple baking frenzies and multiple trips to Crixa Cakes to finally convince me that yes, I love cake. (I am still on the fence about cupcakes. I don't know if I'll ever like them.)

But this post is not for Crixa or cupcakes. It's for Masse's Pastries, a little cafe in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto. Masse's specializes in the most beautiful, delicate cakes and pastries, but this post is about their cakes. There's nothing better than sitting in a quaint cafe on a sunny afternoon with friends, eating cake and drinking tea.

We got three cakes between the three of us--N ordered the mango mousse, a definite must have, I got the chocolate hazelnut (with gold flecks!), and Mel got a guava something or other, I forget.

But they're all delicious. We've also tried the blood orange with chocolate, which is divine, to put simply, the raspberry mousse, the key lime mousse--yes, they like making mousse, but the mousse is so light and melts in your mouth, that you can't help but inhale it and savor it at the same time. Yes, I am not making sense, but this is how Masse's makes me feel--incoherent. And yes, it is a good thing.

Above (from a friend's birthday): blood orange, raspberry, mango, and keylime mousse. So much love.

Masse's Pastries
1469 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709