We heart sweets and decadence here at GLA, (especially if they are gluten-free) so we caught up with Etty Benhamou, creator and owner at Le Mervetty of Beverly Hills. Check out what inspired her to perfect her designer desserts.
What does Le Mervetty mean?
“The Mervetty” is a combination of Etty (her name) and the Merveilleux dessert (cloud cake). Each Mervetty has a size- Le Petit Mervetty, Le Grand Mervetty, Le Pavlova Cake, The Royal Mervetty Cake and so forth.
What inspired you to start Le Mervetty?
Well, I have so much love for ballet, France and traveling in general. It is what continues to inspire me. I am actually a self-taught meringue artist, and created Le Mervetty after two years in my little kitchen with a micro oven and eggs everywhere. I spent two years just doing that. I wanted to get it right for myself; forget the idea of a business. When I did meringue without the cream, I used my own recipe. The first was like glue. I asked bakeries around how they made meringue and everybody gave me ideas, but most were hard as rocks. Finally, one day, it came out by accident. I thought, ‘This is it! This is my recipe.’ But I wanted to do Merveilleux, not just meringue. So I started buying cream from supermarkets, whipping all the creams you could imagine in this city.
What is your favorite pastry?
All of them are my favorite! You cannot pick just one!
What is on the horizon for Le Mervetty?
Le Mervetty has so many things coming up! We will begin to incorporate more ballerinas with our events. We are introducing new flavors like mango, butterfinger and coconut. We also recently added gluten-free French macarons in a variety of delicious flavors.
Le Mervetty
319 North Canon Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 839-8900