I want to know where it all began
A timeline from Carême's architectural desserts to the Bird's Milk cake of 1978.
a magazine about the culture of pastry art
Latarta — on the culture of pastry art
Why is a wedding cake usually white, how did the Pavlova get a ballerina's name, and how did a 19th-century pastry chef build entire temples out of sugar? We write about dessert as part of history, art and celebration — no ads, no prices, no recipes written to sell something.
Where to start
I'm curious how cake became sculpture
Analysis: the pièce montée, the croquembouche and the tiered wedding cake as architecture.
I want to know what people bake for the holidays
A calendar of traditions: galette des rois, kulich, Stollen and wedding season.
Sections
- ArticlesA map of topics and a catalogue of upcoming articles.
- HistoryA dessert timeline: from Carême to the Bird's Milk cake.
- People & AuthorsPastry chefs and cookbook authors from dessert history — verifiable facts only.
- Reading ListsReading paths for beginners and for those who want to go deeper.
- CalendarA calendar of holiday baking: Epiphany, Maslenitsa, Easter, Christmas.
- AnalysisThe cake as architecture: pièce montée, croquembouche and the wedding cake.
- ArchiveEvery piece, A to Z and by topic, including archived addresses.
Editor's pick
A timeline of famous desserts
Sachertorte, Pavlova, Bird's Milk cake and the Larousse encyclopedia — dates and short explanations.
The people desserts are named after
Carême, Franz Sacher, Anna Pavlova, Vladimir Guralnik — brief and fact-based.
Where the dessert table came from (in Russian)
How the dessert table became a part of the celebration in its own right, and what decorative presentation has to do with it.
FAQ
Is this the La Tarta bakery's website?
No. Latarta is an independent magazine. The domain was once used by a bakery, but the current project has no connection to it, and its content and contact details are not published here.
Can I order a cake from you?
No. We don't take orders, sell cakes or publish prices. The magazine covers the culture and history of dessert.
Do you have recipes?
Step-by-step recipes aren't our main format. We explain how desserts came about, what they mean at celebrations and how to read old cookbooks.
Where do your facts come from?
From culinary encyclopedias, history books and publicly available reference sources. We call legends legends, and we list our sources on every page.
Latarta is an independent magazine about the culture of pastry art: the history of desserts and celebration cakes, pastry-making as design and sculpture, cookbooks and dessert photography as media, and holiday baking traditions.
This domain was previously used by a bakery's website. The current project has no connection to it; the old content was not preserved and is not reproduced here.
We do not publish invented origin stories, quotes, ratings or unconfirmed event announcements.