W.H.I.P Patisserie offers all the classic recipes you’d expect from its French owners, with one major point of difference: there are no eggs or dairy products in sight. Baking Business heads to Perth’s inner-city suburb of Inglewood to discover why the vegan and dietary-friendly venture has gained such a loyal following.

When thinking about a vegan diet, a French patisserie doesn’t usually spring to mind. Nonetheless, a small Perth business is proving high-end pastries can be both delicious and cruelty-free. In fact, many customers don’t even realise that the melt-in-your-mouth croissants and creamy custard tarts are completely void of animal products.

Since opening in February 2023, W.H.I.P Patisserie has won over vegans and non-vegans alike. The portions are large, the menu is varied, and the use of Australian native ingredients is particularly creative (think Geraldton wax-infused cakes and lychee macarons). It’s a modernist approach to the classic French patisserie, with innovative methods, vibrant colours, and inspired flavours.

Most of the ever-evolving menu is also suitable for lactose-intolerant and gluten-free diets, making W.H.I.P one of Perth’s most inclusive destinations for desserts and pastries.

There’s a good reason why W.H.I.P’s products look and taste so good. They are hand-crafted by Cédric Manile and Laura Allieres, partners in both business and life. Cédric is an award-winning pastry chef with extensive experience across France, London, Tuscany, and Australia. With a diverse cultural background encompassing Armenian and Italian heritage, Cédric delights in bringing new flavour combinations to life and isn’t afraid to buck convention. Laura, meanwhile, wears many hats. A marketing professional by trade, she is just as comfortable posting pictures of tarts to Instagram as hanging out at farmers’ markets and serving customers from behind the W.H.I.P counter.

Laura serves a customer

The beginnings of W.H.I.P Patisserie

The French-born and bred couple met in London more than 10 years ago and decided to move to Perth after hearing about the city’s rich culture and diverse food scene. While they admit the pace of life is very different to London, they love their new home and have not looked back.

As vegans themselves, it just made sense for W.H.I.P to be plant-based.

“At the time, we felt like there weren’t a lot of options on the market. What did exist was not very creative or very limited,” Laura said.

“We missed that ‘French touch’.”

The couple came up with the idea of W.H.I.P in 2019. Their mission was clear: to make decadent desserts and perfect pastries accessible to everyone, regardless of dietary preference. By early 2020, they were selling a carefully curated range of vegan, gluten-free, and lactose-free products at local markets, while also delivering to homes and small businesses. Just two months later, Perth was in the throes of COVID-19 lockdowns.

For a new, customer-facing business, COVID could have been the death knell. Nonetheless, Cédric and Laura remained optimistic, confident that their creative approach to flavours and marketing nous would keep the business going.

“The fact we were new really worked in our favour. We were still flexible. We didn’t have anything fully set-up, which made it easier for us to pivot and adapt,” Laura said.

“We were lucky to gain a strong following of customers pretty quickly, so our brand was out there. And we were already delivering to homes and businesses, so we ran with this angle. Home deliveries enabled us to establish our place in the market and thrive at an otherwise really difficult time for the industry.”

When Perth’s produce markets finally reopened, W.H.I.P was ready with trays of fresh croissants, tarts, and baguettes, while also selling to several local cafés. Despite having to rent and share a kitchen with another business, Cédric and Laura were enjoying steady, organic growth. A comment from one of their customers, however, got the couple thinking about their next steps.

“This person was saying, ‘you’re doing café pastries, not market pastries’. It confirmed what we had already been thinking; we needed a shop and our own space to shine a spotlight on our products and our mission,” Laura said.

Cedric at work

The bricks-and-mortar store

A year-and-a-half after opening the doors to the Inglewood patisserie, business is booming. By recreating classics that taste better than the traditional versions, W.H.I.P has become a traditional neighbourhood pâtisserie with beautiful products for everyone.

“All of this is to make sure we can all enjoy the same desserts around the table. Food is about sharing and having a moment together, after all,” Cédric said.

“We don’t make food for people on restricted diets – we just make good food that showcases the best local ingredients that are organic, fresh, and sustainably sourced.”

Cédric makes it all sound easy. In reality, vegan-izing a full menu of French pastries took a lot of trial and error. He started by dissecting recipes, breaking down processes, and analysing the chemical reactions of every ingredient – is it binding, is it leavening, is it adding flavour and texture?

Once he understood how the ingredients worked together, Cédric was able to think about substitutes. Soy milk, for example, is a good replacement for cow’s milk because it has a similar protein content and free amino acid concentrations. Turmeric, on the other hand, can give pastry the same colour as eggs.

“It’s all about knowledge. I’m always watching the pastry chefs in Europe because there are so many vegan chefs standing out. I watch what they’re trying to do and try to understand how and why they are experimenting,” Cedric said.

Pastries on offer at W.H.I.P Patisserie

Luckily for locals, Cédric and Laura are passionate about sharing what they’ve learned. The W.H.I.P Patisserie Academy has run for almost a year out of the Inglewood commercial kitchen. A range of classes are on offer from introductory-level cooking demos and school holiday activities for kids, to professional half-day vegan patisserie training.

Classes run once a month, with the limited spots usually selling out quickly. Lately, lessons have focused on degustation-style eating and grazing platters, but have also covered the classics such as lemon meringue tarts and chocolate truffles.

W.H.I.P also has a retail offering. Dubbed ‘the Food Snob Pantry’, the Inglewood shop is home to a carefully curated range of deli items and high-end pantry staples. From locally sourced organic miso paste to artisan macadamia oil, small-batch tempeh chips, and vegan cheeses, W.H.I.P has everything a food connoisseur needs to create a meal or grazing board that’s guaranteed to start conversations.

“The locals love it. They are so eager to try new things and support local produce,” Laura said, noting customers are often drawn in by the croissants, but return for the flan.

“Many don’t even know we are vegan. They come in every day because they enjoy what we’re doing. To us, that’s the mark of success.”