Coussin de Lyon

The Coussin de Lyon is a small confection from Lyon made of chocolate ganache wrapped in pale green almond paste. Its square, plump shape evokes a silk cushion. The sweet almond outside and the smooth chocolate center come together, accented by the citrus aroma of curaçao.

According to the maker, Chocolaterie Voisin, the inside is chocolate ganache and the outside is a thin almond paste coated in sugar, and production takes four days. Unlike chocolate that is simply set and wrapped, the ganache at the center forms a layer that melts smoothly in the mouth. The almond paste on the outside creates the outline of a square pillow and adds the sweetness of nuts. In the method presented by Tsuji Culinary Institute, the ganache is rolled up in marzipan, cut into pieces, soaked in syrup and dried. Sugar crystallizing on the surface gives the outside a crisp texture.

Voisin’s production site also has an unexpected connection with Lyon’s textile industry. According to a regional industrial heritage survey, the company moved in 1980 into an extension of a factory that had once produced artificial silk thread. The 2003 survey records machines for mixing the paste for the coussins and drying rooms. A confection evoking a silk pillow was thus also made in a building that had once handled textiles.

This shape is linked to a votive story handed down on Lyon’s Fourvière hill. In 1643, the city’s representatives, praying for the town to be protected from an epidemic, are said to have offered gold coins on a silk cushion to the Virgin Mary. The confection was not created in that era. Memories of the town’s silk weaving and of the offering have been layered onto a confection that Voisin created in the 20th century.

The confection featured by a local newspaper in 2014 held curaçao-flavored ganache inside almond paste marked with dark-colored stripes. The newspaper also reported that its thickness, sweetness and liqueur aroma have changed over time. While the shape modeled on a silk pillow has been kept, the filling has been adjusted by those who make it. Today it is also sold individually wrapped, in boxes and in other forms, and it is popular as a gift from Lyon.

Glossary