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Sweet tooth? Get to Gateaux

Lindsay Cromartie displays some of her sweet creations at Gateaux.

The city’s newest sweet treat attraction, Gâteaux Cakes and Pastries, can be found in a strip center downtown.

The proud owner of Gâteaux (pronounced ga-TOH and French for cakes) is Hendersonville native Lindsay Humleker Cromartie. The bakery features an assortment of sweets ranging from customized cakes to French macaroons, éclairs and seasonal cupcakes. Cromartie uses no premade mixes, creating her pastries and cakes completely from scratch, using fresh and seasonal ingredients.
The menu is “French inspired, as in French pastries, but I would say locally and seasonally inspired as much as possible,” Cromartie says. She wants to present desserts that are familiar but “done in an unfamiliar way” and she plans to update her menu seasonally. Her salted caramel and toffee crunch éclairs are an example of her unique twist on a traditional pastry. She said she has tried to price fairly and in a way that meets every budget. (Macaroons are $1.25 each or $12.75 a dozen, cookies are 75 cents to $2.25 and gourmet cupcakes are $2.75. A large pie or tart is $35.)
“My mother gave me a rolling pin when I was 2, that’s how it all started,” she says.
Cromartie earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC at Chapel Hill and an associate’s degree from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), where she met her husband, Mike. She served a three-year residency at the Biltmore Estate, was pastry chef at Landsdowne Hotel in Leesburg, Va., and manager of Hubba Hubba Smokehouse, the Flat Rock barbecue restaurant and caterer.
Cromartie and her husband returned to Hendersonville for three years after they graduated from the CIA before testing out the city life in Washington, D.C. Cromartie said that even though living in the city was a good experience, it was not conducive for them to raise their family. They returned to North Carolina and established their permanent residence in Hendersonville.
After a couple of years at Hubba Hubba, Cromartie started baking cakes on the side, which reignited her passion for pastries and ultimately led to the opening of Gâteaux.
“One of the things that I love about creating is that I love that I start my day with all of these very basic ingredients — flour, sugar, butter, eggs — and by the end of the day I have this finished product, and that is one of the most satisfying and gratifying things on the face of the planet,” she says.


Gâteaux is located in the Alpha Center at 315 S. Church St. Hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The bakery offers a 25 percent discount after 3 p.m. on Saturdays.