Baker said use of dark chocolate was 'technically necessary'

A bakery in the French Riviera has been banned from displaying cupcakes of a naked man and woman made out of dark chocolate - because they were inciting 'racial hatred'.

The 'God' and Goddess' cakes, which were topped with the chocolate figures of a naked, plump man and woman with pink lips and protruding genitalia, were deemed offensive by a French court after a complaint by a shocked resident.

A judge concluded that treats - sold in a 'boulangerie' in the town of Grasse, NIce - showed 'two people of colour in grotesque and obscene attitudes', adding they violate 'human dignity, especially that of the African people or people of African descent.'

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'Racist': A patisserie in the south of France has been banned from displaying the cakes in the shop window after a court found they violated 'human dignity, especially that of the African people or people of African descent'

The administrative court in Nice ruled while the patisserie can still bake and sell the cakes - which have been made to order for the last 15 years - it said the town's mayor must ensure that the offending pastries were removed from the shop window.

For every day they were still on show, the town faced a fine of €500 (£360).

The court said it found no 'malicious will' on the part of the baker, but also ordered the town to pay a fine of €1,000 (£730) to the Representative Council of Black Association (CRAN), which joined the calls for the cupcakes to be banned.

President of CRAN Louis George-Tin said he was 'delighted' with the ruling, made on Thursday, adding it was a warning to the rest of France.

Bakery: The boulangerie in Grasse, Nice, in the centre of the 'racist cupcake' scandal. Baker Yannick Tavolaro said the use of dark chocolate was 'technically necessary' and described the cakes as 'cartoons'

Before the court hearing he told The Local the cakes were 'pure and simple racism; and denounced it as a 'obscene slave trade caricatures that tap into the tradition of colonial racism'.

'We are in a country where the word equality is part of the constitution, which means it doesn’t allow for racism. Does he think these treats adhere to the values of the French Republic?' he said.

“We must fight this kind of racism. I cannot imagine what would be said (rightly) if an African baker decided to represent Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary in a similar way.'

Baker Yannick Tavolaro said he makes the cupcakes only on weekends, and often to order.

He has now made a defamation complaint against CRAN, and said the use of dark chocolate is 'technically necessary' to model the figures, which he said were cartoons.

In a post on his Facebook page after the ruling, Mr Tavolaro said he planned to make the cakes asexual, with a sign saying 'Castrated by Censorship'.

'Remember in any case my dear friends that my determination has not lessened, in fact it has strengthened' he added.

'We are going to do everything and make every effort to make sure that freedom of expression as a fundamental right of France continues to exist.'

In England a Christian baker who refused to bake a cake bearing a pro-gay marriage slogan has started a court battle over equality laws.

Belfast-based Ashers Bakery refused to make a cake featuring an image of Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie below the motto 'Support Gay Marriage'.



