Walking into Ganache Pastry & Gelato is like walking into a slice of European confectionery heaven. The high, bright white walls are offset by a multitude of colors coming from the display case, which includes both sweet and savory treats and gelato.

All the desserts are expertly crafted, with not one thing out of place. Ingredients are sourced from all over the world, bringing the best flavors on earth to this little pastry shop that is a delight for both the taste buds and the eyes.

The shop itself would be a pleasant surprise no matter where it was located, but the fact that it’s located in the small Southeast Idaho town of Malad makes it even more of a treat. One Google reviewer describes it as, “Something you would find in a big city tucked away in little Malad.”

Malad, population around 2,000, is located on Interstate 15, just north of the Utah border. One gets the sense that people pulling off the interstate here are mostly doing so just to fill up their vehicles at one of the three gas stations right off the only exit into town.

Thankfully, people don’t have to drive too much farther to get some tasty treats and delicious coffee. Ganache Pastry & Gelato is only about a block down the road, located across the street from Spero’s House of BBQ, which, according to Google reviews, is another hidden gem. If you have time to stay a while, there’s a patio for you to enjoy your goodies while taking in the beautiful mountainous surroundings.

Oksana Roth — who owns the business with her husband, Grant, and is the culinary artist in the endeavor — has no formal training, but she more than makes up for that with her passion, patience and attention to detail.

Roth, who grew up in Russia and moved to the United States in 2005, has a background in civil engineering. She got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Utah State University in Logan and then worked for a consulting firm in Pocatello. She and her husband ended up in Malad because it was in between his job and hers.

She liked her job, but she says that she would frequently daydream about what she was going to bake when work was over.

“After I decided that I really did want to bake the rest of my life, and that’s what I wanted for my dream job, my husband, who is a structural engineer, designed and built me a (pastry shop),” Roth said.

She and her husband built it from the ground up, mostly without any help. While the building was still under construction, they decided they wanted to get their name out into the community, so when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they started a cookie delivery service.

As a result, Roth said, “we have been received very well by the locals” since Ganache Pastry & Gelato opened its doors in mid-August 2021.

Plus, they do get some visitors who are just passing through.

“When people actually drive through and they look for coffee, so they come upon us just driving on I-15, they come and say things like, ‘Unexpected. How did you end up here? What are you doing here?’” Roth said.

A perusal of the shop’s Google reviews shows that Ganache has been a pleasant surprise for many a traveler, with people describing it as “a hidden gem” and “a diamond in the Gem State” and “delightfully unexpected for rural Idaho.”

Roth says that her engineering background plays heavily into her new career as a pastry chef.

“We do put a lot of thought into our pastries, into every component,” she said. “There are, say, five or six pieces in every pastry, so we have to sort of design it. I think that comes with my engineering background — how pastries go together and how they will stack together to create what I am after. There is experimenting involved, so I design something in my head and then I recreate it and I see if I like it and if I don’t like it, I’ll switch out components with others that I think might be a better fit for this or that.”

The ingredients for her creations are sourced from all over the world, and Roth doesn’t settle for less than the best.

For instance, they get their butter from a world-famous creamery in Normandy, France, and the hazelnuts they use come from Piedmont, Italy, and are considered to be the world’s best.

“We pay hundreds of dollars to just ship them here, plus the cost of the product, but that’s the example of what we do to make our product as good as it is,” Roth said.

Ganache is a main ingredient in many of the treats offered. It is melted chocolate plus either water, dairy or fruit puree. Roth says she named the shop after it because she loves chocolate.

After making the trip from Pocatello to Malad, this author decided to try the raspberry truffle tart, which is so pretty to look at that you almost feel bad eating it — almost.

It is made from cocoa shortbread, raspberry milk chocolate ganache, raspberry confit, fresh raspberries and white chocolate whipped ganache. It’s sweet but not overmuch, so if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you’ll still find this to be delectable.

Roth said she switches up the desserts she serves quite regularly. On this particular day, the other treats in the case included lemon bars, chocolate hazelnut tortes, mango coconut tarts, cheesecake, passion fruit mousse cakes, salted caramel ganache tarts, croissants, wild blueberry scones, frangipane tarts, caramel pecan banana bread, lemon caprese and two kinds of chocolate cookie. (Several of these are “gluten friendly,” meaning that there’s no gluten in the recipe but there’s not a guarantee that a speck of flour didn’t make its way inside.)

Each is carefully crafted and perfectly piped; there’s not a crumb out of place.

Even the goodies that seem like they would be simpler to make have been pushed to a higher level. For instance, the banana bread. Roth says that she tried banana bread when she was traveling abroad, and she loved it but originally didn’t want to bring it into her own pastry shop because it was “too simple.” In the end, she gave her own take on it and “I didn’t keep it very simple,” she said. There is caramel chocolate inside the bread and caramel with toasted pecans adorning the top.

This Google review seems to sum up well what it’s like to visit Ganache: “No exaggeration, this is some of the best baked goods I’ve ever experienced. And I mean experienced. Not tasted... experienced.”

The gelato they serve is also made in-house. Each has an excellent thick texture, and flavors range from mild to deliciously intense. They also have a couple dairy-free sorbet options.

In addition to the sweet treats, they also serve coffee, which is sourced from what Roth says is “the best coffee in Idaho”: Lizzy’s Fresh Coffee, which is based out of Ketchum. The coffee beans are never more than two weeks old, either, so it really is quite fresh all the time.

“It’s expensive but it’s very worth it,” Roth said. “She’s very particular about coffee roasting.”

This author, who was able to try the coffee for herself, can attest to the fact that it is, indeed, worth it The chocolate hazelnut biscotti pairs with it perfectly.

Roth says their hot chocolate has good reviews, too. It’s made from house-made ganache, melted down until it has the consistency of thick syrup. Then they add steamed milk and it ends up being “thick and delicious,” Roth said.

If your sweet tooth hasn’t been satisfied yet, there is also a selection of ethically sourced chocolate bars from around the world, or you can snag a bag of brewing chocolate, which can be made just like coffee in a French press.

Roth says she and her husband plan on making some upgrades to the property in the future. Currently, there’s a nice outdoor patio, but they’d like to expand on that. They own the land behind the shop as well and would like to landscape it, plant wildflowers and have “lots of greenery and paths like a botanical garden.”

“We have a vision,” she said.

Ganache Pastry & Gelato can be found at 177 E. 50 S. in Malad. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit ganacheganache.com or @ganachepastryandgelato on Instagram, where Roth says they post stories daily.