Skip to main content

Newsroom

Caroline Cruise

A year into an auditing career after Bentley, Katie Delaney ’04, MSA ’05 knew the profession wasn’t for her. She had always loved making food for people, but was it career worthy? A month working in an Italian bakery — for free — led her to a winning recipe: serving as a pastry chef instructor at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md., doing private pastry catering, and writing for Southern Living magazine. Here, she talks about her second course with writer Caroline Cruise.


Key Ingredients

Because of the precise and scientific nature of baking, pastry chefs tend to be methodical, strategic planners, who like to break projects into small parts and plan the order in which things happen. These were many of the skills that made me a good auditor. One of the best things someone can learn is the formulaic nature of pastry recipes. For example, if you bake a pie and always get frustrated with the crust, you could take a recreational course in dough management. You may not have plans to be a pastry chef, but understanding the science of dough may help your Thanksgiving pies turn out professional-quality.

  

Pastry chefs tend to be strategic planners who break projects into small parts.

Katie Delaney '04, MSA '05


Baking Expectations

It’s our responsibility to instruct students about what their life as a pastry chef will entail. Our one-year course is split in two: full time in the teaching kitchen for six months, and six months of apprenticeship at a restaurant. We run classes to mimic real-life kitchen environments, encouraging students to move twice as fast as usual and use both hands equally. They’re also taught how to job search in this industry, which is completely different from an office environment. My job is to set them up for successful employment, not just teach them pastry technique.


Consumers Are Smart Cookies

In the past 10 years, I’ve seen huge strides in what we — both chefs and customers — know about the science of food. With more knowledgeable and health-conscious consumers, we have to move the industry forward to keep pace. When a trend like gluten-free foods emerges, we have to implement the classic French pastry skills creatively to give customers what they want and still produce something delicious.


Labor of Love

Having multiple jobs in this industry is a blessing, and each fulfills me in a different way. During the past year, I connected with Southern Living magazine through a former student, and have since created more than 25 recipes for their readers. It allows me to be creative and innovative, and step outside my comfort zone – sometimes they ask me for suggestions on food styling in the photographs and to propose story concepts.


Making Magic

My favorite treat — to bake and to taste — is a really good croissant. It’s hard to find a good one, and even harder to make one yourself. You put together loose flour, sugar, butter, eggs and yeast, then watch as it puffs open. When you get it just right, you feel like a magician.

CONNECT WITH KATIE:

lacademie.com/faculty/chef-katie-delaney

Photos by Aaron Clamage