Jessica Keyser, left, and Jennifer Bogart, coached by Chef Pamela Mock (far right), received a first-place award for most artistic plated desserts.
With the rising popularity of television dessert competition shows, it comes as no surprise that culinary students from The University of Akron’s Summit College leaped at the opportunity to compete in the Art Therapy Studio Creative Confections Dessert Competition in Cleveland. Culinary students from UA competed in the Creative Confections Dessert Competition, Sweetest Day Delights, and were victorious in two of the six categories.
The biannual event features Northeast Ohio’s finest pastry chefs battling it out for recognition from a panel of judges from the area’s top cooking schools and media. The Oct. 16 Night of Delightful Decadence was held at the Cleveland Botanical Garden in Cleveland. Past competitors in this event include the Ritz Carlton and Intercontinental Hotel.
Jennifer Bogart of Barberton and Jessica Keyser of Akron, from UA’s Crystal Room team, invented the Essence of Love, a marriage of delicate vanilla Bavarian with a crisp cookie and embellished with strawberries snuggled in rich chocolate. The UA team, coached by Chef Pam Mock, came in first place in the most artistic plated desserts category.
Stephanie Mach, left, Rachael Edelman and Angella Kerns, coached by Chef Richard Alford, received a first-place award for most decadently delicious plated dessert.
Rachel Edelman of League, Texas; Angella Kerns of Alliance and Stephanie Mach of Middleburgh Heights, from UA’s Garde Manger Club, conjured up their Boule De Neige, a rich chocolate flourless cake enrobed with whipped cream and garnished with palmiers and chocolate curls. Coached by Chef Richard Alford, associate professor emeritus, Edelman, Kerns and Mach walked away with first place in the most decadently delicious plated desserts category. Following UA was Patisserie Baroque in second place and Pier W, in third.
Mock, assistant lecturer in baking and classical desserts, says food-centric shows such as “Top Chef: Just Desserts” and “Cake Boss” have been successful in highlighting the unique talents of bakers and pastry chefs. These competition shows, she adds, demonstrate the amount of precision and technique required to assemble desserts.
“Pastry chefs need to put a lot of thought and creativity into designing a dessert. The finished product displays their use of imagination where plating, flavors, textures and colors are considered,” Mock says.
Media contacts: Paige Poleondakis, 330-972-6482 or pep7@zips.uakron.edu<, or Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.