Carpe Cibus -Seize the food!

Big changes

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 21:14:41 -0400

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have been following my posts here on tumblr. Its been fun, but I’ve had a hard time getting my blog to look the way I want it too, so I’ve decided to move. My posts will now be found here: http://carpetheyum.wordpress.com/. If you want to see my posts, feel free to follow me on wordpress, or on facebook at www.facebook.com/carpe.cibus. :)

Happy bacon birthday.

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:49:35 -0400

Today was one of my classmate’s 20th birthday. She often jokes about loving bacon too much (and has mentioned on several occasions that she wants to get a bacon tattoo). So, I knew for her birthday I had to make a bacon treat. And I thought it would be fun to do a sweet bacon treat. I have previously made maple bacon cupcakes, but I was looking for something different this time. I ended up finding a recipe for chocolate peanut bacon bark, which was delicious. I did two variations of the recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Bacon Bark

8 strips bacon, candied

16 ounces chocolate (chunks or chips, I used milk chocolate but the original recipe calls for semi sweet.)

1 cup peanuts (the original recipe calls for unsalted, but I used salted and I think it added something. I would say do salted, but its up to you).

To candy the bacon: Preheat oven to 325. You will need 2 sheet pans of equal size. Line one pan with tin foil, arrange bacon on the pan. Then sprinkle with brown sugar (I used about 1-2 tablespoons per slice). Place another piece of tin foil over the bacon and lay the other sheet pan on top. Bake for about 20 minutes, then check the bacon. If it looks golden brown, take it out, even if it still seems wiggly. The bacon will crisp up as it cools. If it doesnt seem brown, resist the temptation to take the top sheet pan off and crank up the heat. I did this and I just about burned the sugar on the bacon. Just put them back in the oven with the top pan on and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. When done, set aside to cool. Once cool enough, chop into small pieces.

For the bark: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a glass bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesnt touch the water. Stir until completely melted and smooth.

Stir in the bacon and peanuts. Pour onto the prepared baking sheet and spread to about 3/8-inch thickness. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour to set up. Place bark on a cutting board and cut into pieces.

To make a variation of this recipe, try using butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips, or pecans, walnuts or almonds. For my variation I used butterscotch chips and glazed pecan and walnut pieces. When this version was done, I felt like it was missing something that the salty peanuts added to the chocolate version, so I sprinkled a little bit of kosher salt over the top of the bark before it had a chance to cool down and set up. It definitely needed the salt.

chocolate on the left, butterscotch on the right.

The lost post

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:57:33 -0400

After I posted my recipe for feta dip in cucumber cups, I noticed I had saved a draft of a post that never got finished. This was from a few months ago! Jeeze. The summer really made me lazy. Anyway. Here ya go!

Today I made cookies, as a request from one of my coworkers for his last day of work. He requested some chocolate chip cookies, but I found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Monster Cookies on the side of a shredded wheat box and I had to give it a try. These cookies turned out soft yet crunchy, because of the shredded wheat. A good twist on a classic chocolate chip!

Chocolate Chip Monster Cookies

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies

3 3/4 cups frosted bite size shredded wheat cereal

2 cups milk chocolate chips, divided

1 cup of butter, room temp.

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor or blender, grind shredded wheat cereal until fine. Add 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips and process or blend until mixture is as fine as possible. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until just combined. Work crushed cereal and chocolate mixture into the dough with a wooden spoon or a mixer. Add remaining chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonful onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly browned and centers are cracked but still moist. Remove from baking sheets and cool on a wire rack.

** A helpful hint! To test to see if a cookie is done, try and lift the edge of the cookie off the sheet pan. If it comes up easy, the cookies are done. If it doesn’t lift, it needs a bit longer in the oven.

(tryin out my new camera app)

Feta cheese and fancy cucumber cups

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:20:00 -0400

Second semester is underway. First up: Garde Manger and Culinary Spanish. In Garde Manger we had to make 200 hor d’oeuvres for an event on our schools main campus. Chef told us at the beginning of class that we would do 50 each of four different kinds, but when we got into class, he only told us three kinds to make. While everyone was working away on the stuffed cherry tomatoes, ham rolls, and salami cone things (I forget what he called them), I had the awesome idea to make a recipe I make for my family all the time. Its called Greek Salad Bites in the cook book I found it in, but I always just call it feta cheese dip. I ran the idea past Chef, and he said as long as we had all the ingredients, we could make it! I was so excited (and I’m not gonna lie, I’m still feelin pretty proud about it). They went over quite well :)

Feta Cheese Dip

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup fresh parsley

2 tablespoons oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

English cucumbers

Pita chips

In a food processor, combine garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Pulse until they become sort of paste like. Add parsley and basil, pulse until herbs are finely chopped. In a separate bowl, mix sour cream and feta. Stir in tomato/herb mixture. Taste, then season (you may not need salt, feta is pretty salty cheese). Serve with pita chips and sliced cucumbers.

For the event, they needed to be fancier than chips and dip, so we made cucumber cups.

We got the cool design using a chanel knife (which is kind of like a peeler, with a V cut out). You can get the same effect by just using a peeler and peeling off every other section. Then cut the cucumbers. Cut on an angle, then straight, then the opposite angle. This creates a flat bottomed slice with an angle on top. Then, with a melon baller (or a small teaspoon), scoop out some of the inside of the cucumber. Pipe or spoon dip into the cup.

Second Semester!

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:44:48 -0400

As of this week, I am back in school! This summer has been so much fun, I’m sorry I’ve neglected to post all of the wonderful things I’ve been creating! But now that school has started, I’m going to try my hardest to start posting again.

Hooray!

Just a little news...

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:53:35 -0400

So, in case you were wondering, I just celebrated my 23rd birthday! I often get asked if I am much younger than I am, so for my birthday my friends got me this.

Awesome.

Coffee cake, the literal version.

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:51:43 -0400

A few weeks ago, I took some mocha brownies into my work to share with everyone and they were a hit! One of my coworkers is a big fan of my cupcakes, so she asked me to translate the flavors from the mocha brownies into some cupcakes, but with less chocolate. Let me tell you. Finding a recipe for coffee cupcakes WITHOUT chocolate was kind of a challenge. But I found this one and I think they turned out pretty good! I topped them with some fluffy ganache frosting.

Coffee Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

2 tablespoons boiling water
8 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Combine boiling water and instant coffee, stir until dissolved. Let cool. Stir in buttermilk. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.

Milk Chocolate Ganache Frosting

8 oz. heavy cream
8-10 oz. milk chocolate chips (I tend to add a little more chocolate, just to make sure that after the ganache sets up, it’ll be nice and thick!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat heavy cream over low heat until bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan. Pour hot cream over chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute. Stir to combine. Add vanilla. Stir again. Let cool in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. Once it is cool and thick, beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.

If you don’t have time to let the frosting cool overnight, you can dipped the cooled cupcakes into the ganache in its liquid form, which will create a thin layer on top of the cupcake.

The end result looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)

May birthdays are just so much pun!

Tue, 10 May 2011 13:34:14 -0400

Its time for May’s birthday cupcakes. We wanted to do something fun.

Fruity.

Light.

Something to represent that summer is just around the corner.

And….. Somehow, we wound up with this.

Eggy Cupcakes (from my 500 Cupcakes book)
Makes 18 cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar 2 cups self-rising flour*
1 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
*If you don’t have self rising flour, here’s the substitute. 1 cup self rising flour = 1 cup minus 2 tsp all purpose flour + 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.*

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In a large bowl (or a mixer), cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Then add vanilla. Slowly add flour mix to butter/egg mix, until all the flour is just incorporated. Be careful not to overmix! Scoop into prepared cupcake pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

Egg-strordinary Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, room temp.
A pinch of salt
18 drained peach or apricot halves*
*If your halves look anything like our halves did, you may need to trim them up. You’ll see.*

With a mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add salt. Add sugar in parts (mostly to keep it from getting all over your kitchen). Beat it on high until fluffy and white. Pipe or smear a generous portion of frosting onto the cupcakes and top with a piece of fruit.

Now do these cupcakes look egg-cellent or what?

I mean really, I’m just egg-static with how they turned out.
These cupcakes are egg-stremely cute.
Who knew that a few simple ingredients could make the cupcakes look so egg-sotic?
I’m not trying to eggs-agerate but I think these things are just egg-sactly what the May birthdays needed.
They were so egg-citing to make, but now I’m just eggs-hausted.
Alright. Had enough with the puns? Good. Cuz I just cant shell out anymore.
Now someone get me a glass of water… I’m poached.
Seriously. I crack myself up.
And thats all yolks!

Summer time and the livin's easy...

Tue, 10 May 2011 00:56:49 -0400

School is out for the summer! My grades have been posted and I got a B in baking, a B in cooking and an A in purchasing and storeroom management. At the beginning of the semester I would have told you I’d have done WAY better than that, but this semester was actually a lot harder than I expected. Physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. In fact, on my last day of class, I think I came home and took a 3 hour nap! (haha) But now I can rest up and get prepared for my next semester. Because school is out, I’ll have a lot more time on my hands and hopefully will be posting more often.

If you so desire, you can follow me on facebook, and receive your updates that-a-way. www.facebook.com/carpe.cibus. Just click ‘like’. You know. Theres some more pictures and things on that page, cuz I don’t want to clutter up y’alls dashboard with a ton a ton of pictures from school. :)

Blinkers and the Pupcakes

Sun, 01 May 2011 23:26:26 -0400

Everyone, take a deep breath! Finals are OVER! (pause for applause)

I made it through my first semester of culinary school. And, I only have one scar to show for it, a big burn mark on my arm (which, oddly enough, I dont remember burning myself at all…) Anyways. Its summer break, whether the weather permits it or not (yep. It snowed all day yesterday). That means you’ll be hearing more from me and seeing more yummy things as I have more time on my hands. Like today! Today is Blink, my brothers beagle pup’s 2nd birthday. So I’m gonna make him a birthday cake! (dog friendly of course!). And, because I always do, I’m going to make them into cupcakes.

Blinker’s 2nd Birthday Peanut Butter Pupcakes (get it? PUP cakes?)

(recipe from here)

Makes 7 1/2 cupcakes

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour (or substitute rice flour)
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
¼ Cup Organic Peanut Butter
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Honey

In a small bowl, combine flour and baking soda. In a separate, larger bowl, combine oil, peanut butter, honey, egg and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Scoop into cupcake papers, bake for approx 12-15 minutes. The website suggested using pureed cottage cheese, peanut butter or plain yogurt as frosting. We just used peanut butter.

(Captions, starting from the top left: 1-Rascal, Blink and Basil, waiting for treats. 2- Blink, enjoying his pupcake. 3- Rascal begging for more! 4- Basil, keeping an eye out to make sure no one is going to take his treat. 5- cleaning up the crumbs!)

The dogs reviews were pretty clear. They inhaled those little treats! As for my brother and I…. well. They were really dry. And kinda bland. Like eating a piece of stale wheat bread with a TON of peanut butter on it. Maybe I overcooked them? Maybe they needed more liquid? Maybe they’re just not really made for us 2 legged folks to be eating them. Whatever the case, I think Blink had a pretty good birthday.

My television debut!

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:09:00 -0400

My television debut!:

Click the link above to see my television debut! My school was picked as the Cool School of the Week on a local news channel. They asked for a couple of volunteers to interview, and I loves me some attention, so I jumped on it! (In case you were wondering, I was working on making some delicious chicken tortilla soup.)

Well, I'm glad I helped you out with a little something. We'll all get better. Not so secretly, I can't wait to bake. Because we do pipings, breads, desserts and all that type of stuff.

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:33:15 -0400

I’m excited for my advanced baking class. I thought for sure I’d like baking the best, but as it turns out, I’m not so good at making bread. But the advanced baking class is where we learn things like cake decorating and more dessert type baking things. I think its going to be fun.

What? I made this? No way. Its too pretty! Roasted chicken with...

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:04:15 -0400

What? I made this? No way. Its too pretty! Roasted chicken with grilled asparagus and crimini mushroom risotto. Yum.

Winner for the cupcakes with the longest name!

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:06:08 -0400

My aunt has been ill and was seriously craving something chocolate-y, so when we made her dinner the other night (lasagna with homemade sauce!) we knew we had to take some dessert as well. For Christmas, I got my demy (which I have mentioned before) and there was a recipe on it for Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper Cupcakes (say that three times fast!). My aunt also happens to love Dr. Pepper, so we knew this was the dessert for her.

Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper Cupcakes
(Makes about 3 1/2 dozen! Adjust your recipe accordingly)

2 1/4 cups Dr. Pepper
2 cups sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
2 eggs
4 ounces of unsweetened or semi sweet chocolate, chopped.
1/2 cup maraschino cherry syrup
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) room temp.
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325. In a medium saucepan, bring Dr. Pepper and cherry syrup to a boil. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and pour hot Dr. Pepper over, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Then whisk until smooth. Stir in sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and sour cream. Add flour in 2 parts, alternating with the eggs and whisk till smooth. The mixture will be runny! Fill cupcake cups between 1/2 and 3/4ths full, bake approximately 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Because we were on a deadline to get dinner to her house, we opted to skip the 7 minute cherry frosting recipe that came with the cupcakes, and instead we just took them a can of whipped cream and some cherries to go on top. I’m actually glad we didn’t put any other frosting on it, the cupcakes were great with just the subtle sweetness of the whipped cream. (anything else, in my opinion, would have overpowered the cupcake.)

I’m anxious to try this recipe again with coke or pepsi instead of dr. pepper, or with no cherries. (if you decide against using the cherries, be sure to make up the difference in liquid with more soda) And I really want to try using white chocolate instead of semi-sweet and orange soda instead of dr. pepper. Creamsicle cupcakes? Yum!

Cooking Skills Development

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:56:00 -0400

I finished off my baking block with a bang, completing a pie, 2 dozen rolls, a dozen muffins, a dozen cookies, 6 cream puffs, 6 eclairs, pastry cream and 2 cups of creme anglaise in just under 4 hours. (Magic? maybe.) Just a few weeks ago I started my second block class, cooking skills development. I was ~~dreading~~ so looking forward to this class. I thought when I started that baking would be something I was naturally good at, and I was proven wrong time and time again. So, starting the cooking class, which I didn’t think I would be good at, was somewhat of a concern to me.

Turns out, I love cooking! I have horrible knife skills, but I’m getting better. My favorite thing about cooking (as opposed to baking) is the ability to just throw stuff together, taste, and adjust. Its like our chef told us, cooking has recipes, baking has FORMULAS. We haven’t done a lot of cooking yet, just working on basic knife skills and learning about mother sauces and stocks. But in our 2nd week, we had a catering event for a local business school. It was terrifying, because we were put in charge of all of the food without ever really cooking in class. My team got put on the meat station (the one of the 4 stations that I really really didn’t want, of course). We did some almond crusted trout, and some beef tenderloin. The rest of the class made some wild mushroom rice pilaf, garlic mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, espagnole sauce (for the beef) and beurre blanc (for the fish). Our food was AWESOME. I couldn’t believe it. We have another catering event this week and I’m quite looking forward to it. The last one we had was the most fun I’ve ever had during school.

Here’s my issue though… I started school knowing for sure I wanted to be a baker… But it turns out, I’m really not that good at baking! (not breads at least) I like cooking, but I’m not very good with knives (although, I can say I didn’t have to get stitches like someone else in class…) I’m looking forward to the advanced baking class, where we’ll learn to decorate cakes and pull sugar, all that fun stuff, but I worry, can you make a living decorating cakes? I would love to do it, but I’m not sure how easy finding a job in that field would be.

I suppose we’ll find out what I want to do with my life when they hand me my diploma.

March Birthdays!

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:22:00 -0500

Every month there is a theme for our birthday cupcakes, and since the dominating holiday in March is St. Patrick’s day, we wanted to make green cupcakes. I got my recipe from my trusted source, Cupcake Bakeshop

Her recipe calls for a crust on the bottom of the cupcakes, and pastry cream on top, but since we had to make them in advance we skipped those extras and stuck with the lime cake. Her recipe makes about 12 cupcakes, but her cakes were smaller to make room for the pastry cream on top. Plan on this recipe making 9-10 regular sized cupcakes.

Lime Cupcakes

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
zest of one lime

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. (Make sure to scrape down the sides so everything is mixed well!)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Measure out milk, lime juice, and lime zest. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared liners, about 1/2 full. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

And for the frosting, something fun (and also green!). I was trying to find a way to incorporate jell-o mix to the frosting to give it a lime flavor and fun green color. A lot of the recipes I found used egg whites, which I didn’t want to do (1-because I didnt have that much time to make the frosting and 2-because cooked egg whites in a frosting taste like marshmallows to me, and I wanted it to be more about the lime) Then I found this recipe. We altered it a bit by using half butter and half cream cheese for a little more tartness. I doubled the frosting recipe and it made just enough for our 38 cupcakes.

Jell-O Icing

4 oz butter (1 stick), room temp.
4 oz cream cheese (half a block), room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar (10X)
1 3-oz package Jell-O, whatever flavor you prefer (we used lime)
1/2 cup boiling water

Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water; cool to room temperature. Slowly mix cooled jell-O into butter/sugar mixture, until desired color is obtained, being careful not too add too much liquid, or the frosting will be too thin. Because of the gelatin in the frosting, after it is chilled it will set up.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of these cupcakes when they were all done. :( You’ll just have to use your imagination!

Today was “crazy pie day”. I’m not sure if...

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:40:00 -0500

Today was “crazy pie day”. I’m not sure if that means the pies were supposed to be crazy, or if it was crazy because everyone made their own pie (13 pies total!). But, this was my pie. A banana split pie. :) Chef said mine was the most creative. Booyah.

Pictures from school :)

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:07:12 -0500

Pictures from school :)

February Birthdays

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:44:25 -0500

For February’s birthdays, we had the inspiration to do a cupcake sundae bar (mostly because we had so much leftover ice cream and toppings from an actual sundae bar!). We used the Unconventional Ice Cream Cake recipe from Princess Ava’s 4th birthday, and supplied everyone with some whipped cream and assorted toppings.

The picture is a little on the blurry side, but I think you get the idea :)

hai! i was just getting curious about culinary school and i started to search tumblr about the tag and i found your post about your first day at it. how is it? and can you give me some facts about culinary school? i'm attending Baruch College right now, but I'm not majoring in the stereotypical business majors. I'm majoring in Graphic Designs, only because I dont like the majors and that's the only one I like there and it's late for me to transfer out. Oh, and this is my 2nd year - sophomore. if I were to go to culinary school after college, how should I prepare for it? I think i wanna go into pastry & baking, but idk how to bake/cook.. & I'm 19 .. what a shame rah? yeah..:x but i wanna learn now so .. yeah can you help me? lol

how did you prepare for culinary school? what got you to go down that path? etc. i don't have any set question that I wanna ask, sorry for sounding so .. noobie .. but thanks for your time! I'd really appreciate it if you answer back in my ask. thanks<3

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:26:10 -0500

Don’t apologize! I’m sure I sound pretty new at all of this too. I just started Culinary School in January, I just finished my 5th week. Its so rewarding and so hard at the same time. I’m not sure what all schools are like, but I can tell you what I think should be general information for all schools. :)

First, check with the school you’re interested in to see what prerequisites they require. Before you take any classes where you handle food, you’ll have to take a sanitation class and get your servsafe certificate (which is a lot like a food handlers permit, but it just shows that you know more about it). I also had to have a culinary math class, an intro to hospitality class, and math and english 990. I had finished my general studies at a local community college, and had taken a few culinary classes there too, so when I decided on transfering to the school I’m at now, I spoke with an advisor and got all my credits transfered so I could start.

Once you start, be prepared to have it take up a lot of time. My class runs from 6:30 AM to 11:30 AM Tuesday through Friday, and I’m also taking an online class thats required on purchasing and storeroom managment. During times when we’re not in class, I have had a few papers to write, and we always have to come to class with the chapters in the textbook read, and our recipes scaled.

Don’t worry too much about not knowing how to bake or cook, thats what you go to school for! Its good to have a basic knowledge of how things work, but a lot of things done at school are done differently than what you would do at home, anyway, so you’ll kind of have to relearn. There are people in my class who have never baked, and we all just made perfect chocolate souffles last week!

I picked the school that I’m going to now because they offered an associates degree in culinary arts, which is the highest degree I could get without moving out of state and going to a more expensive school. Baking is something I’ve always loved to do, and after I finished up my generals I had decided that’s what I was going to go into. I had actually thought about going into graphic design as well, and I think that that might give you an advantage, because you have a more creative eye and can make things look nice, which is always a bonus. Rule number one at my school is all of our stuff should be made as if we were trying to sell it.

I think the best way to prepare is to find a school you want to go to, and really know what it is that you have to do. Speak with the advisors, see if they offer any tours where you can witness first hand what students do. Talk to as many people in the program as you can! If you know what it is you’re getting into, its a lot easier to manage once you actually have to start doing it all. And don’t get overwhelmed! There have been somedays where we have so many recipes to complete i never thought we’d get them all done, but if you stay focused and work efficiently, things get done a lot faster than you’d think.

I hope that helps! :) If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!