Adventures in the Baking
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Smoked Bacon Fat Doughnuts with Candied Bacon Filling
Improving on my doughnut project, I tweaked the master recipe and used smoked bacon fat instead of duck fat for my next batch of dough. The dough is stickier to work with, but produces a much lighter and fluffier product. In a fit of bacon fever, I stuffed the dough with some candied smoked bacon and tossed the fried doughnut in sugar to complete the experiment. Move over, duck fat doughnuts — we have a winner! Now, on to shapes and plating…
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Sugared Duck Fat Doughnuts with Candied Bacon and Ham
I have been working on a doughnut project for my chefs for a few months, and finally had some time for creativity at work. After experimenting with different fillings using one master dough, I am trying to narrow down both sweet and savory fillings for multiple uses. This particular filling was inspired by a favorite Easter food, bacon buns. Thanks to my Auntie Erika and my mom for the great food that I am able to re-imagine and share with others!
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Back Home
After being hired on full-time with the Walt Disney World Resort, I spent seven months at Boma - Flavors of Africa, a restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I learned a lot from my time there; I became faster, more efficient, and more confident in how I work.
I was fortunate enough to be able to transfer back to the Wilderness Lodge, my first culinary home at Disney. I am happy to be back with my baking family, working on all the products and occasional fun projects for our three restaurants.
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Farewell to the Wilderness Lodge
After six fun-filled months, my time at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge bakeshop has come to an end. I went from being nervous and unsure of my skills to cranking out products and loving my time at work. I had the opportunity to work with some amazing chefs and cooks, and could not be more grateful for all I have learned here. Where I go from here has yet to be determined, but I know I will carry confidence and skill with me to my next job. Thank you, Wilderness Lodge, for being my home for these past six months!
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Artist Point Desserts, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort
I’m here at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and baking my heart out! I work in the bakeshop of the Lodge that supports our three restaurants: Artist Point (our signature restaurant), Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Roaring Forks. We make a variety of desserts — caramel apple pie, chocolate mousse cake, peach cake, roasted peach ice cream, blueberry cobbler, raspberry and blackberry ice cream with chopped blackberries, salted chocolate ice cream, Valrhona chocolate ganache sponge cake, berry mousse, and bread pudding.
I love working here, and I was so happy I was able to share my desserts with my family when they came for a recent visit. Everything was a hit, and it made me appreciate our products even more, experiencing them as a diner!
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BPC Program Complete!
With the Citrus Trio, I am officially done with my Baking & Pastry program at Kendall College. A big thank you to each of my chefs, who have taught me to trust in myself and trust in the skills they taught me. I take away new abilities and new interests, and hope to continue exploring baking and pastry.
Next stop, Disney World! I accepted a role as a Culinary Assistant, Baking and Pastry. I will have to chance to do a variety of things, including: working in a high volume environment, learning technical skills of plating and dessert preparations, and learning all aspects of production. I am definitely looking forward to learning as much as I can, and taking away as much baking and pastry knowledge as I can.The look of this portfolio will change a little, as I hope to include more personal projects and anything related to baking and pastry I find interesting or humorous.
Thanks for stopping…see ya real soon!
