Stage at Bittersweet

SWEET TALK Bittersweet’s kitchen manager Celeste Zeccola, right, introduces Heather Lalley to the art of candy-making—and a new career.

Head cake decorator Mindy Gohr hands me the blowtorch, an unwieldy, propane-fueled dragon known to leave burns on the kitchen walls. Gohr says the torch’s flame will loosen frozen dark-chocolate mousse from the heart-shaped metal molds. As I learned the hard way, it will also turn the molds flesh-searingly hot and reduce frozen pudding hearts to a puddle of brown goo reminiscent of fresh leavings at Wiggly Field dog park.

Baking, it turns out, isn’t all pink sprinkles and chocolate jimmies. The next time I stand before a pastry case cooing over cute little tartlets or glistening croissants, I’ll remember my day in the kitchen of Lakeview’s Bittersweet Pastry Shop (1114 W Belmont Ave, 773-929-1100) and think of 4am wake-up calls, biceps of steel and plenty of artistic prowess.

Mostly, though, I will be reminded that this sweet stuff is hard work. My shift starts at 6am on a Wednesday—the sky is dark, but the kitchen’s buzzing. Manager Celeste Zeccola pipes creamy fillings into prebaked mini tart shells, while Gohr readies multitiered creations to be swaddled in fondant or glaze. Other bakers zip around the sprawling kitchen whipping up scones, quiche and other buttery, sugary delights.

Zeccola, a nine-year Bittersweet veteran, prepares these tarts daily. Now, she fills them with robotic speed and precision, then hands the piping bag to me. Unsteadily, I squirt crème brûlée custard into the shells. They come out a little uneven but passable—they’ll soon be topped with garnish anyway, which will hide my mistakes. As the day goes on, my pastry-bag skills improve a bit. Soon, I’m piping blobs of chocolate into a pan of hot-pink nonpareils. Look at me, Mom! I’m making candy!

But my newfound confidence deflates like day-old soufflé when I try to create the chocolate curls used as tart adornment. Zeccola shaves tight cylinders from a five-kilo bar of Callebaut with a chef’s knife to top her tarts and turns to me.

“Wax on, wax off,” she coaches.

My fractured attempts wind up in the scrap bucket, sad little shreds destined to become either mousse or chocolate sauce.

Sure, this baking business is hard work. But it’s also soothing, in a Zen sort of way, and deeply satisfying to create beautiful, tasty treats with your own hands. In fact, my day at Bittersweet persuaded me to do something I’ve been daydreaming about for years—I applied to culinary school. Maybe one day soon, I’ll be filling a case with the gorgeous products of my own hard work.

TOP LESSONS LEARNED

• Food should never wind up in the trash. Too many raspberries? Make berry sauce. Chocolate glaze dribbled onto wax paper while decorating? Scrape it off, melt it down and glaze another cake. Wasted food equals wasted money.
• If your cheesecake cracked or your tart looks uneven, don’t despair. Instead, think garnish. Cover the top with shaved chocolate, drizzle on some sauce, blanket it with berries and no one will be the wiser.
• Notepaper and pencils are valuable kitchen tools. Jot down what needs to get done and cross it off as you go. When halving or doubling a recipe, write out the measurements first to avoid mistakes. It just might save some bacon—literally.

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