Affogato with Jeanette Fletcher

Jeanette is a New Jersy local Baker/Caketress currently working at Erie coffeeshop and Bakery in Rutherford. She is a beautiful person inside and out who makes beautiful desserts.

I often find in baking there is a compromise between aesthetic and flavor, meaning when there is an emphasis on aesthetic it often lacks flavor. This couldn't be further from the truth in Jeanette's case.

Her cakes always look amazing and they taste even better, her pallet and ability to combine flavors is fantastic!

1) How did you end up making a career out of baking?

So i ended up making a career out of baking by taking a chance on something i had an interest in and running with it truly. i took a chance on culinary school when i was 20 by begging my parents to let me drop out of William Paterson lol. they begrudgingly agreed on the off chance that they could see how miserable i was in the "college" setting. i went to the institute of culinary education on Saturday/Sundays from 9-5 and worked at a toy store during the week.

I was honestly not that good in culinary school. Burned caramel almost all the time, put chocolate on my Croquembouche (a high pastry offense) and actually scratched my cornea with sugar one day LOL!  I knew i wasn't great at it but i still loved it.

I wanted to be better, and I actually cared about it. The true science of it all made my brain turn and the creativity aspect of it actually gave me a voice, something I felt I never had before. It took me a while to find my medium (cakes) and what I wanted to say truly and when you work in pastry you know that you are a forever student. But truthfully I never knew I could achieve so much by just..keeping at it. Working in pastry still inspires me.