A Day in The Life of a Pastry Chef

Have you ever dreamed of what life would be like as a pastry chef? Okay, maybe not. But I know I have!

My free time is often filled with baking new recipes I’ve found on Pinterest or experimenting with things I haven’t tried before, but just IMAGINE if that was your job?!

Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to shadow a professional pastry chef here in Atlanta and I instantly fell in love. There’s no doubt I have a passion for PR, but I can dream, right?

These gorgeous creme brulees topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and mixed berries.

Chocolate flowers made with mixed nuts, dried fruit, and toffee bits. When the chocolate hardens, they make a gorgeous accent to a table or centerpiece!

Of course, any pastry chef has to make macarons! These are so fun and colorful! (From L to R): lemon, chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut, strawberry.

Pine nut pastries. Each pastry shell was filled with pine nuts and then a filling was poured on top and baked!

Can we all just admire this chocolate cake for a second? So simple, yet so elegant!

Also, the classic jumbo chocolate chip cookies. ❤️

Mini scones…yummm. Just need a cup of coffee or tea to go with them!

There was a TON of chocolate melting going on while I was there. Some (like the white chocolate on the left) was poured into molds to use as a garnish, and some (like the dark chocolate on the right) was melted in huge batches to create chocolate bars, chocolate-covered nuts, or chocolate scrolls!

Beautiful! Interestingly enough, I did learn that dark chocolate is much easier to mold and shape than milk chocolate. Definitely keeping this in mind for when I try at home.

He also made them in different shapes – these chocolates were made into perfect circles and placed on open-faced macarons to be filled with chocolate mousse and garnished with fresh berries and lemon zest!

Finally, these chocolate truffles are just amazing. At first glance, you might not even realize that they are truffles – almost too pretty to eat! Each truffle was placed on a disk of dark chocolate and they were arranged on the gold truffle stand (who even knew truffle stands were a thing until today! haha)

I was in heaven ALL day and definitely did not want to leave! Guess it’s time to start recreating this in my own kitchen (NOTE: you may be seeing some attempts up on the blog!)