Bethany Blues stays on top of dessert trends
Nicole Giannella, catering manager and pastry chef at Bethany Blues, has been perfecting confections at the Lewes location for five years.
She makes more than 100 custom birthday cakes and 10 to 15 wedding cakes per year, and the orders are only growing. For Giannella, the custom desserts she is cranking out are part of staying on trend and remaining creative in the dessert space.
Giannella said, “Ordering specialty desserts from pastry chefs is becoming really popular, and I am noticing how creative it’s become, especially when I think about the fact that I rarely make the same cake twice.” One of her recent favorites was a request for a peanut butter and jelly cake, which was a yellow cake with peanut butter frosting and strawberry jam in the middle.
It’s not only custom cakes that are on the rise, either. Mini desserts and dessert bars are becoming more popular across all events, from private, in-home catering to weddings. Giannella said she loves this because it allows her to showcase a lot of desserts all at once, and engage with the grab-and-go style, which people love. A dessert bar can include dessert shooter cups, mini cheesecakes, mini pies, cupcakes, tiny tarts with fillings, brownies, cookies – there is almost no limit to how creative the desserts can get.
Giannella said, “Dessert bars are really fun and give variety. People want to grab and go, as opposed to serving a whole cake, and cupcakes are always big. That is a trend that isn’t going away.” It is also one that she sees reflected at Blues Express, where an entire grab-and-go dessert case is featured, and some of the down-home favorites may surprise patrons. According to Giannella, one of the most consistent favorite items is the banana pudding.
Giannella strikes a balance, putting out classic flavors like Blues’ Bourbon Pecan Cake, Death by Chocolate Cake and Banana Peanut Butter cake, as well as experimenting with new desserts and seasonal flavors. Currently, she has desserts like Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake and apple toaster pastries coming out of the kitchen, and her take on creating new desserts is dynamic. “Sometimes I feel like I am on ‘Chopped,’ pulling together flavors in the kitchen,” Giannella said. It’s that type of joy and creativity that really shines in the desserts coming out of Blues.
With Thanksgiving coming up, there has never been a better time to check out the latest custom desserts, pies and cakes Blues is baking up. For more information, go to bethanyblues.com or stop into Blues Express in Lewes and grab a dessert menu.
