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www.thomasleelawyer.com
Cakes By Karl
By Olivia Frenkel
“ 3… 2… 1… hands up! Bloody good job, bakers!” Bay Area pastry
chef, Karl Fong, presented the judges with a deliciously rich, devil’s
food cake with a complementary blood orange curd and dark chocolate
buttercream. The cake’s presentation was as unpleasing to the eye as it
was pleasing to the tongue. Fondant eyes bulged and blood orange flesh
oozed from the crevices of the zombie heart shaped cake. The judges
loved it. Fong out-scared and out-baked seven other contestants and was
crowned the season 5 winner of Food Network’s Halloween Baking
Champion, receiving the grand prize of $25,000.
Karl Fong is a long-time Bay Area resident who grew up with
an artistic mind. “I’ve been an artist all my life. Even throughout
highschool I did a lot of art classes and advanced art courses,” said
Fong. During his childhood, he recalls his time in the kitchen, saying “I
would make boxed brownies, cakes, and cookies, which now I consider
cheating, but I was still in the kitchen and learning new skills.” As these
skills grew, he realized that he could meld these two passions and pursue
a career as a pastry chef.
Fong began his training at the Contra Costa College in a two and
a half year program where his teacher proved to be an incredibly
supportive figure. “I would ask him a ton of questions and I think that
was the key early on. His intent was for the student to go up and ask
him about things like procedures and bake times.”
Through Contra Costa College, Fong was sent to different
internships where he received most of his class credits. He worked in
restaurants and even a pastry shop in Berkeley, called Masse’s Pastries.
In this hands on work, he learned more about the pressures of being in
the kitchen while gaining more practical skills. “I was very fortunate to
have chefs Riley
that were willing to share the knowledge that they had. I was
never asked to do things like peel a bunch of apples all day, they were
open to teaching me things and fixing mistakes
Afterwards, he attended the California Culinary Academy in
San Francisco where he learned “the science and the why behind
everything. This is huge because once you know the why, you can do so
much.”
With this new knowledge and experience, Fong went on to work for
B44 Catalan Bistro in the Financial District of San Francisco where his
boss encouraged him to temporarily move to Spain to gain even further
knowledge about pastries.
Fong fell deeply in love with Spain, but came back to work for B44
whose owners were in the process of opening a fine dining restaurant
called Les Amis. He was asked to fill the new position as the executive
pastry chef while still maintaining the job at B44. Though Les Amis
closed after two and a half years, Fong is grateful for the creative
opportunities that fine dining has offered him. “This job let me really
dive into the details, textures, and temperatures of desserts.”
Fong decided to move on from B44 and helped a friend open an
American restaurant by heading the pastry department. He produced
desserts for his friend’s three restaurants as well as a few other restaurants
in the Bay Area for around eight years before finding his own space to
start Cakes By Karl.
Through his work there and through positive Yelp reviews, the
producers of Food Network’s Baking Championship series found
and originally cast Karl in the Holiday rendition of the show.
However, upon further examination, they quickly realized that Karl’s
background in the
arts would make
him a much better
contestant for the
Halloween Baking
Championship.
“It was a long
process with all
the interviews and
emails, and I almost
threw the towel in a
couple of times, but
one day I got the
call that I made the
show!”
Being on the
show was “surreal.
It was like you were
dreaming, but it also
adds to the pressure.”
Though Fong works
best under stress, he
explained that “the
time crunch isn’t
doctored up. The time limit they see on T.V. is legitimately the time
limit you have and you are working at full sprint the whole time.”
Unlike the baking itself, the on camera and voice-over portion of
the show sometimes proved difficult for Fong. “The producers would
sometimes tell me to lighten up,” explained Fong through a laugh,
“When they announced I was in the top three and that I’d be making it
to the final round, I had zero response and they had to retake the shot
so that I would smile.”
Fong’s favorite part about the show was simply the people he met.
“We talked shop everyday and we gave each other advice and recipes
and techniques. I still talk to them even today.” The sense community
that Fong built with the other bakers was even evident in the zombie
heart shape cake that he presented to the judges in the final round
of the show. “I was inspired by the final four,” said Fong during the
last episode, “Peter is represented by the brains, the big eyeball is
representative of Jessica, and then we know Julie was totally into plaid,
so I made a plaid costume for the zombie”
Fong’s passion for the whimsical and daring side of dessert is apparent
from his success on the show and from the work he does at his own
pastry shop in Vallejo. If you would like to see more of his work, his
website is calesbykarl.com and his instagram is @cakesbykarl.