The Festival of Chocolate - Competition information for March 6 and 7, 2010

Grace Huertas is the Pastry Artist of The Ritz Carlton and The J.W. Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes. A native of New Jersey, Grace as been responsible for the creations of VIP amenities, Chocolate and Sugar Show Pieces, Celebration Cakes and other special artistic projects. Grace began studying culinary arts at the age of 19 (she was always a fan of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin). Before joining the hotel, Grace was working 5 years for Sea World and 2 years for Emeril Lagasse. She later joined our team at the Pastry Restaurant station where she was in charge of producing pastries for the J.W. Marriott’s Citron Patisserie and the Ritz Carlton’s Club. She than move one year after to the chocolate room where she has been producing amazing sweet creations from replicas of Louis Vuitton shoes to Design Women Purses, Airplanes and many others special requests.
Grace has also won the gold medal for the 2007 ACF cake competition at the Florida Food and Wine show ( 2 points shy of perfect score) and also won the second place for the 2008 National Chocolate a La Carte Amenity Contest.

Nicholas Yanni - Rosen Shingle Creek

Nick Yanni has been working at Rosen Shingle Creek since January of 2010. Nicholas is a graduate of the Notter School of Pastry Arts here in Orlando fl. finishing with his pastry diploma.
Nicholas was born in Inverness fl. and grew up in St. Augustine fl. and has had a passion for culinary since child hood. As a child Nicholas was always interested in cooking and began experimenting with different recipes from his cook books found in his family library. Sometimes not always successful Nicholas still found joy in the ever changing world of culinary.
Nicholas’s future plans lie strong in the pastry filed and he wishes to continue his training thru various competitions to one day reach world culinary competitions.
Nicholas’s philosophy in culinary is”Every experience whether good or bad is always a good experience”.

Josh Whitman - Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress

Hell raiser since birth
Graduated Top Honors in the Baking and Pastry program at Valencia Community College 2006… Self proclaimed Chocolatier
Currently employed at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress since 2006
Official Chocolatier for the Hyatt Grand Cypress
Assisted in several competitions F.R.A show 2008, 2007
Lead singer in my own punk rock band, “Disfunction”

Jessica Quiet - Walt Disney World Swan and Dophin Resort
Pastry Chef Jessica Quiet
Jessica Quiet is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University majoring in Baking and Pastry Arts. My love and interest for the career began when I was a sophomore in high school and did Culinary Arts, cooking for our school restaurant. I then got introduced to baking and pastry through a competition team for technical and vocational programs known as Skills USA. After training for many months with my Chef who was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, I won first place in my state and got to compete nationally in Kansas City where I took home fourth place. I have worked in little bakeries, restaurants, but my favorite work experience is in that of hotels. I have worked for Marriott International in Orlando, The Charles Hotel in Boston, and now currently the Swan and Dolphin hotel here in Orlando. It is at this establishment that I have been given the incredible opportunity to expand on my love for baking and pastry with the addition of training in chocolate work. I began work as a pastry cook, and soon began learning about the chocolate work that was done at the hotel. This included showpieces, truffles, deco, chocolates, etc. I have currently been working as the chocolatier for the past 3 months and have really developed a passion for it. I hope to continue to study, practice, and only learn and posses as much knowledge as possible to be successful in what I love to do.

Mirelys Calise - Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
Pastry Chef Jessica Quiet
Mirelys Calise’s interest for Patisserie and Baking comes from her background in architecture and design. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture with over 10 years of experience in Architecture and Urban Design. She is also a Craft Artist who has translated her creativity to the baking world. Currently, Mirelys is 4 weeks away from finishing her externship at Universal Studios Orlando. Mirelys’ love for baking and pastry grew bigger when she decided to bake the cakes for her co-worker’s birthdays every month, and every month she beautifully executed unique and flavorful cakes. She said that it was a very rewarding experience and that this medium not only let her create beautiful cakes and pastries, but it also allowed her to play with her creativity and with fabulous flavor combinations. It was then that she decided that it was time to earn her Pastry Chef title and signed herself into the patisserie and baking program at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. While attending the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, she discovered her second passion: Chocolate and Sugar work, creating unique and beautiful show pieces with the guidance of her Chef instructor Jean-Rene Thierry. Mirelys will graduate with high honors with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Patisserie and Baking on July 10th, 2010. This will be her first competition and she stated: “Just the fact that I will be showcasing a piece at this event makes me feel like a winner!”

Attention Chocoholics!!