Sugar & Olives Gets Serious About Baking w/ Pastry Chef Cindy Bearman

Sugar & Olives in Norwalk has been known for their inventive homemade indulgences, but with pastry chef Cindy Bearman at the helm, Sugar & Olive's bake shop is becoming serious business. Their bakery department not only offers cakes to order as well as favorites such as homemade devil dogs, pop tarts, decadent oreos, and porridge cakes, but they are also offering a range of pastry classes for both novice and serious bakers (even kids). 

Cindy Bearman brings years of experience as the opening chef for ABC Kitchen in NYC, and has worked at Le Cirque, and with Daniel Boulud. Her creativity and knowledge mingled with Sugar & Olive's dedication to sourcing local and organic ingredients from farms such as Arethusa Farm milk (Litchfield CT) and Speckled Rooster Farm eggs (Westport CT), make them a go-to spot for any birthday or sweet craving. They also offer wheat free and nut free desserts for those with food sensitivities. 

Pastry classes at Sugar & Olives are hands on affairs and heavy on technique. From Frosting 101 to Gum Paste Flowers, their is something for everyone this Summer. Check out a few of the classes below, or go to Sugar & Olive's web site for a complete listing of classes.

Pastry Classes @ Sugar & Olives

Basic Classes

3 hour, saturday afternoon $100.00

Easy Bake Cakes -- two simple cakes that everyone should know how to make

One bowl chocolate cake and one bowl vanilla cake, plus american and italian buttercream, and then we'll frost them up.

Frosting 101 -- learn the three main frostings: american, swiss meringue, and italian meringue. You'll decide which one you prefer, they are VERY different. We'll use decorating tips and you'll meet your new friend: the offset spatula. We'll have the cake and cupcakes ready to be frosted, want to learn about fillings? That's a different class. 

Ganache 101: the Almighty -- How to layer, fill and frost. One magic recipe to use as a frosting, filling, sauce or a glaze, and different ways to flavor the ganache. 

Advanced 

3 classes, one per week, three hours each $400/course

Gum paste flowers, they are a true work of art. They take patience and determination, and the result is perfection. We'll learn how to make the gum paste, store it, and turn it into daisy's, hydrangea's and of course the beautiful rose.