Category Archives: 2014 Competitors

Jan Lewandowski

Jan Lewandowski

The Blue Cake Company

Chef Jan Lewandowski, CEPC, is an instructor of Baking and Pastry Arts at the PTC Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute (CAHMI) and co-owner of The Blue Cake Company, both in Little Rock, AR.

Jan graduated from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in 1999, where she met her husband Steve. After a few years gaining pastry experience at The Country Club of Little Rock, The Peabody Little Rock and The Capital Hotel, she and Steve opened the Blue Cake Company in 2005, a custom cake shop that focuses on cakes from scratch and modern cake design. Blue Cake has been voted Best Wedding Cakes and Best Birthday Cakes in various local publications for the past several years.

Jan continues to create cakes for Blue Cake around her teaching schedule, but has spent the past few years focusing on teaching. At CAHMI, she oversees the ACF accredited baking and pastry program and instructs students in cake design, pastry techniques, breads and confections. CAHMI just moved into a brand new 60,000 SF building, with 11 kitchens, including it’s own baking lab and chocolate & confectionery lab- a dream come true for any pastry chef!

Glenn Rinsky

GlennRinsky

Jefferson State Community College

Glenn Rinsky PhD. is currently teaching baking pastry arts culinary arts and managament courses with The Culinary and Hospitality Institute of Jefferson State Community College Birmingham Al. He also taught with Culinard of Virginia College.
Glenn is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and holds a doctorate in Leadership in Higher Education from Capella University. Glenn has worked in many facets of the food service industry beginning with his apprenticeship at the Maisonette Restaurant Cincinnati Ohio. He has been employed with Cummins Diesel corp, Kroger Corp, Marriott Corporation as well as nemorous retail cooking schools such as William Sonoma, Sur La Table and Jungle Jims.

Glenn owned and operated The Chef’s Kitchen Cakery in Cincinnati Ohio for over 12 years where he produced thousands of wedding cakes and was voted best wedding cake by Cincinnati magazine.
Glenn incorporates classic as well as contemporary styles in his work and views wedding cakes as an artistic expression of the pastry chef which helps to define the mood and focus of the event that the cake is prepared for. The cake has to also taste delicious.

Diane Fehder

Diane Fehder

The Merion

Diane Fehder graduated from the French Culinary Institute, now known at The International Culinary Center, in 2007 and has honed her skills working with well-known pastry chefs in New York City, London, and Upstate New York. Currently, she is the Executive Pastry Chef at The Merion in Southern New Jersey.

Her work has been featured in numerous publications and has appeared on TLC’s “Four Weddings” television program. In 2013, Diane made her Food Network debut, taking home the gold medal on an episode in the premier season of “Sugar Dome.”
 
More of Diane’s work can be viewed at www.dianemichellecakes.com