Little did Nicholas Lodge know that when he started training to become a pastry chef where this path would eventually lead him. The field of sugar art has transported him around the world, introduced him to Royalty and celebrities and has opened numerous doors to exotic locations that most people only dream about.

The author of over one dozen books, Nicholas teaches and demonstrates his unique skills around the world. Over the years his teaching tours have taken him to twenty-six different countries, and he has introduced sugar art into unlikely places such as India, China and Fiji. He is internationally known, not only for his unique skills in sugar art, but also for the quality of his demonstrations and classes, at which he inspires enthusiasm in everyone who attends. This reputation has also involved him in judging sugar art events around the globe.Continue reading→

An acknowledged master of pastry, Chef Rocco Lugrine has enjoyed a lengthy and successful career in some of the country’s most prestigious and highly regarded kitchens. Currently, he is a chef instructor at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, where he has worked with students since 2005 to share his hard-won knowledge of classic and contemporary pastry techniques.

In addition to his duties at The Art Institute, Chef Lugrine’s recent past includes a two-year stint as corporate pastry chef for Signature Restaurants, a group of five exceptional dining outlets in and around Philadelphia including the famed Le Bec Fin and Brasserie Perrier. After boldly recasting the dessert offerings at each restaurant, Chef Lugrine trained and maintained the staffs in all five kitchens, ensuring that their confections met his rigorous standards for every plate.

Prior to joining Signature, Chef Lugrine served as executive pastry chef at Miel Patisserie, a boutique from-scratch bakery specializing in original and classic pastries. His duties included creating and perfecting recipes and overseeing all pastry-related deliverables for the bakery’s two retail outlets and more than 30 wholesale accounts. It was a role he was well prepared to take on, following a two-year stint on the west coast as assistant head baker at San Francisco’s Panorama Baking Company, an artisanal bread maker whose renowned products are served at more than 200 of the Bay Area’s top restaurants.

Before his stint in California, Chef Lugrine worked as executive pastry chef at Philadelphia’s Brasserie Perrier, where his eye-catching work earned him a wealth of recognition from the press and the public alike. Throughout his career, he has accumulated honors, including “Pastry Chef of the Year” from the American Culinary Federation and six “Best of Philly” wins from Philadelphia magazine’s authoritative annual ranking. He has cooked for Julia Child, Jacques Pepin and Paul Bocuse, and trained under internationally recognized masters of pastry, including Francois Payard and Robert Bennett. He is a graduate of The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, and currently resides in Philadelphia with his wife and their two sons.

Chef MacMillan owns his own company, JMPurePastry. He has also worked at esteemed establishments such as Avenues and The Peninsula Chicago, The Four Seasons Hotel Austin, The Conrad Hotel in Indianapolis, and The Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. He has studied his craft at schools like Ecole Nationale Seperiéure de Pâstisserie in Yssingeaux, France; The Chocolate Academy in Zurich, Switzerland, and St. Hyacinthe, Canada; and at Aula Chocovic in Barcelona, Spain. He was also honored in 2011 as a Rising Star of Chicago by StarChefs.com and nominated for a James Beard Award in 2009.

2013 Top Ten Pastry Chef Dessert Professional Magazine