Students fill patrons' waking hours with truly sweet dreams

Published 09.28.2021

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From left, Jordyn T. Mitchell, of Lititz, with Art of Food fine-dining restaurant; Josephina R. Hanzel, of Wellsville, with The Sweet Side; and Laney E. Heller, of Cogan Station, with Sweet Laney Lou’s Cupcakery & Café.The featured dessert from Mitchell’s Art of Food: a trio of lemon Bavarian with mirror glaze on a black pepper cookie; coconut key lime French macaron; and chocolate chiffon cake with pistachio buttercream.Mercedes M. LeBlanc, with La Decorant Sweets & More, serves samples of her gluten-free white cake with raspberry filling, cake balls and wedding cookies, while Mitchell explains her Art of Food concept.Students engage with patrons in the Keystone Dining Room lobby. From left are Emily G. Arbogast, of Montoursville (who offered Sugar Dream Macarons: Macarons that are so sweet, they’ll be in your dreams!); Larissa J. Ealy, of Johnstown (with Lala’s Cakes & Co: Making sweet moments sweeter, one cake at a time); and Darrien L. Kerr, of Altoona (with DK Café).The Penn College community passing through the Keystone Dining Room lobby on Monday had the delicious opportunity to sample the innovations of students in the Bakery Operations and Product Development course. In the class, students develop a new product, market-ready for sale. That includes product testing, plus determining marketing and sales requirements.

Inside the dining hall, from right, are CC N. Hawkins, of Williamsport, with Vanille Specialty Desserts (featuring lemon raspberry cupcakes, white chocolate cranberry macarons and pistachio frangipane tartlets); Zachery A. Deibler, of Annville, with Zack’s Brownies; and Sarah Wolf, of White Haven, with Wolf de Patisserie (pastry wolf).Offerings from Kerr’s “DK Café”: lemon vanilla, blueberry keto and almond Gouda cheesecakes.The culminating project was Monday’s Trade Show, during which students provided inviting displays, product samples, menus, business cards and product pitches for such tasty concepts as: a traditional French macaron shop with less traditional flavors (like cinnamon toast crunch and raspberry pop rock); s’mores, sea salt caramel and gluten-free red velvet brownies; products with plant-based food colorings; gluten-free cakes and cookies; cheesecake in a jar; an Art of Food fine-dining restaurant; blueberry keto cheesecake bites; and many other equally tempting offerings.