Our Story

I originally started baking because my Gran was an amazing cook and always used to impress everybody with her delicious dinner parties and desserts. It was she who suggested I should attend Ballymaloe, which subsequently set me off on a huge journey of learning and discovery.

After attending Ballymaloe Cookery School, I did an apprenticeship at Thornton’s Restaurant, Dublin.

Then I went to the UK, and spent almost 7 years training and working as a pastry chef; at Morston Hall under Head Chef Richard Bainbridge, The Ritz London under Executive Chef John Williams MBE, and at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons under Raymond Blanc and Chef Patissier Benoit Blin. In 2013, I achieved the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Award of Excellence. In 2015, after returning home, I took the position of Pastry Chef at The Firehouse Bakery, Delgany, and later was part of the set-up team at the newly re-opened Bewleys Café, Grafton Street as Pastry Sous Chef under Executive Chef Ludovic Lantier.

Judging

I was invited to join the judging panel for The Valrhona Patisserie Championship Ireland 2017 and 2019.

Continued Development of Expertise

I have attended masterclasses at the Peggy Porschen Academy, one of the UK’s finest cake designers and makers, and studied under Jasmine Rae, at Rosalind Miller Cakes, a truly innovative, intuitive and original artist breaking boundaries, and re-writing the rulebook.

Inspiration

Inspiration for my designs can come from a variety of unexpected places. Sometimes it can be from a colour, a shape, a flower, a picture or just a walk in Wicklow. Sometimes it can be from a poem. ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’ by WB Yeats inspired one of our cakes. And I get curious about techniques, and so I try new things, often times can end up meandering away from the original design as I react to the evolution of the cake in front of me.