I, along with many, many people I know, loathe baking…simply for the fact that I suck at it. It’s not that I don’t like sweets–I do–it’s just that I like not feeling pathetic even more. I asked John Cheng, pastry consultant for North Square about common misconceptions novice bakers have…and any advice he could give us.

First of all–and this made me very, very happy–John thinks that internet and magazine recipe photos are false advertising. That mouth-watering chocolate raspberry layer cake that you try to duplicate from the pages of Food & Wine? Accept the fact that nothing even remotely that beautiful is ever going to make it onto your plate. It may taste okay, but it will inevitably look like the cover girl cake’s homely, lop-sided sister.

Back in the day, John worked for Good Housekeeping and had copied some of their test recipes and not once did they come out looking like the photo.

“Even I could not make mine look like theirs (and I am a professional). Not once.”

Lesson #2: Oven temperatures vary from oven to oven. Fledgling pastry chefs need to get to know their oven and adjust baking times accordingly. It may take a couple of burnt pies or flattened souffles, but once you get the hang of your appliance, making the perfect tart shell should be a snap.

Lesson #3: Use your noggin. Cheng believes that common sense is one of a chef’s most important tools. If you think something is not quite right, don’t do it that way. If your batter looks too thick, well, it probably is!

If anyone has any questions for the pastry king, pass them along. Thanks for the advice, John!

If you’re as crazy about North Square’s chocolate mousse cake or butterscotch creme brulee as I am, you’ll agree that John Cheng deserves a round of applause. John has been the consulting pastry chef for the restaurant for over four years and is the brains behind all those sugary delights. I caught up with him when he was in his car and while we were able to speak only briefly–his phone battery was on it’s last gasp–I was able to toss a few getting-to-know-you questions at the man behind the key lime pie.

I always wonder why people choose their professions and asked John how he came to bake. “It’s a long story,” he said. The short version is that when he was growing up, it was the only job he could find in a restaurant. “The passion came later. You could say that it chose me.”

But in the end: “I actually love what I do. I know it sounds corny, but I love what I do. I’m constantly trying to figure out how to make things better.” Doesn’t sound corny to me. Not at all.

When I queried him on what his favorite dessert is, he said, “I can’t believe you just asked me that question. Everybody asks me that question!”

I know John, but hey–if you met Keith Richards, wouldn’t you ask what his favorite album was? Turns out that pastry chefs are always the hit of the party and are constantly prodded to talk shop. We agreed that someone who is a mechanic is not usually egged on to talk about oil changes over cocktails, but a pastry chef, yeah–people inevitably want the goods. “Even more than that, women–only women–ask me to make me a cake for them.”

Uh-oh. Time to skip my next question and move on.

I confessed that I have a fear of baking, pretty much because I suck at it, and tend to stick to Nestle’s toll house in the tube. How can I loosen up and bake pretty, yummy things from scratch to impress family and friends?

“Have a glass of wine before you start.” (Sound advice, for sure.) “And no matter how bad, you can always eat your product.” True that–I figure that chocolate mess is better than no chocolate at all.

The phone was about to go kaput, so we wrapped it up with promises from John that he would happily provide recipes and answer any questions we would have in the future.

So readers, please feel free to ask anything you like. John is there for all your (and my) dessert-related needs!

Have a great weekend!