Daniel Colonel

Pastry chef. Cake artist. Cake eater.

Sweet Beginnings: Daniel's Pastry Journey

From a young age, Daniel was always fascinated with food, from eating it to seeing how it was made - especially dessert. His first job was at a bakery where his mom drove him at 4:30 in the morning, and it solidified his joy for baking. He took his sweet tooth and life-long passion to The Culinary Institute of America where he studied baking and pastry. During his first year, he completely fell in love with wedding cakes and studied sugar flowers from the renowned Betty Van Norstrand. After school, he interned and worked for various cake designers in New York, including Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, Charlotte Nueville, Betty Bakery, Madison Lee’s Cakes, and Nine Cakes.

With over a decade of baking professionally, and having many mentors, he felt ready to take the leap and bake under his own name. Aside from the magic of making Italian meringue, Daniel’s favorite thing about baking is making people smile.

Bespoke Bites: Daniel's Creative Journey into Cookie Storytelling

The pandemic really affected weddings and events so Daniel had to adapt and get creative! On a whim, and with the use of his parents’ home kitchen, he baked chocolate chip cookies. The cookies were a hit! As events were slowly making a comeback, people were inquiring about the cookies. This sparked an idea. Creating bespoke cakes for people - it is telling their story. With cookies, Daniel is able to share his story with others. He wanted to create a whole experience around receiving a box of cookies. They would contain nostalgic and innovative flavors and have the same attention to detail that is put into his cakes.

Daniel started to think of memories and experiences where food was a key element. He thought about going to the movies and enjoying popcorn with his favorite chocolate candy. He thought of his favorite holiday -Christmas, and the aromas and flavors that went along with it. He then started testing out cookie flavors that would go along with those memories and feelings. Daniel enjoys sharing a piece of his heart to others through cookies. He believes that baking has the magic to unlock memories and tell stories.

“I get to create something delicious, beautiful, and personal for someone’s special day - I always feel so honored and giddy when I see their reaction”

- behind the scenes -