INGREDIENTS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS: INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION + CREATIVITY

BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS PROGRAM CREATES CUSTOM MOLDS USING EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

By Saran Davaajargal

IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN to the D building on Humber’s North Campus, you have likely walked by the bake labs, home of the Baking and Pastry Arts program. The glass walls of the bake labs are lined with the kind of pastries and confectionaries that are typically seen in baking competitions or Instagram accounts of high-end bakeries.

Humber’s bake labs have a lot of special equipment— including a chocolate enrobing machine and commercial grain mill—but the real magicians at work are the chefs and the students.

In a recent initiative, characteristic of the Baking and Pastry Arts program’s interdisciplinary approach, Chef Kenneth Ku and his students collaborated with David Neumann, professor in the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts (FMCA), to create custom molds using 3D printing technology. The delicious results of the project are easily visible in the bake labs, but the inspiration for the collaboration was ignited at a place far from campus: Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

COOKIE PACKAGING CREATED BY THE PROJECT TEAM.

COOKIE PACKAGING IMAGES COURTESY OF CHEF KENNETH KU

David thanks Rudi Fischbacher, the former Associate Dean of Humber’s Faculty of Business, for the inspiration that occurred to him while attending the CES on behalf of Humber. As David saw the simple, low-end chocolate mold makers at CES, he realized that they could be used by Humber students to enhance their learning experiences. The simple mold makers would make the technology available to a wider group of students.

David proposed the idea to Chef Kenneth, who readily agreed to collaborate with him on the project. The project team brought together a diverse group of students to make the molds. Meagan Martinez of the Baking and Pastry Arts program worked as a confectionery/baking artist; Tiam Bennett Morrow-Rogers, a student employee at the Barrett Center for Technology and Innovation, worked as an industrial designer, while Paul Moon and Heesu Woo, students in the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts (FMCA) worked as a 3D artist and a 2D designer, respectively.

CHOCOLATE MOLDS CREATED BY THE PROJECT TEAM.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHEF KENNETH KU

LEFT TO RIGHT: PROFESSOR DAVID NEUMANN, BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS STUDENT, CHEF KENNETH KU.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHEF KENNETH KU

NURTURING STUDENTS’ CREATIVITY AND CONFIDENCE

Chef Kenneth notes that the simple chocolate molds were only the beginning of a fruitful, collaborative endeavour. After the chocolate molds, the project team also created cookie mold designs and packaging.

The project team took it one step further by asking some of the Baking and Pastry Arts program students to join the design team. The students were then trained to use 3D modelling software to create their own 3D mold designs. After learning the ‘behind-the-scenes’ technology, the students successfully organized a webinar in which they shared their learning journey with their fellow students.

Asked about her participation in the project, Meagan stated:

I had an amazing time on this project, working with David, Chef Ku, and the other students. It was cool getting to see the whole process, from the idea stage to the design, and the testing. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do something like this to take it! It's fun participating and doing your part but it's also great to see how everyone does their parts and how it all comes together in the end.

—MEAGAN MARTINEZ, BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS STUDENT

Reflecting on the collaboration, David shared:

Our role as researchers was to demystify technology, give students access and show them the possibilities of where they can go. Afterwards, the students were empowered to go on the learning journey by themselves. My main two goals are sparking curiosity and building confidence.

—DAVID NEUMANN, PROFESSOR, FMCA

BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS STUDENT MEAGAN MARTINEZ TEACHES HER CLASSMATES WHAT SHE LEARNED THROUGH THE PROJECT.

CHEF KENNETH KU

PHOTO CREDIT: FELIPE NARCIZO

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MORE GROWTH

It’s worth noting here that Chef Kenneth and the team voluntarily dedicated their time to the project outside of their full-time job responsibilities. The dedication is a powerful testament to their commitment to the students. Chef Kenneth states, “At Humber, I have the opportunity to share my passion with students. At the end of the day, I love teaching, and I want to make my students happy. My greatest accomplishment is seeing the students graduate and have successful careers.”

With a wealth of experience working in the hospitality industry, Chef Kenneth is a dedicated faculty member who joined Humber in 2015. Chef Kenneth states that it was his passion for teaching that ultimately drew him from industry to academia. Given his dedication to his students, there is no doubt that Chef Kenneth and the team will be able to have an impact on a larger number of students when the team has more resources available.

When asked what motivated him to dedicate extra time to the project, Chef Kenneth responded:

In the end, it’s all about the students. We want them to be successful. That’s what comes first.

—CHEF KENNETH KU, BAKING & PASTRY ARTS PROGRAM

STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES

We asked Heesu Woo, an FMCA student who was in charge of the branding and packaging of the cookie project, what she gained from the experience.

Heesu responded:

I think the most fun and valuable part of working on this AR project was the collaboration with students from different disciplines as it added new perspectives, new ways of thinking, and new approaches to solving problems to ensure a seamless transition of deliverables. As a designer, it really did help me understand how different disciplines work together and their needs, pain points, and preferences. I was happy to confidently participate in professional design practice and management within a collaborative work environment.

— HEESU WOO, STUDENT AT HUMBER COLLEGE

Tiam Bennett Morrow-Rogers, who worked as an industrial designer on the project, shared the following about what he learned from the experience:

My role for this project was to create a Ferris wheel design that would be able to fit on two vacuum formed sheets so that the chocolate could be poured into molds. The biggest challenge of this project was trying to understand chocolate. I'm used to working with metals and plastics. I didn't know how much chocolate would expand after forming or how strong chocolate would be. At the time, there was a Netflix series by Chef Amaury Guichon, who is a well-renowned chocolatier. This actually gave me some perspective on how much leniency there was with the materials.

— TIAM BENNETT MORROW-ROGERS, STUDENT AT HUMBER COLLEGE

VANILLA CRÈME BRÛLÉE

VANILLA CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Ingredients

65 gram Egg Yolks

45 gram Granulated Sugar

375 ml 35% Cream

1 piece Vanilla Bean

1 gram Salt

Method

Heat 35% cream and vanilla bean to scalded temperature. Whisk egg yolks and sugar. Pour slowly hot cream into yolk/sugar mixture. Add salt. Pass mixture through sieve. Pour mixture into prepared ramekins. Bake at 325ºF/165ºC until firm in a water bath. Chill. Sprinkle sugar lightly on top, then with blow torch caramelize! Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Chef Kenneth Ku

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