Four tips from Peter Remmelzwaal for being a creative Pastry Chef

The award-winning Dutch chef Peter Remmelzwaal is a gourmet technical advisor for the Belgian chocolate firm Veliche®, from Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, a pastry chef on call for the royal house of the Netherlands and an active member of the prestigious Dutch Pastry Team.

In our Spanish professional pastry magazine DPAS, Remmelzwaal shows that he knows the trends and that he shares the current taste for fresh pastries and for the diversity of textures and flavors. Don’t miss his tips for progressing in the profession and being creative!

1. The more knowledge, the better

In the creative process, you can get inspiration from anywhere. Sometimes I start creating with flavors I’ve tried and stored in my head. Other times I’ve seen a mold or a shape that I want to do something creative with. That’s why it’s important to have a lot of knowledge in your field. The more knowledge you have of various disciplines, the easier it is to combine and create new things. You have to keep challenging yourself every day to acquire more knowledge than the day before.

2. Finding the balance between flavors and textures

What you see is what you expect. The outside of the cake says something about the inside. Of course, sometimes you can be mysterious. Take for example the cake “El Salvador”. The exotic yellow chocolate flower says something about what you can expect from the inside: an exotic creamy treat. The difference is always in the details. It’s about finding the right balance between textures and flavors. It takes time to develop and improve a good product.

3. Being true to yourself

I always try to be true to myself and create what I like and what I enjoy. Social media makes it difficult to be or stay original. What is still original today? The most important thing in our profession is to make people happy when they eat chocolate or pastries.

4. Back to basics

In the last ten years, the trend in pastry making has been to opt for artisan techniques and “fresh” experiences, to “go back to basics”. Not only is a glazed and shiny cake interesting, but especially piping techniques, focusing on textures and flavor with a fresh look.