Meet culinary stars such as Instagram baker Julian Angel at The Great Food Festival

Get to meet culinary stars such as Instagram baker Julian Angel at the inaugural The Great Food Festival

Two of Julian Angel’s cakes that will be featured are Tropical Prints (left) and Geode. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JULIAN ANGEL
Other chefs to look out for at the festival are Kristen Kish (left) and Florian Favario.

From creating edible prints to sugar rocks, there appears to be nothing that Instagram star baker Julian Angel cannot do.

His cakes are dramatic, imaginative and colourful, and feature elements such as real flowers, glitter and gold spatters.

It is hard to believe that the 32-year-old Colombian, who has about 222,000 followers on Instagram, started baking only two years ago.

He was then looking for a hobby to pursue and enrolled himself in once-a-week baking lessons for three months. After mastering the basics, he began creating on his own and has not looked back since.

He is in Singapore to conduct baking masterclasses at the inaugural The Great Food Festival, a gourmet extravaganza held at Resorts World Sentosa from today to Sunday.

Jointly organised by Resorts World Sentosa and event company Savour - known for its flagship casual food festival Savour - it will feature celebrity chefs and other stars of the culinary world.

Angel will be conducting 10 hands-on baking masterclasses at the festival's Rollin' Sweet Times dessert-centric section, with classes priced at $98 for a 90-minute session.

Two of Julian Angel's cakes that will be featured are Tropical Prints (left) and Geode. Other chefs to look out for at the festival are Kristen Kish and Florian Favario (both above).
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JULIAN ANGEL

Each class can have up to 20 participants, who will learn to make one of three cakes.

He has no idea how he will pull these classes off.

"I have never made a cake in 90 minutes. I usually take about three days to make one," he says.

Each of the three cakes featured - Geode, Space and Tropical Prints - looks complex and involves unique elements. Geode and Space feature edible glitter and gold spatters. Tropical Prints showcases edible sugar paper and ink.

But while his creations seem complicated, the former graphic designer turned full-time baker says the main point he wants to communicate is, in fact, simplicity.

"I'm very simple. I don't have a big kitchen or use very expensive tools. I do the photography and videography for my bakes in a little room in my small apartment in Colombia and I always use natural lighting," he says.

"I want to show people that they can make very beautiful things very easily. If I can do it, they can too."

He adds that although the actual cake-making is not difficult ("you just need some tools and follow certain steps"), it requires passion, patience and dedication to create a good cake.

Interestingly, for all his efforts, his bakes are never for sale.

They are admired on social media and eaten by him, his friends or family members. He makes a living by conducting baking classes such as the ones here.

Over at the festival's Star Chef Arena, guests will be able to sample dishes by celebrity and visiting chefs.

One visiting chef is Kristen Kish, who won the 10th season of reality cooking competition Top Chef.

The 33-year-old American will be presenting three dishes - two savoury and one sweet - from her first cookbook, which contains more than 80 recipes and is due for release next month.

One dish will feature "the flavours of ham and cheese" in a barley porridge; another is a fish dish that is infused with Asian flavours; and dessert is matcha custard with berries and extra virgin olive oil.

This will be chef Kish's second time to Singapore, but her first time cooking for such a large crowd. She was here last year for a ticketed cooking event at Wildfire Burgers at 313@Somerset.

Another visiting chef is Florian Favario, a rising culinary star who will be cooking in Singapore for the first time.

The Frenchman is the head chef of Michelin-starred restaurant Celeste in The Lanesborough hotel in London, which is overseen by famous French chef Eric Frechon.

Chef Favario, 34, will be presenting three dishes across the four-day event. He will be preparing servings for about 500 guests a day.

The dishes are Scotch eggs with truffle mayonnaise; stuffed courgette flower with fresh goat cheese, smoked tomato and basil; and a dessert of meringue cooked with liquid nitrogen, served with fresh lychee and grapefruit.

He is excited to meet local diners, he says.

"I want to hear their views about food because I have no idea what their expectations are like."

• Go to www.tgff.com.sg for more details, to buy tickets and register for sessions.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 21, 2017, with the headline Meet culinary stars such as Instagram baker Julian Angel at The Great Food Festival. Subscribe