Student Chef Gabrielle Thomas

She is currently completing her associate degree in Culinary Arts at ABHTI, but for the next school term she will move onto pastures newer as she pursues her bachelor’s degree in Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson & Wales University. Gabrielle admits to being a little nervous about her next career step, but is excited as ABHTI has given her a great grounding. She praises her tutor Mr Benjamin, saying, “He has a great personality and his style of teaching makes even the most difficult tasks interesting.” The favourite part of her culinary arts course was gaining industry experience by doing internships at Carlisle Bay Resort and Blue Waters Hotel. “They both gave me the opportunity to be based in the pastry area, where I got to be part of a genuine operation.

My most challenging task was given to me at Blue Waters, where I had to make éclairs. Learning piping skills was difficult at first, but I got lots of practice and nailed it.” Gabrielle cites Julia Child as her role model. “I adore the way she makes hard tasks look easy, like she could conquer the world. That’s how I want to be. I’m also a major Cake Boss fan and hope one day to be able to design crazy cakes like them. Cakes really sparked my interest in pastry work and I’m looking forward to learning sugar and chocolate work at university.”