“Eat dessert first” is our mantra, especially when we’re at the Disneyland Resort and we have the opportunity to dig into any sweet created by Executive Pastry Chef Jean-Marc Viallet.
His latest creations are the fabulous mini-pies served at Flo’s V-8 Café in Cars Land – we love the strawberry-rhubarb, but won’t pass up the apple-cheddar or chocolate mud pies. Chef Jean-Marc confesses that creamy chocolate desserts are his favorite to prepare, and that his mom’s gooey chocolate cake is one of his favorite childhood memories. He says he remembers helping her in the kitchen in Paris, France, when he was just eight years old, and he started culinary school and working in a pastry shop by age 16.
His sweet career has taken him around the globe and he landed at Disneyland Resort in 1999 as executive pastry chef. His very first sweet for the parks was a Mickey cookie – and the rest is history, as that cookie was the springboard to a job that includes design, development and production of 90 percent of the desserts and baked goods at the Disneyland Resort (except for Napa Rose Restaurant and some catered events).
Now he and his team (of 100!) at the Disneyland Resort Central Bakery use more than 90,000 pounds of flour, 80,000 pounds of sugar, 80,000 pounds of chocolate, 165,000 fresh eggs and 66,000 pounds of fresh butter each year to create everything from those bite-size pies at Flo’s V-8 Cafe to elaborate wedding cakes.
By the way, Chef Jean-Marc tells us if he wasn’t a chef he’d be an actor or singer – but for now he lets his delicious sweets play the starring role.
What’s your favorite sweet at Disneyland Resort?
