Welcome to Pastry Workshop by Olguta Iliescu!
My name is Olguta Iliescu and I am the pastry chef, pastry trainer and recipe developer behind this blog. I have a huge passion for desserts made from scratch, using all natural ingredients and I don’t shy away from using strong or bold flavors in my desserts. Apart from making pastries however, I also love teaching pastry, helping people discover their talents and their path in this complex, yet amazing world of desserts.
I have always found comfort in the act of baking, and while I enjoy the end result of a kitchen filled with sweet treats, I find there is so much more to it than just sugar and butter, some flour and eggs. This space started in an attempt to document the journey from novice in the kitchen to pastry chef although I have learnt a lot over the past few years, I still feel like I have a lot to learn. But I guess that’s the beauty of things in pastry – there’s always something to learn, always something to look forward to, new products to try, new tastes to discover, new techniques to master!
Although I’ve always had great examples in my family in terms of cooking – both my grandmother and mother cook great – I only began cooking during my last year of highschool. My first try was a soup, nothing out of the ordinary and totally not something I thought it was worth my time at that point. But then I discovered baking and desserts and I fell in love with the chemistry behind baking, with the way ingredients are combined, with how something as common as flour can yield something as great as a cake. I was hooked on the techniques, on the way a dessert is built, on the logic of pastry and on its taste, of course!
I love trying new recipes, ingredients and flavors and I’m not afraid of using sugar, butter or cream at their fullest. My favourite ingredients and flavours are chocolate, citrus fruits, praline and hazelnuts, caramel and my newest discovery, aromatic herbs.
This blog is about original, innovative dessert recipes that are aimed to both novices and experts into the pastry kitchen, it’s about learning and trying new ingredients, but also about understanding old ones and using them in the most creative possible way. My motto speaks about using sugar just as you would use salt in cooking – with measure, only to enhance all the other flavors and not to overpower them.
Keep in touch
You can keep in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram or through email at olguta.oana@gmail.com
I truly hope you find the recipes delicious, the photography pretty and the blog inviting. If you test out a recipe, let me know! I’d be happy to see a picture of your final result.
ROMANIAN!
Bine ati venit pe Pastry Workshop by Olguta Iliescu!
Ma numesc Olguta Iliescu si sunt cofetarul, trainerul si fotograful din spatele acestui blog. Am o pasiune uriasa pentru deserturi realizate de la zero, cu ingrediente naturale si imi place sa creez povesti prin deserturile mele, sa infuzez arome intense sau inedite, sa imaginez si sa creez deserturi exact asa cum mi-as dori sa le si mananc. Dincolo de asta insa, aceasta pasiune m-a adus si in punctul in care predau cursuri de cofetarie, ajutand oamenii sa inteleaga aceasta lume complexa, dar atat de dulce a prajiturilor.
Deși am avut de mică exemple pozitive în familie – bunica și mama – care gătesc și acum excelent – m-am apucat de gătit abia în ultimul an de liceu, primele încercări fiind destul de modeste. Din fericire, am descoperit dulciurile destul de repede și m-am îndrăgostit iremediabil de felul în care cofetăria combină ingredientele, de știința din spatele rețetelor, de nenumăratele posibilități de a crea un desert pornind de la aceeași idee, de texturi și arome stratificate, de ciocolată și infinitele modalități de a o folosi. Am găsit în cofetărie ceea ce îmi place să fac, ceea ce mă stimulează să fiu mai bună zi dupa zi, ceea ce îmi aduce împlinire din punct de vedere profesional și în același timp, o mare provocare, căci nu e zi în care să nu ai posibilitatea să înveți ceva nou, în care să nu poți fi mai bun decât tu, cel de ieri. Si chiar si dupa mai bine de 13 ani de cand am facut prima prajitura, in continuare cofetaria mi se pare fascinanta!
Va astept mereu pe blog cu intrebari ori sa impartasiti cu mine reusitele voastre urmand retetele mele. Nu uitati de paginile de Facebook, Pinterest si Instagram unde postez zilnic noutati si behind the scenes.
Hi Oana. I made your white chocolate cheesecake and carrot cake for Thanksgiving and they were amazing. Thanks for posting the recipes. I love your blog!
That’s amazing! I’m glad you loved them. Be sure to check my blog for more recipes in the future 🙂
Do you give hand on classes I am from Vancouver Island I would like to take classes this year please summer classes
I do give classes, but I live in Romania. I’m sorry 🙁
when was this article published?
As dori sa te intreb: retele tale le postezi doar in engleza? Pentru ca, din pacate, nu ma descurc f.bine cu engleza, as putea , cred, pana la urma, sa le inteleg si in engleza (si prin deductie), dar imi ia cam prea mult timp. Merci
Virginia, majoritatea retetelor este postata si in limba romana.
Merci, acum am vazut ca ai si traducerea in romana !
Buna Olguta! Sunt atat de incantata de blogul tau! Complimentele mele pentru minunatele deserturile pe care le faci.
Am descoperit blogul tau in incercarea de a cauta pareri despre cursurile de cofetar/patiser de la Horeca pe care ma gandesc sa le urmez 🙂 iar blogul tau este o mare inspiratie pentru cei pasionati de baking (printre care ma numar si eu).
Multumesc, Stefania.
I’m so glad to read about your love for butter, sugar and cream! I also find it fascinating that with a couple of ingredients you can create so many different things. Love your blog and I think your photography is beautiful.
Thank you, Hannah! Baking and being a pastry chef is the second best thing in my life after my son 🙂 I would place blogging third, but blogging would have never happened without baking.
Buna Olguta! Si mie, ca si tie, imi place tare mult sa fac deserturi! Eu am locuit in strainatate in ultimii 7 ani si acolo am inceput sa-mi exersez pasiunea 🙂 Acum de curand m-am reintors in tara, pentru o perioada mai lunga, si imi sunt destul de putin familiare ingredientele pentru prajituri. Ma poti ajuta tu cu niste exemple te rog? Daca nu poti aici, poate imi trimiti un mesaj personal… De exemplu, eu am folosit mereu unt nesarat (unsalted butter), ceea ce aici nu se gaseste peste tot si e si cam scump. Sunt alte unturi, ca cele de masa, la fel de bune? Faina si zaharul la fel.. de care fel sunt mai bune? Stii cumva si unele magazine specializate in Bucuresti, unde as gasi arome, coloranti, ustensile, ciocolata buna si batoane de vanilie? Multumesc mult.
Buna, Valentina. Bine ai revenit in tara. Asa e, unele ingrediente sunt diferite.
La noi de exemplu, nu exista unt sarat (probabil doar in supermarketurile mari), ce folosesc eu e unt gras de 82% grasime, exista si de 60% grasime, dar nu e recomandat pentru creme caci continutul de apa ridicat duce la taierea cremelor. Eu unt cumpar din Lidl, au ei un unt german gras foarte bun. La fel faina si zaharul, tot de acolo le iau.. si ciocolata. Magazine specializate pentru ustensile nu stiu, insa gasesti online o multime si transportul nu e chiar asa de mult. Orice alte nelamuriri in legatura cu ingredientele mai ai, lasa-mi un comentariu si iti raspund cu mare drag.
Mutumesc tare mult pentru raspuns! Am sa merg si eu la Lidl sa vad ce gasesc 🙂 Daca mai am intrebari, iti mai scriu 🙂
Hi! I love your photography and desserts, I will spend some time browsing your recipes to get inspiration, thank you 🙂
Thank you so much 🙂
Buna,Olguta!Imi place foarte mult blogul tau,faptul ca ne impartasesti si noua,amatorilor si nu doar,retetele deserturilor tale,care sunt foarte delicioase si aspectuoase!!Si as avea o rugaminte,sa imi trimiti o invitatie,sa pot citi orice reteta,caci pe unele nu le pot accesa,spunandu-mi ca le e permis doar cititorilor invitati(la retetele postate mai demult am observat).Te pup si mult succes in ceea ce faci! 🙂
Multumesc, Larisa. Ai putea sa-mi spui, te rog, ce retete mai exact nu poti vedea? Toate sunt publice, nu am restricitonat nimic si sunt curioasa ce se intampla de tu nu le poti vedea.
Ma scuzi,Olguta!M-am uitat de pe tableta prima data si am descoperit ca de fapt,am eu o problema cu browserul.Acum am verificat pe calculator si am acces la toate retetele. 🙂 Merci pentru raspuns si sa ai o zi buna!
Totusi tortuletele cu ciocolata,nuci si jeleu de pere nu le-am gasit! 😀
buna. imi poti recomanda un curs de patiser. Mi-ar placea sa fac niste prajiturici mai reusite si ma gandesc sa urmez un astfel de curs. mersi
Ana, exista pe blog si un articol despre cursul de cofetar.
Buna ziua Olguta 🙂 . I am delightful i found your delicious and beautiful blog.
Looking forward to trying your recipes-I’ll let you know if I’m successful ?
Thank you, Fi!
Hello, I wanted to write and thank you for your excellent blog. I decided to try making an entremet for the first time ever and chose your recipe for the ” Passionfruit and coconut ” entremet.
Wow, it turned out perfectly and I shared it with my co workers who loved it.
I learnt so many new techniques and look forward to learning so much more from your blog.
Regards
Noreen
Thank you, Noreen. I’m happy it turned out great and it tasted even better! 🙂
Buna!
Tocmai am descoperit site-ul tau, si de aproape 2 ore de cand doarme fetita mea stau si rasfoiesc retetele, si salivez 🙂 abia astept sa le incerc, sper sa reusesc cat mai mult! Ma bucur enorm ca am dat de el, faci o treaba grozava!
Multa putere de munca, sa ne incanti mereu cu multe delicii!
Multumesc, Oana! Bine ai venit 🙂
Felicitari pentru blog,pentru minunile ce le faci,pentru ajutorul dat iubitorilor de gustos si aspectuos in bucatarie.
Cu mare drag ,cu siguranta ca voi gasi ceva deosebit,deschid masajele tale.
Multumiri!
Multumesc mult, Elena!
buna Olguta,ai maini de aur felicitari!!!sper sa ajung sa ma inscriu si eu la urmatorul curs horeca pe acesta din noiembrie l-am ratat.cred ca trebuie sa mai ast 3 luni pana la urmatorul in asteptarea urmatorului curs te urmaresc pe bloc si ma mai documentez in ale cofetariei.salutari si mult succes in ceea ce faci
I love your blog and recipes.However,as an older Canadian,I’m more familiar with cups and spoons..compared to G’s so haven’t baked any of your recipes yet.Will try the Pate Sable recipe however.Wish me luck.
Nami
Thank you, Nami! I highly recommend you to invest in a kitchen scale – they are fairly cheap nowadays, but such a great help in the kitchen. No serious pastry chef will ever work with cups and tablespoons, it doesn’t allow us to control the recipe at all. There may be a few very old recipes on the blog using cups, but the recent ones and the future ones are all written in grams and ml.
Hi !!! I am texting you, because I have a problem with my white chocolate cake. I’m using this recipe, and very often after unfreezing, the cake starts to leak. This doesn’t affect the cake fully, however I have to start making the cake earlier than usual in case of the leaking issue. Thank you!!!
Halina, which recipe do you refer to?
http://pastry-workshop.com/mango-kalamansi-entremet-entremet-cu-mango-si-kalamansi/
When you say leak you mean the mousse goes really soft and leaks or is it water droplets that appear on the surface of the cake?
Buna, gasesc pe blog o reteta pentru blat crocant?
Multumesc si felicitari pentru ceea ce faci!
Grozav siteul, retetele, pozele. Am mai incercat cate ceva, unele evident nici nu are rost sa le incerc 🙂 rezultatul ar fi dezastruos.
Mi-ar placea sa le pot cumpara dintr-o cofetarie, facute de tine. Te-ai gandit la asa ceva? Pentru mine cel mai important e sa pot sa mananc ceva delicios, nu sa fie facut de mine.
Sau daca unele din prajiturile tale sunt si pe undeva prin Bucuresti, mi-ar placea sa stiu, sa pot sa le cumpar.
Catrinel, ma bucur mult ca ti-au iesit retetele. Momentan nu exista niciun loc in care sa mananci deserturi facute de mine. Exista insa cursurile de 2 sau 3 zile unde putem invata impreuna sa le facem 🙂
Hello from a newly graduated pastry chef in france ! Thank you for all your hard work putting together this blog , it is very very beautiful and i for one really appreciate the recipes and detail…I will follow you in instagram and pinterest and look forward to more posts:)
I have a question ! Do you have a typical National dessert in Romania , or a specific fruit that is used a lot ? or even a plant ? I am collecting ideas 🙂
Hello,
Congrats for the graduation! May your future take you exactly where you want to be!
As for Romania, we have a version of savarin/ baba that is very famous around here. As for fruits, I would say sour cherries – it is a must during summer, but we preserve it in jams and confits for the winter as well. We also have cozonac which is a version of babka or filled brioche, but sweeter and we love everything that has cheese in it.
Hi! Your blog and recipes are amazing. if you ever do an online class I would be the first to apply!
Thank you!!
Hi. I sent you a private mail about the pastry course C30.
Thanks
Buna,
Incerc sa ma abonez la newsletter si nu-l gasesc. Help… :)!
hello olguta I am honored to have found your blog! I so enjoyed reading the recipes that I went back to the very first post. Now I will try many of your recipes over the coming year. Thank you for all the headwork that you do!
Thank you, Valerie! I am glad you are enjoying my blog. I cannot wait to hear more about your adventures and trials from this blog!
Hi Olguta,
Is it possible for u to share eggless recipes or eggless version of ur already uploaded recipes.
It will be lovely if u could do it.
Thanks
Lax