Centerpieces from Cedarhurst

Local pastry chef shares her story

by Daniella Adler

Gitti Allman wasn't always a baker. As a child and teenager she was a tomboy who spent her summers as a waterski instructor. Her family wasn't comprised of bakers, either.

"My mother is Zomick's best customer," she explained.

Allman never dreamed that years later, she'd be teaching baking and cake decorating out of her own home.

During the winter 12 years ago, she took a cake decorating class as a lark and to her surprise, was hooked. That winter brought a number of blizzards, and Allman stayed home making roses and using piping bags. She honed her cake baking and decorating skills. and began sending her creations to friends for special occasions. She hadn't thought about turning her hobby into a business until someone offered her money for a cake.

"It just happened, just like that," she recalled. Her business is now called "Pastries and Petit Fours by Gitti."

Allman's speciality is in "centerpiece cakes,” pastries so elaborate they could qualify as centerpieces. She related her experience working with one customer who requested cakes as centerpieces for her daughter's bat-mitzvah, each one in a shape related to the girl's hobby: a soccer ball, a piano and a book. Rachelle Katzenelson, one of Allman's students, had spotted a centerpiece cake at her friend's home. She wanted to learn to bake and decorate, and so organized a few classes at her shul, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

"Even if the class was just a demonstration, it was done in such an easy comprehensible manner that you could really go home and make your own cake," Katzenelson said. "They have all the tools to make your own masterpiece."

Allman currently focuses on teaching rather than selling. With a Master's degree in Special Education, her strong background in education puts her at an advantage when teaching people how to bake.

She teaches classes out of her home in Cedarhurst and at the Five Towns Jewish Community Center, but has also given classes in Manhattan, Boston and Miami. Although her career occasionally takes her great distances, Allman particularly enjoys working from home, where she can devote time to her husband and six children.

Naomi Nachman, a kosher personal chef and owner of "Aussie Gourmet" also teaches at the JCC in the Five Towns.

"Everything I learned [about baking], I learned from Gitti Allman," she said.

Allman is now holding summer session cake decorating classes at her home in Cedarhurst. For more information call (516)-295-4538 or email decoratemycake@hotmail.com.