She loves sweets, she loves to bake, she bakes at Batches
Jaceleen Latin-Kasper has never met a candy bar she doesn’t love. It should be no surprise that they inspire some of her desserts.
As the pastry chef and owner at the Third Ward bakery Batches, 401 E. Erie St., she indulges in all things ooey-gooey, from creative candy bar confections, indulgent brownies, pies and ice cream to signature confetti cookies and cakes, plus savory treats like tater tot casserole and quiche.
Working with her pastry sous chef, Linda Thai, the pastry chef at EsterEv, 360 E. Erie St., Latin-Kasper also has a hand in desserts for 2-year-old DanDan, also at 360 E. Erie St., and the newly added Fauntleroy, 316 N. Milwaukee St., where plated desserts offer entirely different possibilities.
Baking beginnings
After high school I felt pressured to follow a traditional path, do the four-year undergrad degree. I had always baked. My mom and grandmas are very good bakers and great cooks.
When I moved back from school, I’d bake as a form of stress relief. I started doing wedding cakes from my parents’ house, just for friends.
I was working at the spa at the Pfister. My cousin took the chef position at Charro. He said, why don’t you come a few mornings a week and do dessert production? I’d spend my mornings there.
When Surg brought on Kurt Fogle, he said, why don’t you just come work for me? I got very lucky to have an education under Kurt Fogle’s tutelage for four years.
When he went to Bass Bay Brew House, I took on that corporate pastry chef position for a year, then the Dans approached me.
Return to her roots
I still live in the house I grew up in, my parents’ duplex in Bay View. My husband and I live in the upper unit. My parents are downstairs. I came back after college.
Opening her own place
It is definitely something the Dans (Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite) had the idea for first. It took some convincing to get me fully on board.
Sweet style
We want to home in on vintage American desserts. I also love junk food, so we want to be fun and do things unexpected and sweet.
Food and fitness
Early in my career I tap danced and was teaching tap dance twice a week. Then I had my daughter three years ago and stopped doing that. My new exercise is chasing a toddler.
I do say this job is not sedentary. We’re on our feet 10-plus hours per day, lifting things and up and down stairs. It is physically demanding.
Back-of-the-house bonds
We joke what our pastry family tree here looks like. Kurt (Fogle) is at the top. I’m a branch. Allie Howard is a branch. There are all these people on here. We reach out when we need help. If I want to talk to Rachel (Rick) at Surg, I can just walk over. If I run out of an ingredient and know she has it, we can do an exchange.
What’s in a name
Linda gets full credit for the name of the bakery. It is definitely a pun. This is female-owned and predominantly female run, and at the same time everything we do as far as cookies and batters, we work in batches. We’re owning it. It is empowering and very tongue-incheek.
Daily to-do
There are three of us who work in the pastry kitchen, and we split it up. One is working on everything to stock the bakery up for the week. Another on the dessert order for Fauntleroy. Another will work on the stuff for DanDan. It is a bit mind-bending. Linda also is working on everything for EsterEv.
Her indulgence
My favorite thing every year for my birthday, I don’t know how long I’ve been asking for this, but it’ll be going on 35 years in December. My mom makes me beef stroganoff and Rice Krispie treats. My mom makes the best Rice Krispie treats. I can never replicate them.
Current obsession
Two cookies that have been on my radar for a long time. We’re trying to get them in the case for fall. I love ooey-0gooey stuff, and I’m working on a gooey butter cookie and a peanut butter molasses cookie.
Recipe roots
My first cookbook was a kids’ cooking book my grammy bought for me. I still consult it to this day for a couple things, like this corn-flake chicken and a dog treat recipe.
Still wants to master
I would love to be able to make a really, really good doughnut. That is on our radar, but well into our future.
Her inspiration
For the bakery itself, my two biggest touchstones are Magnolia, a very classic, pretty and vintage bakery in New York City, and Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar, a more in-your-face junk food style. How do you marry those? That is always my quest.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.