SWEET ESCAPE
French pastry chef offers Anne Arundel kids bake-along class
Molly Wilkinson traveled almost 5,000 miles from Dallas to Paris for authentic baking lessons. Eleven-yearold Piper DeVane just strapped on an apron and booted up her computer.
Piper and her 9-year-old brother Andy learned how to make Moelleux au Chocolat, aka chocolate lava cake, with about 30 other students in Wilkinson’s Monday Zoom class.
The class was a bit different than Wilkinson’s training at Le Cordon Bleu, with students interrupting to tell her, “I’m four,” “I have a wiggly tooth,” and “I love strawberries!”
Still, Wilkinson gave the kids a bonafide French experience donning a beret to give a tour of her 18th century Versailles apartment. The sound of singing from the street flowed in as she showed them her home’s view of the twinkling city.
“Are you ready?” she asked
“Baking is always about joy. There’s something about it that makes it such a wonderful distraction.”
— chef Molly Wilkinson
before she led the class in melting chocolate, cracking eggs, whisking batter and baking their little lava cakes.
Hosted by the Anne Arundel Public Library, the class started with a storytime from Crofton Library’s Catherine Jellison, who read “A Book for Escargot,” about a French snail who goes on an adventure to learn howto cook something new.
Wilkinson’s story is similar. After seven years of working in marketing in Texas, she traveled to France to learn howto be a pastry chef. Afterworking in pastry shops and chateaus, she started offering classes two years ago.
When she had to cancel lessons at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, she pivoted to Zoom classes in April.
“It’s been a really wonderful way to help people connect,” she said. “Baking is always about joy. There’s something about it that makes it such a wonderful distraction. Everyone has a little moment of escape.”
For the DeVanes, the class was a perfect escape on a rainy Monday afternoon and a greatway to celebrate Piper’s birthday.
She and Andy miss their Thursday trips to Broadneck library, where they usually check out 15-20 books each week. The family even has an Instagram account where they review library books.
“They know who we are,” Piper said. They can’t visit as much as library visits are by appointment only, but programs like Wilkinson’s class keep the family entertained while they stay safe inside. And baking might soon be their new quarantine hobby.
“My favorite part was stirring the chocolate,” Piper said after the class. “It felt weird, but I liked doing it.”
Andy added, “I really liked smelling the chocolate.”
Even though their cake didn’t come out with a lava center, they loved eating it. Piper now wants to make more cakes and cupcakes, and Andy wants to keep taking baking classes.
That curiosity and inspiration to be creative are what make great bakers, Wilkinson said.
“It’s one of the most important things we can do right now to add a little positivity, a little lightness, to our days to break up everything that’s happening,” Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson will teach another bake-along class through Anne Arundel County Public Library, Tarte Tatin for teens and adults, on Nov. 14. Find more info at aacpl.librarycalendar.com/events/bakealong-french-pastry-class-tarte-tatin.
Find the schedule for Wilkinson’s other classes at mollyjwilk.com/virtual-pastryclasses.