03. having fun with flavors

a quick guide to finding inspiration when you've lost it <3

Alright, let’s start dipping our toes in to the world of flavor. Because I get asked ALL the time “How do you come up with your flavor combinations?” But, that’s never a straightforward or simple answer. There isn’t just one method to my madness.

I’ll start off with the notion that we are all just products of our environments. The more you expose yourself to the more knowledge you gain. This applies not only to flavor, but to life itself. I spent time working in a few bakeries in San Diego and while they were great bakeries with decent pastries- everything was very classic. While combos like chocolate raspberry and lemon lavender are a step outside of the norm , they’ve also been done so many times in so many different ways. Then I moved to San Francisco to work at Mr. Holmes, everything was eye opening and transformative for me. I was immersed into this pool of flavors and ingredients I could never dream of. I soaked it all up like a sponge, adding these flavors and techniques on how to apply them to my repertoire. This is where my creative calling had led me to flourish.

At MH we had a chef’s choice donut of the day which was usually made up of dead stock ingredients from past menus (kinda like the kassie’s choice cake of today). This is where I really started experimenting. Tossing together the final splash of elderberry syrup from here with the little bit of mandarin juice from here and steeping in the random spring of rosemary from here to make jelly. There was never really much thought or planning- just running around the kitchen finding the odds and ends, thinking “Hmmm I feel like this might work. Let’s try it!”. You really have to be open to the idea of things not working out but trying anyways. Because, if you never try- you’ll never know!!

bourbon banana’s foster donuts circa 2018

My time at Mr. Holmes really lit this flavor fire under me. About 11 months into working there, I was given the opportunity to fully take over on crafting and creating all the donut and cruffin flavors on the rotating menu. Which was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating- so I took it. Which brought me down to LA where one of my biggest projects was coming up with a years worth of flavors in about 2 weeks. For about the first 26 I was on fire, ideas falling out of me like ripe fruit. But, then I hit a wall. Being a creative is fluid and not always something you can tame, control or force (which is something that took me a little too long to realize). I hit this wall and I had a deadline approaching and no inspiration left in me… Which led me to create my 5 steps to re-sparking the flame (or for some of you, lighting the flame for the first time) because sometimes finding inspiration is about knowing where to look :

1. Reading cookbooks. I spent a whole day bouncing from bookstore to library to thrift store, perusing through any cookbook that caught my eye. I would just flip through the pages until I saw an ingredient I had never seen before. Or a combination I hadn’t yet thought of. Cookbooks (and other pieces of food forward literature) are a great source of inspiration, they truly open your eyes to new ways to use familiar ingredients.

2. Going to specialty ice cream shop. I’m a big ice cream girl- ice cream >>> everything. I love going to and ice cream shop, to see(and taste) the combination of flavors they’re putting together. Salt & Straw is always so amazing, I love the way they push the envelope with flavor churning nachos into ice cream. At times they toe the line between sweet and almost too savory.

3. Trying every dessert on the menu. Or maybe just the one you wouldn’t normally gravitate towards. I will always order as many desserts that speak to me as possible because I am definitely a dessert person, and it shows the pastry team some LOVE. The first time I did this as a creative exercise though, I took my friend to Republique and only ordered dessert (and one pasta dish to share to maybe save us from the sugar coma we were about to subject ourselves to). It was the first time I had tried lemon verbena and marjoram. Which were two ingredients that definitely made their way on to the list.

4. Looking over the cocktail menu. I used love going to trendy craft cocktail bars. In my opinion, bartenders have some of the best flavor combinations. I don’t drink anymore but I still find myself reading over every cocktail menu seeing what’s being poured. The gears in my head quietly brainstorming how to turn this drink into a cake.

5. Going to the farmer’s market. Los Angeles farmer’s markets are gems. You’ll see varieties of grapes or citrus you’ll never see anywhere else. I love going to the market to try samples of the produce. When I see something that piques my interest I’ll grab a bit of it to use and play around with. I’ll go with a special $20 budget juuuuust for new things I find and want to try.

6. *BONUS* Instagram or Tik tok- I guess social media in general. As much as I cannot stand social media at times it can be an amazing tool and resource. I follow a BUUUNCH of amazing bakers (some listed here) who do amazing work and also have so many intricate flavor combinations that inspire me always. One quick scroll through my feed of bakers leaves me feeling creative and adventurous.

So after I do one or all of these steps, I will always refer to The Flavor Bible. I’ll use the book to look up what other flavors pair with what I found. The it becomes this web, weaving together flavors and cross referencing to see if something that works with two ingredients that aren’t paired together in the book might bridge the gap between them. The Flavor Bible is also amazing when I’m wanting to elevate a component of a cake, I’ll look to the book to see what I can swap.

While I believe flavor development is less intimidating than I think a lot of people assume it is, I definitely think that like most anything else- it’s a skill that needs to be trained and exercised. You will need to do research, try new things and make mistakes. It’s all apart of growing. Then you’ll find you can alter the flavor profile of a baked good with a small substitution that won’t affect the final texture/outcome. Changing flavor can be as simple as swapping out vanilla extract for almond. Or steeping lemon verbena into the milk of a pastry cream recipe. But, as with most anything in the realm of baking, you have to understand and appreciate the basics. Give love to vanilla or chocolate, see how complex these flavors can be on their own. The “basic” flavors/recipes are the foundations to everything you do.

So go out into the world and try something new. Then bring it home and make something amazing ♡

Talk to ya soon!! XOXO, Kassie ♡