巴特利特高中（Bartlett High School）高年级学生Alexa Abaroa进行烘焙和装饰蛋糕天赋极高。毕竟，10岁时，她就能为家人准备晚餐了。
巴特利特高中（Bartlett High School）高年级学生Alexa Abaroa表示按照菜谱来做会事半功倍。她事先把自己的创作画在了纸上。
快看——公文包上放了一个锅，锅上放着切菜板，切菜板上又顶着厨师帽。
等一下，这是一个蛋糕！但是……小刀是真的吗？
当人们看到巴特利特高中（Bartlett High School）高年级学生Alexa Abaroa2月份制作的充满想象力的多层蛋糕时，很容易想到它是什么样的人想象出来的。Alexa Abaroa是第一个被邀请为在肯代尔大学举办的年度伊利诺伊州ProStart Student Invitational的贵宾室准备蛋糕的学生。
17岁的Alexa表示：“这是我迄今为止制作的最大的蛋糕。所有肯代尔的学生都观看了我的蛋糕。能够做成这个蛋糕我很兴奋，因为这样他们就能看到我的能力。我花了三天时间完成它。做这些东西需要一步一步非常小心地进行。每一层蛋糕都要使它恰好能放在冰箱里。两个人才能将它拿起来移动过去。”
当然，小刀也是可以食用的。
专家表示：Alexa如此年轻，又拥有极高的面包师和蛋糕装饰师的天赋，非常令人震惊。
过去2年，Alexa住在巴特利特（Bartlett），是国家餐厅协会教育基金会（National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation）为高中初高年级学生举办的项目ProStart中的一员。
伊利诺伊州餐厅协会教育基金会（IllinoisRestaurant Association Educational Foundation）的执行董事KathySummers，给Alexa安排了贵宾蛋糕的任务，他表示：“她是一个想象力丰富的极棒的学生。其他学生都为她的蛋糕鼓掌喝彩。”
“令我印象深刻的是她的技术水平，已远远超过我所知道的其它高中生的水平。非常有个性的多层蛋糕，全部由软糖覆盖，在技术上非常困难。她展示了烘焙和糕点的超高技能。”
仅仅2周以前，Alexa在美国家庭事业和社区领袖竞赛（Family Career andCommunity Leaders of America state competition）的软糖蛋糕单元荣获最杰出金牌。去年，她获得了银牌。
她获胜后，赢得了18000美元奖学金，并于秋季进入肯代尔大学学习，她想获得烘焙和糕点副学士学位。她也即将获得ProStart国家证书，获得这一证书的学生需要通过2门国家考试，做200小时志愿者（Alexa已经和其他学生一起为员工派对和午宴进行餐饮服务，做够了200小时）,并在食品服务行业工作200小时。Alexa每周六周日都会在艾迪生Angelo Caputo's FreshMarkets工作，早上四五点就到了，开始装饰蛋糕，以便过会蛋糕能够及时分配给芝加哥地区Caputo各大商店。
负责巴特利特高中大家庭和消费者科学部门的LindaSnyder表示：“她是我见过的最努力的学生之一，也是我在20年教学生涯中见过的最有天赋的烘焙学生。我相信你们会在Food Network美食频道看到她的。什么都不能阻止她前进的步伐，她将会越走越远。”
Alexa在很小的时候就对烹饪感兴趣，10岁时就能为所有家人准备晚餐。
她的母亲Christine Abaroa表示：“她会列一大堆原料的名称，然后问道‘你能在商店买到这些原料吗？’她研究了一大本烹饪书籍，挑选主菜和蔬菜。那确实挺有用的，也很让人惊讶。每个人都非常羡慕她。”
Christine的工作是会计，她表示：Alexa的烹饪天赋并不是遗传她或她的丈夫，她的丈夫Jorge在Lala Foods做销售工作。Alexa还有一个孪生哥哥Joey，他热爱音乐，喜欢弹吉他。
最终，Alexa意识到蛋糕才是她的最爱。
Alexa非常钦佩TLC电视台《蛋糕老板》（Cake Boss）中的面包师和蛋糕装饰师Buddy Valastro，她表示：“《蛋糕大师》开始在美食频道Food Network播出，我想‘我喜欢做这些事情，在一箱箱混合的原料和商店买的糖霜里慢慢研究一步步向前走’。”
“我刚开始做的第一个蛋糕非常棒，所以后来我就开始尝试不同风格的雕饰和不同层的蛋糕。15岁生日时，我做了一个软糖覆盖的蛋糕。”
Alexa解释道，软糖就像“可食用的Play-Doh玩具一样”。“我用融化的棉花糖和糖粉做了蛋糕。你推滚它，将其涂在蛋糕上，最具挑战的一部分就是涂抹角落的部分。”
Alexa说道烘焙最重要的就是精确并按照食谱做。她更喜欢安静、凉爽的蛋糕环境而非烹饪流水线的热气腾腾和喧闹的环境。她喜欢好看的蛋糕，用专业喷笔来对蛋糕修饰和着色。但是她也喜欢尝试有趣的形状。她曾经为她的父亲做了一个拳击手套形状的蛋糕。
Christine Abaroa表示：“她拥有的天赋和专注是在太让人震惊了。她知道自己想做什么。老师会说‘你必须有其它的想法’，但是她会说‘不，绝对没有备用计划’。我们总是知道她要做什么。”
Alexa说她的父母都称她为“愤怒的面包师”。
她表示：“当我在做蛋糕时，谁都不能进入厨房。当我专心致志时，谁也不能闯入我的空间。不要对蛋糕发表任何评论，因为它还没完成呢！”
她在网站straightacakes.com上卖自己的蛋糕。为什么要用这个名字呢？因为Alexa在学校总是得A。
她说：“我一周只能做一个蛋糕，尽管明天我有两个蛋糕要做。”她解释道，每个蛋糕要花2小时烘焙，4小时装饰。
曾经，巴特利特高中的老师请Alexa做一个有Yo Gabba Gabba卡通图案的蛋糕为她的孙子过一岁生日，Snyder说道：“Alexa 立刻就答应了，并做了蛋糕。她在纸上画了自己的设计，然后问那些顾客‘这是你想要的蛋糕吗？’大多数时候，他们都会说‘是的，但是你确定自己能做出来吗？’，然后做出来的蛋糕让他们目瞪口呆。”
Alexa说自己也经历过几次烘焙失败，至少有一次令她难以忘怀。
她说：“我想做一个看起来就要倒下去的颠倒的蛋糕，结果它真的倒了。那是我16岁生日时的蛋糕。我很沮丧，因为再也没有时间重做了。”
5月26日对于Alexa来说是一个非常重要的日子，早上她刚送走自己做的第一个结婚蛋糕，下午她将从高中毕业。
马伦戈高中（Marengo High School）的西餐西点老师Mary Sager，2月份在肯代尔大学看到了Alexa的贵宾蛋糕，决定在那个重要的日子为她提供一份工作。
Sager表示：“我从未想过一个高中生能够灵活运用如此多的技能、天赋和细心制作出如此精美的蛋糕。我打算让她帮我做我侄子的生日蛋糕。只是她还不知道这件事。”
Alexa说道尽管毫无疑问自己会在某个地方从事烘焙事业，但是自己却不确定烘焙会将她带往何方。
她表示：“我想要尝试任何事情，尽可能获得更多的体验——旅游、在著名酒店、餐厅或游艇上工作。或许有一天，我会开一家自己的店。”
她对那些新手有什么建议吗？
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Bartlett High studentbakes cakes like a Food Network pro
Bartlett High School senior Alexa Abaroahas a talent beyond her years for baking and decorating cakes. She was, afterall, making dinner for the family by age 10.Bartlett High School senior Alexa Abaroa says following the recipe workswell. She draws her creations on paper first.
Look — it's a chef's hat on top of a cutting board sitting ona pot placed on a briefcase.
Wait, it's a cake! But ... is the knife real?
It's easy toimagine that's what people thought when they saw the imaginative, multitieredcake baked last February by Bartlett High School senior Alexa Abaroa, the first studentasked to prepare a cake for the VIP room at the annual Illinois ProStartStudent Invitational held at Kendall College.
“It was thebiggest cake I ever made,” said Alexa, 17. “All the Kendallchefs got to see it. I was excited to make it so they could see what I can do.It took three days. It is a step-by-step process in making these things. Eachtier was an issue in trying to fit it all in the refrigerator. It's definitelya two-person job to try to pick it up and move it.”
And yes, theknife was edible, too.
Alexa's talentas a baker and cake decorator is astonishing for someone so young, experts say.
For the lasttwo years Alexa, who lives in Bartlett,has been part of ProStart, a program for high school juniors and seniors run bythe National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.
“She is afantastic student. I will tell you that all the other students were reallywowed by her cake,” said Kathy Summers, executive director of the IllinoisRestaurant Association Educational Foundation, who gave Alexa the VIP caketask.
“Whatimpressed me is her skill level, far beyond what I've seen from other highschool students. Multitiered cakes with characters, all fondant-covered cakes,which is technically difficult. She demonstrates a strong commitment to bakingand pastry.”
Just twoweekends ago, Alexa, won most outstanding gold in the fondant cakes category ofthe Family Career and Community Leaders of America state competition. Lastyear, she came home with a silver medal.
With her win,Alexa got an $18,000 scholarship to attend Kendall Collegein the fall, where she wants to earn an associate degree in baking and pastry.She is also about to earn a ProStart national certification, for which studentshave to pass two national exams, have 200 volunteer hours (which Alexa earnedat school by catering — with other students — staff parties and luncheons), and200 hours working in the food service industry. Alexa works at Angelo Caputo'sFresh Markets in Addison on Saturdays and Sundays, arriving at 4 or 5 a.m. so she can decorate cakes that willlater be distributed to Caputo's stores throughout the Chicago area.
“She is one ofthe hardest-working students I ever had, and she's the most talented bakingstudent I ever had — ever — in my 20 years of teaching,” said Linda Snyder, whoheads Bartlett High's family and consumer science department. “I think you'regoing to see her on the Food Network. There is no stopping her. She's going togo a long way.”
Alexa wasdrawn to the kitchen at a very early age and was making dinner for the wholefamily by age 10.
“She wouldhave this list of ingredients and say, ‘Do you think you could get these at thestore?' She was working out of a big cookbook, picking entrees, pickingvegetables,” said her mother, Christine Abaroa. “It was really helpful andsurprising. Everyone was so jealous.”
Christine, anaccountant, says Alexa's culinary talent didn't come from her or from herhusband, Jorge, who works in sales for Lala Foods. Alexa has a twin brother,Joey, who is into music and playing guitar.
Eventually,Alexa realized that cakes were her thing.
“‘Ace ofCakes' started coming on TV (on the Food Network), and I thought, ‘I'd like todo that, make a step up from box mixes and store-bought icing,'” said Alexa,who admires baker and cake decorator Buddy Valastro, of TLC's “Cake Boss” fame.
“The firstcake from scratch I did turned out pretty good, so I wanted to keep tryingdifferent carvings, different tiered cakes. For my 15th birthday I made a cakecovered in fondant.”
Fondant islike “edible Play-Doh,” Alexa explains. “I make mine out of melted marshmallowsand powdered sugar. You roll it and put it on top of the cake, you smooth itdown all around. The challenging part is getting the corners.”
Baking is allabout precision and following recipes, said Alexa, who is much more comfortablein the calm, cooler environment of cakes rather than the hot bustle of the cookline. She likes pretty cakes and uses a professional air brush to add sparkleand color. But she also likes to experiment with interesting shapes. She oncemade a cake in the form of a boxing glove for her dad.
“It's justcrazy the talent and focus she has,” Christine Abaroa said. “She knew what shewanted to do. Teachers would say, ‘You have to have other ideas,' but it waslike, ‘No, there is no Plan B.' We kind of always knew where she was going.”
Alexa said herparents call her “The Angry Baker.”
“When I'mmaking cakes, no else is allowed in the kitchen. You cannot get in my spacewhen I'm focused. And don't say anything about the cake, because it's not doneyet!” she said.
She sells cakes on her website, straightacakes.com.Why the name? Because Alexa gets straight A's in school.
“I can onlyhandle one a week, though I have two due tomorrow,” she said, explaining eachcake takes about two hours to bake and four hours to decorate.
Once, aBartlett High teacher asked for a cake with the cartoon “Yo Gabba Gabba” forher grandchild's first birthday. “(Alexa) immediately drew and did it,” Snydersaid. “She draws designs on paper and asks (customers), ‘Is this what you'relooking for?' Most of the time they say, ‘Yeah, but can you actually do that?'and then they are flabbergasted at the cake.”
Alexa said shehas suffered surprisingly few baking failures, although at least one wasmemorable.
“I wanted todo a topsy-turvy cake that looks like it's about to fall over, and it fellover,” she said. “It was for my 16th birthday. I was upset because there was notime to do it over.”
May 26 isgoing to be a big day for Alexa. She will graduate from high school in theafternoon, but only after delivering her first wedding cake in the morning.
Mary Sager, aculinary arts teacher at Marengo High School, saw Alexa's VIP cake at Kendall College in February and decided to giveher the job for her big day.
“I would nothave guessed that a person in high school would have been able to make such abeautiful cake with so much skill and talent and detail,” Sager said. “I'm alsocalling her to do my nephew's birthday cake. She doesn't know it yet.”
Alexa isn'tsure where baking will lead her, although there is no question she will bebaking somewhere, she said.
“I want tojust try everything and do as many experiences as I can — travel, or work for areputable hotel, a restaurant, a cruise. Maybe I'll open up my own shopsomeday,” she said.
So does shehave any words of wisdom for baking novices?
“Baking is ascience. If you just follow the recipe, you should be OK,” she said.
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