Fresh spin on classics is the way to entice customers with desserts
/As Group Pastry Chef at MoVida Group in Melbourne, Angelica Iuliano is passionate about developing exciting desserts that not only attract customers but keep them coming back. She describes her approach as “not following the crowd – I like to use the classics as a base but revamp them in my own way, so I can surprise our guests by taking something they know and adding a different element.”
Angelica’s interest in pastry began in high school and developed during her time as apprentice pastry chef at the Langham Hotel, following which she worked at venues including Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, Riserva Wine Bar, Donovans St Kilda and Hotel Sorrento before taking up her current position at MoVida. She is also the Brand Ambassador for Queen Professional, co-chair of the Australian Culinary Federation’s Victorian Young Chefs, and has been appointed the 2025 Pastry Mentor for Proud to Be a Chef.
Angelica Iuliano
“I like to use the classics as a base but revamp them in my own way”
Angelica says the most popular dessert she’s developed for MoVida is the Pistachio Basque Cheesecake with Fennel Caramel and Crystallised Chocolate Crumb which is on the menu at MoVida Aqui. She has also created a “whipped version” of this for the smaller-scale MoVida Next Door bar and dining venue, which is topped with dulce de leche and a cocoa nib twill.
“The original sells incredibly well at Aqui - the idea is that when customers go to our different venues, they can try different versions of it, each with its own distinctive flavours,” Angelica explains (MoVida has three venues in Melbourne – Original, Next Door, Aqui and Mexican cantina TresaCinco, and has recently opened up in Singapore and Bangkok).
Also going gangbusters is a recent addition to the MoVida dessert menu, Cereza [Cherry] Tarta De Santiago (pictured below) which Angelica describes as “an almond log cake with pickled cherries, cherry sorbet, cherry liqueur cream … a bit of a cherry bomb really!”
Cereza Tarta De Santiago
While desserts tend to be a popular drawcard, Angelica acknowledges “there are days when we sell heaps and others where we sell none. Some diners get excited at the start of a meal and order so much that they’re already full by the time they get to desserts – but then there are always those customers who look at the dessert menu first and decide what they’re going to have” [your humble Foodservice Rep editor fits in the latter category].
Angelica says there has been a pickup in desserts since she has been working on the menu offerings – “It shows customers are responsive to the approach we’re taking. I think when people see cheesecake or chocolate cake that’s always going to catch their attention.”
“You don’t always need to go for a fruit or something sweet – you can use pumpkin, vinegars, other flavours to bring a new perspective to a dessert”
Her work as Brand Ambassador for Queen Professional has not only served to raise her profile but given her the opportunity to experiment with exciting new products. “I got the role through another chef who had a working relationship with Queen, and now I do trade shows and stage demos for them, which I love – I’m a little showpony and I also work on new recipes for their website. It gives me the chance to test and play around with any new products they’re releasing.
“My favourite one right now is their Organic Vanilla Bean Paste – when you’re making up a pastry cream, it’s so convenient because you only need to use one tablespoon for one vanilla bean – you’re not using a whole bottle for a dish and there’s no wastage, so I think it’s a great innovation.”
Incorporating savoury elements into desserts
For her upcoming mentoring role in Proud to Be a Chef, Angelica is planning to showcase to the apprentice chef finalists how savoury elements can be incorporated into desserts. “You don’t always need to go for a fruit or something sweet – you can use pumpkin, vinegars, other flavours to bring a new perspective to a dessert, it doesn’t need to be sugar, sugar, sugar.
“I also want to talk to them about using social media to promote yourself as a brand and put yourself out there. In a restaurant these days you can put up a dish on Instagram – and desserts are perfect for Instagram because people eat with their eyes first - but you need to be a bit of a personality yourself as well.”
Pistachio Basque Cheesecake. Fennel Caramel. Roscos De Vino - RECIPE BY ANGELICA IULIANO
Asked whether she has a signature dessert, Angelica says “I always get asked this question – I made a Pistachio Parfait at MoVida with pistachio nougat parfait rolled in pistachio cookie and serve in a hot a la rosso honey sauce, and that was quite a winner! And last summer working with Queen Professional I did a pumpkin maple tart with bacon and pecan – I described it as ‘your basic white girl in Thanksgiving America’ with pumpkin pie flavours, pecans, salty and crunchy with an explosion of flavours and textures in your mouth, and again that was a crowd pleaser and a bit of an eye-opener; the recipe is available on the Queen Professional Website. That was great because I love pumpkin pie but a lot of people in Australia haven’t tried it before, so when I got an audience to eat it they were like, ‘this is amazing’ as they’d never thought of using pumpkin or bacon in a dessert! So I think I’d nominate that one!”
“It’s all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying something new”
Angelica loves her work at MoVida, describing owner/chef Frank Camorra as “awesome to work with” – “He’s easygoing and I can always go to him to get inspiration. I did a pavlova the other day and we were eating it together while he was spitballing ideas at me. It’s great working across all three venues – it’s a lot of work but I get to test my brain, coming up with new Spanish style dishes. It’s all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying something new.”
Claire’s fresh spins on old favourites
Owner/head chef at Bloodwood Restaurant & Bar in Sydney’s Newtown, Claire van Vuuren is also a keen proponent of desserts and, like Angelica, works with her team to come up with fresh spins on old favourites. “I think nostalgia plays a part when it comes to customers choosing dessert – so the tendency is always to do something a little bit classical and traditional, but then add a spin on it to keep it fresh,” she says.
“We will typically conceptualise a new dessert and play around with it in the kitchen – we’ll add it as a special and if it takes off it will go on the menu to replace one of the other dishes. We have a small kitchen so we have to be really clever with space and storage, but that can often spark some creativity with what we come up with.”
BLOODWOOD TRIFLE
Trifles have been on the Bloodwood dessert menu since the beginning, but Claire emphasises “they’re not like the usual – they’re lighter, fresher and very Australian in the ingredients and composition. We’re always looking for something retro to add to the dessert menu – it might be lamingtons, pavlovas, all those classic old desserts are coming back on trend. I think when people see them there’s a sense of familiarity and comfort.”
Claire says the key when working with these classics is to add your own signature touches and impart some flavour differentiation – “just your own ingredients and special touches, jazz it up a little. Currently we have a vegan dessert which you wouldn’t know is vegan – we serve 100 per cent vegan custard!
“Currently we have a vegan dessert which you wouldn’t know is vegan – we serve 100 per cent vegan custard!”
BLOODWOOD’S chocolate brownie with coffee parfait and miso dulce de leche
“There’s actually some wonderful vegan products which you can use in place of dairy cream – I’ve been using plant-based cream in my cooking for some time because you can boil it and it won’t split, it holds and last longer and you can take it to higher temperatures, plus it’s cheaper!
BLOODWOOD’s dark chocolate tart with dulce de leche, smoked salt + cream
“Products like that have extended the use of creams in desserts because it’s easier than ever to make finished sauces and purees – and the flavour profile is super good. So I think if you can find new elements and products like this and adapt your recipes to include them, there are more and more desserts you can make which will appeal to a wider audience.
Over the festive season, Claire complemented the standard Bloodwood Trifle with a Champagne Anglais – “the jelly is made of half red wine and half port so it’s sharp and has quite a kick! For the Christmas season we went classical with fresh cherries, and instead of cream we used half yoghurt and half mascarpone with vanilla and a bit of sugar, plus the classic pound cake and we also added a Dacla biscuit so it has a crunchy element to it as well.”
Other classic items on the Bloodwood dessert menus include lamingtons and pavlova, which Claire describes as “a brilliant dessert, which makes a really light, fresh finish to a meal especially in summertime – so it’s really popular right now.”
