Baking Up a Bright Future: ECC Student Finds Her Sweet Spot

When Abby Henricksen was young, she found inspiration watching her mother and grandmother bake in the kitchen. She jokes that she always had the Food Network on, tuning in to Rachael Ray instead of cartoons. 

“My interest blossomed from that, and I stuck with it,” Henricksen said. She added that she enjoys baking for people close to her. 

Though she initially planned to study only pastry arts, the Bartlett resident decided to study culinary arts, pastry arts, and hospitality management to better prepare for the industry.

She chose Elgin Community College (ECC) for its convenience— just 20 minutes from home. This summer, she will complete her hospitality management courses and graduate in the fall. 

Henricksen currently has two jobs: she is a head cake decorator at Mad Batter Bakery in St. Charles, which she calls her “main” position, and is doing a culinary internship at The James in downtown Geneva. Chef Chrystie Wojcik, and ECC culinary arts & hospitality professor, recommended the bakery when it first opened and encouraged her to apply. 

Wojcik’s classes and the skills she learned have helped Henricksen as she continues to refine her cake decorating skills. Her internship at The James has also broadened her understanding of the restaurant industry, highlighting both the similarities and differences between restaurant and bakery work. 

One of the key projects for ECC culinary and pastry arts students is the “Savor the Semester” event, held each semester by students. Hendricksen said she was able to show off her new skills and create her own recipes. To showcase her culinary skills, she made a lobster and lemon ricotta-filled ravioli. She made her ravioli from scratch and colored the pasta with green and white stripes.

“For pastry, I did a pumpkin mousse, with little squash cubes on the plate,” she said. “I did a pumpkin streusel and a cinnamon ice cream. I also did a more orange coral shield. The coral shield was a bright orange, and I had a whole bunch of different textures, flavors, and temperatures on the plate.”

As Henricksen looks to the future, she hopes to continue working at a bakery and build her skills with each year in the industry. 

She encourages anyone interested in culinary, pastry arts, or hospitality management to explore ECC’s program.

“All the professors are going to be super hands-on,” she said. “They’re all very helpful and want to guide you and want you to succeed.”

For more information on culinary arts, visit elgin.edu/areas-of-study/culinary-hospitality.