Prince Tech Culinary Arts Student Earns National Honors

Cassandra Guzman, a senior in Prince Tech's Culinary Arts program, wants to concentrate on becoming a Pastry Chef as a career goal. She has been accepted to Johnson & Wales University and already has earned an academic scholarship for part of her tuition. She entered the Johnson & Wales National Recipe Competition which is at the highest level for High School Chefs in hopes of getting more scholarship money.

"It was a wonderful experience. I loved every minute of it," said Guzman, who received a four-year scholarship to Johnson & Wales valued at $14,000 plus a $1,500 prize from the Florida Strawberry Growers Association for her strawberry flan recipe. Overall, she scored sixth in the nation and won second prize for "side dish." Casandra was selected as a finalist for her low-fat dessert "Strawberry Flan with a Trio of Sauces accompanied by a Tuile." A tuile is a thin, crisp cookie.  

The criteria for the competition was to submit a photo and a recipe that would qualify as a healthy alternative, according to the American Heart Association. They also wanted the recipe to have some meaning as far as the students heritage goes. 

Cassandra decided to make Flan for her dessert choice, which is typically high in fat content. She modified the recipe using egg whites and eliminated egg yolks which contain all the fat. She also added cornstarch and gelatin to help give the flan extra structure to compensate for the juice that the strawberries give off. She has to prepare the recipe and plate it out within 3 hours.

Cassandra developed the recipe on her own with very little guidance in tweeking the recipe to get it just right. She has been committed to excellence right from the start, and is working endlessly in trying to work out any mishaps that may occur, without loosing composure.

Cassandra is the third student from Prince Tech that has been selected as a Top Ten Finalist in the past 4 years, by J&W. Shane Robinson won a $20,000 scholarship, and John Garcia was awarded a $16,000 scholarship.