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Community Corner

A Day in the Life: Frank Apuzzo, Baker

For seven years, Frank Apuzzo has owned and operated Pastry Fusions, located at 999 Foxon Road in North Branford.

North Branford Patch: How did you first become interested in baking?

Frank Apuzzo: One day when I was 13 or 14 years old, I was sitting on the couch watching a show called Great Chefs and there was this guy on who was making cakes and frosting them with butter cream. I used to watch Great Chefs, Frugal Gourmet, Cookin’ Cajun and Yan Can Cook. I was always interested in cooking. I cooked with my mother and my grandmother. I just always had a knack for it. My first aspiration was to be more of a chef than a baker.

North Branford Patch: What was your first job in the food industry?

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Apuzzo: I worked at an Italian restaurant called Ristorante Faustini in East Haven. I got a job washing dishes when I was 15 years old. I quickly showed an interest in cooking and learned how to make dishes and desserts.

North Branford Patch: What inspired your transition from cooking to baking?

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Apuzzo: The restaurant that I worked in had a bakery in front of it and I was always in the bakery hanging out and watching what they were doing. I liked that they got to go home at night, and I had enough of working Friday and Saturday nights and every holiday. I enjoyed baking because I could still go home at night and have a normal life.

North Branford Patch: When did you begin baking?

Apuzzo: I was 19 when I got my first job at a bakery. I eventually became the head baker and was there for nine years until I felt that I was ready to go out on my own.  

North Branford Patch: What was starting your own business like?

Apuzzo: It was absolutely terrifying—to quit a stable job, go out on your own, be self-sufficient, make a business. It’s a lot of dedication and hard work.

North Branford Patch: What was your first bakery like?

Apuzzo: My first setup was in my basement. I made a makeshift work bench out of a countertop. I bought a baker’s scale. A little at a time, I would make a few cakes, take that money, buy some equipment, make a few cakes, take that money, buy some equipment. I bought a new refrigerator and ingredients bins. Eventually, I had a full bakery’s worth of equipment stored in our garage. I did everything in stages because the startup costs to do it all in one shot is just too much money.

North Branford Patch: What was the first dessert you invented?

Apuzzo: Our first custom dessert was our Chocolate Devastation. It’s our chocolate mousse cake and one of our best sellers. It was made purely by accident. I was using ganache. Ganache is a liquid made of chocolate and what I didn’t know was when it gets to room temperature, it gets smooth like a frosting. So one night I left some out and the next morning my mother said, “Hey, that would be good inside of a cake.” Ever since then it’s been our No. 1 cake.

North Branford Patch: Holidays are usually a busy time for bakeries. What was your first holiday like?

Apuzzo: Our first holiday experience was on a Mother’s Day. We had to bake 500 individual cheesecakes with one oven. It took us all night to make. I could only make three pounds of cheesecake at a time. That was our first all-nighter ever.

North Branford Patch: What is a day in the life of a baker like?

Apuzzo: A typical day is 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. A typical Saturday is about 4 a.m. until 5 p.m., and a Sunday is usually 4 in the morning until 5 p.m. (see video)

North Branford Patch: What is the best part of having your shop, Pastry Fusions, in North Branford?

Apuzzo: It’s close to home. It’s nice to be a business owner in your own town, because your town backs you up a lot.

North Branford Patch: How have shows like Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss impacted your business?

Apuzzo: Everybody wants something special now. Everyone wants a theme cake. People want a massive centerpiece or showpiece at their parties.

North Branford Patch: What are some of the more unique cakes you’ve made?

Apuzzo: We’ve made a toilet bowl, pocketbooks, farm animals, cars, shoes. All types of things.

North Branford Patch: Donuts are a big part of your business. How did that start?

Apuzzo: I’ve always wanted to have an American style bakery that did a bit of everything, not just Italian pastry. We’ve had donuts since we first opened. We would make three dozen donuts on the weekends and each weekend we would throw out two dozen, and we would eat the other dozen. Ever since we put a sign out in front of the store, the donut business has grown. We went from 20 dozen to 50 to 100. Now, on Saturdays and Sundays we sell between 80 to 100 dozen donuts.

North Branford Patch: What’s the most satisfying part of your job?

Apuzzo: I like getting thank you notes from brides and grooms saying how much they liked their wedding cake.

To be featured in ‘A Day in the Life’ or to suggest someone who should be profiled, send an email to Jim Gangi.

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