Content provided by our partner, Lisa Porada, Chocolate Carousel ~
It has long been believed that travel, especially travel abroad, enhances creativity in writers, philosophers, and artists. I would argue the same holds true for bakers and cake decorators alike. Travel experiences not only offer us a chance to step away from our work and gain clarity but also can open our minds to new ways of thinking about something we do each and every day.
In the past few years I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to travel a bit with trips to Ireland, Italy, and Cuba. I’ve visited several Caribbean Island and travelled several states here is the US. I spent time on each of these trips exploring the local desserts and the culture of dessert in different places. I’ve had so much fun doing so, not just because it’s the perfect excuse to enjoy lots of desserts, after all its technically research, but also because it has opened by mind to new ideas, recipes and techniques.
Additionally, I have gotten some great ideas and been inspired by desserts I’ve seen and tasted along the way. In Ireland, I had dingle sea salt ice cream and I purchased dingle sea salt to incorporate in some of my products at the shop. In Cuba, I fell in love with the churros and now offer a churro cake pop and churro poppers on our menu. I was inspired by the pairing of biscotti with Chianti in Italy and have added a new biscotti to our lineup at the shop.
I often receive compliments on our cannoli cream, in fact, we have received several awards for our cannoli cream in the past few years, and I often tell the story of how it came to be. A few years back while visiting Boston’s North End I sampled some cannoli and was so impressed with cannoli filling that I immediately knew it was time to make some changes to our long-time recipe. Upon my return we hit the mixer and worked on the recipe for several weeks to improve upon what we had been comfortable with for so long. We made and tasted batch after batch, and let many customers sample it too until we perfected the recipe. Now, I feel our recipe is the best I’ve ever tasted!
Travel helps to broaden our minds, it takes us out of our comfort zone and allows our creative juices to flow. So, take some time to explore new places, new cultures, new foods, new ideas, you will be happy you did and your work will benefit too! 
Chocolate Carousel is widely known for its beautiful and delicious cake creations, creative design concepts and exceptional quality and service. Chocolate Carousel has received a number of local and national awards for its work and philanthropy.
Lisa Porada is the owner and executive pastry chef at Chocolate Carousel in Wall, NJ. Tune in on Wednesdays at noon on https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateCarouselDessertShoppe to watch and interact with Lisa as she demonstrates fun and creative recipes and techniques Live on Facebook.