Kalamansi Crunch, Red Grits, Lemon Excelsior-the names are intriguing; chocolate velvet, chestnut spaghetti, vanilla snow-the descriptions evocative. Certified Pastry Chef Chad Durkin, owner of the specialty wholesale bakery Desserts International in Exton, Pa., chooses his descriptive words as carefully as his ingredients to let prospective clients know his cakes and pastries are anything but ordinary.

Last year, company revenue was about $500,000. Durkin projects double that this year. As of the end of last year, Desserts International had 17 regular clients of various sizes. Average orders range from $500 to $2,000. Six clients average $12,000 to $64,000 per order.

Durkin attributes much of the company's success to his mentor and Desserts International founder Gunther Heiland. Heiland, a globally renowned Certified Master Pastry Chef, started Desserts International in 1986 to produce handcrafted cakes and pastries for hotels, restaurants, country clubs, casinos and airlines. Prior to his retirement from the company last year, Heiland hand-selected Durkin as his successor.

Desserts International offers a variety of 8-in. and 10-in. desserts, such as the apricot ginger crumb and linzer, as well as individual size pastries, such as mango, to foodservice clients.

Operating out of the original 6,000-sq.-ft. bakery, the seven-person staff at Desserts International produces and sells more than 100 varieties of specialty cakes, individual and breakfast pastries, petit fours and cookies. Durkin is constantly adding new products to the line, including at least five cakes and three to four individual-size products and petit fours per season, many of which are suggested during regular “open forum” sessions with the bakery's staff. The company creates custom pastries for clients as well.

Raised in a restaurant-owning family, Durkin, who had hoped to become an artist, has a particular affinity for creating chocolate showpieces and decorating and hand-painting cakes. He also applies his artistic talents to combining and layering different sweet and savory flavors and crunchy and creamy textures, resulting in an ever-growing selection of original and signature offerings for the bakery.

“I like to experiment with all kinds of things, such as adding white pepper to banana mousse, layering that with flourless chocolate cake and peanut butter crunch and topping the whole thing with swirls of curried caramel ganache to create our own version of one of Elvis' favorite sandwiches [peanut butter and banana sandwich],” he explains. “I'll often take classic ingredients, such as chocolate or caramel, and add an element of mystery, such as sage, rosemary or habanero pepper, to subtly accent the sweet flavors.”

Signature technique

An example of Durkin's flavor and texture layering technique is one of his newest pastries-Chocolate Royale. The combination of a rum syrup-brushed pistachio nut biscuit and chocolate flex (sponge), chocolate feuilletine and mousse dusted with vanilla “snow” quickly earned signature status since its debut last summer.

Innovative decoration is another hallmark of Desserts International products. A spray of dark or white chocolate takes on the texture of velvet. Light dustings of confectioners' sugar and cocoa become vanilla and chocolate snow. Unsweetened chestnut paste is thinned and sweetened with simple syrup, combined with Xantana and pressed through a pastry tip to resemble spaghetti strands.

A number of products also are given exotic names to command attention and encourage trial. The individual Kalamansi Crunch, for example, consists of a shortbread base, cocoa sponge center and mousse made with 64% milk chocolate and kalamansi mousses, topped with kalamansi glaze and roasted cocoa nibs. Kalamansi, a.k.a. calamansi, is a Southeast Asian fruit with a flavor described as a cross between a Mandarin orange and a kumquat. Red Grits is a raspberry gelee-filled patterned vanilla sponge cake finished with apricot glaze, and Lemon Excelsior packs a quadruple citrus punch with layers of lemon-spiked vanilla sponge, mousse, glaze and candied zest garnish.

One-stop shop

Desserts International's wide variety of bakery products and sizes (cakes come as 8-in. and 10-in. rounds and full sheets) and spanning a range of price points allows clients, such as casinos, corporations and other institutions, to use the company as a one-stop shop for pastries for every format, from buffet to white tablecloth operations. One example is the Philadelphia location of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), where Executive Chef Jack Shoop has been featuring Desserts International's cakes, tortes and other pastries on the deluxe buffet offered to patients, caretakers and employees in the institution's dining room since he took the helm last year.

When CTCA opened a facility in Goodyear, Ariz. last December, Desserts International also became its supplier.

Scott Campbell, executive chef at Downingtown Country Club in Downingtown, Pa. buys 100 percent of the desserts for the club's restaurants and banquet facilities as well as wedding cakes from Desserts International. He also includes the bakery's Danish and croissants when his members and clients request breakfast buffets as part of their events.