Gianne Itaralde

Gianne’s journey into pastry is shaped by family, culture, and creativity. Growing up in the Philippines around her family’s catering and events business, Acacia Alley, she learned early that food is a language of love and connection. After earning a business degree and exploring fields like aviation, car sales, and event styling to challenge herself and gain skills to grow the family business, she found her place in pastry at École Ducasse Manila, later refining her craft at The Peninsula Manila and The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges in New York City.

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Today, her work centers on elegant cakes and desserts that combine technical pastry training with a sculptural, art-driven approach. She is drawn to offset tiers, organic asymmetry, and painterly techniques like impasto and palette-knife work, creating pastries with a wabi-sabi sensibility — embracing movement, texture, and intentional imperfection. She often reimagines desserts with a sense of history behind them, using them as a point of departure to create something personal and new. She also explores sweet-savory flavor combinations, incorporating Asian ingredients like miso and soy sauce to bring depth and contrast into her work.