Sorghum cakes: A taste of fine pastry’s future

Some of my earliest food memories are of steaming bowls of sorghum and red millet porridge at our family breakfast table in Kenya. Earthy, nutty and deeply comforting, it was a meal my parents valued for its nourishment long before I understood where it came from.

As a child, it was simply breakfast. I never imagined that years later it would become the ingredient that best represents what I believe the future of fine pastry could be.

My culinary education began in South Africa, where I trained in the classical traditions of French cuisine at Silwood School of Cookery.

Like many young chefs, I believed excellence was defined by technical precision and access to the world's finest ingredients. French butter, Madagascan vanilla and premium chocolate were the benchmarks of luxury.

That perspective shifted when I moved to New York to work as Pastry Sous Chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

There, I learned that the farmer deserved to be valued just as highly as the chef. Every ingredient reflected years of stewardship—healthy soil, biodiversity, careful cultivation and a deep respect for the land.

The pastry kitchen wasn't built around sourcing the rarest ingredients in the world; it was built around honouring what grew best just outside its doors. It fundamentally changed the way I thought about pastry.

Today, I find myself returning to an ingredient I grew up with: sorghum.