Damiano Carrara

At 19, you decided to quit a permanent job to travel to Ireland. Can I ask you if today, having to go back, you’d choose to behave exactly as you did?

Absolutely, yes. It’s the best choice I could make at that moment. I don't live with regrets. Life is made of choices that can be right or wrong, but generally speaking I don't like to look back.

Can you tell us what you have in common with a 1990 Honda Accord?

It’s the first car I bought in America. Once my visa expired, I had to return to Italy, with the aim of coming back to America as soon as possible. In fact, I didn't clear the room I had rented near Mulholland Drive, and left everything there. In part for superstition and in part for having an extra push to return, even if I didn't need it.

What percentage of Made in Italy and which of Made in the USA is in your work? How about your life?

For some years now, I’ve been spending more time in Italy, because I’m always busy recording the programs for Discovery. However, I’m always connected with my brother and our managers who are in charge of the American stores. Especially in this period, I follow whatever happens on the other side of the world, so I’d say 50/50.

When I interview people who are particularly skilled in the kitchen, I always ask them this question, as I’m no good at cooking. If you had to teach me how to make only one dessert, what would it be (remember that you have an absolute amateur baker in front of you)?

Definitely tiramisu, because it’s very simple and good. If you have guests for dinner, you can amaze them with this easy dessert that always has a wow effect.

What’s your forte in the kitchen? What’s a dessert that you’d be able to cook even with your eyes closed?

I don't think I have any, because who, just like me, works in the world of pastry and catering must know how to do a little bit of everything. In particular, the pastry world requires you to follow the precise measurements of the ingredients and the various steps. I'm always careful down to the detail, in order to make everything happen. Obviously, nobody is perfect: sometimes I make mistakes, but mistakes can be a stimulus to improve.

Do you remember the first dessert you prepared and made you understand that, perhaps, the path as a pastry chef was the right one for you?

It was cream puffs, which I prepared with my brother. I made many cream puffs as soon as we opened our stores in America!

You spend most of your day behind the stove. When you don't wear a pastry apron, what do you like to do? Do you have hobbies or passions?

I work a lot, so I have little free time. I’d say that I don’t have particular hobbies, except for training. With eating a lot of sweets, I try to carve out, every day, a little time to stay active by doing free body workouts.

In the kitchen or on your TV shows, you mainly wear your pastry chef uniform. Anyhow, in everyday life, when you don't work, what do you like to wear? Do you follow fashion trends?

Given the work I do, I try to always be comfortable and sporty with jeans and a T-shirt even outside of the lab, especially when I'm in California, where it's hotter. When I know I have an important occasion, I wear elegant suits, but most of the time I wear simple things, something that makes me feel at ease.

"In the midst of any difficulty there is an opportunity": this is the phrase people read as soon as they enter your blog. Could you tell us about a difficult challenge you were able to overcome and make into a positive experience?

There were many difficulties, from my move to America to the opening of the first shop, which was a very small space, that I had to completely transform. Actually I think that, sometimes, if you look at things with the right perspective, the problem can be also the solution, this is something that I’ve had the opportunity to experience in my career.

On your blog, I noticed a fun section of gifs. In this regard, do you ever reply to messages using your gifs? What’s the one you use the most?

Actually, I don't use them very much, my followers are the ones who use them. The most used one certainly is "Bellino".

On your Instagram account, you have a fan base of about 1 million followers. What’s your relationship with social media and your followers? Are you someone who can’t live without social networks or do you use them only for professional purposes?

I mainly use them for professional purposes, it’s a part of my job. Social networks, especially in this period, connect us and make us all feel closer. I try to entertain my followers by proposing new recipes that can be made, almost daily, at home and I'm happy when fans send me pictures of their sweets. However, I distinguish very much the public figure from the private one, so I try not to abuse of social media, which makes me use them especially to talk about my profession.

If you had to describe your personality with a dessert, what would it be and why?

Zuccotto (in English, trifle), because it represents me and my origins.

Make a wish!

I'd like to open a pastry shop in Lucca. The project was in progress, but the current emergency has stopped everything. I’d like to return to work on this project as soon as possible to make it come true.