Deftly wielding a mini spray gun, executive pastry chef Frank Vollkommer of St. Helena’s new Under-Study shoots a mist of liquid chocolate onto a frozen sphere of mandarin mousse, citrus confit and chiffon cake, fashioning a pebbly coating that perfectly mimics the rind of a tangerine.
Creating this trompe-l’oeil, creamsicle pastry is a painstaking, two-day process. It requires a precise hand and unwavering focus — skills that translate surprisingly well to Vollkommer’s other unexpected passion.
That’s when the 55-year-old trades his chef’s whites for a helmet and airbag-equipped leather jumpsuit, then climbs astride an extensively modified Kawasaki Ninja 400 to roar around an asphalt track at 140 mph…