Frank Lamping students turn into pastry chefs in after-school program

Heather Cory

Little Pastry Chef’s Darrin Capps helps students fill their cupcakes with lemon filling during a Little Pastry Chef after-school program on Oct. 2 at Frank Lamping Elementary School.

By Frances Vanderploeg

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 | midnight

Little Pastry Chefs

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A dozen children bearing three cupcakes each equaled a lot of work for Derrin Capps Oct. 2 as he tried to teach the students how to decorate the sweets in a Little Pastry Chefs class at Frank Lamping Elementary School.

Perhaps the sugar had already sped through their system. They hooted, hollered and expressed a general sense of glee over the cupcakes waiting in front of them only minutes into the class.

Little Pastry Chefs, an after-school program offered by a Las Vegas bakery of the same name, offers elementary students an opportunity to learn how to decorate pastries, including cakes and cupcakes.

The store is planning a Henderson franchise in the near future, Capps said.

For the decoration on one cupcake, Capps handed each student an Oreo cookie placed in a sandwich bag and instructed them to smash it.

"You don't want to smash your cupcakes," he said, as many students excitedly voiced the idea.

No cupcakes were harmed in the decoration process, but the students did come up with several creative ways of smashing their cookies, some of which didn't require their hands.

"I'm gonna sit on it!" Gabriel Hunt, 6, said, promptly placing the bag in his chair and sitting down.

Once the cookie was sufficiently smashed, the students spread the crumbs over the top of one of the cupcakes.

This was their second of six classes, offered as part of Lamping's enrichment program, which brings in outside companies to offer after-school programs for students on various topics, including drama, science and writing.

Many of the students said they joined because they already had a love of cooking.

"I wanted to learn how to cook and be able to help my friends cook, too," Madison Garman, 6, said.

Her parents cook for her all the time, she said, so she wanted to learn how to help them.

She found another perk as well, both this week and the previous cake-decorating week: frosting.

"A lot of frosting," she said.

Gabriel's older brother, Gavin, 8, had a similar outlook. His favorite part about the class?

"Eating the stuff afterward," he said.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or frances.vanderploeg@hbcpub.com.