Zac Young (born 1982) is an American

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bi ...

and TV personality. He has been featured on various baking shows on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

and the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...

, most notably on '' Top Chef: Just Desserts'' and ''

Unique Sweets ''Unique Sweets'' is an American television series on Cooking Channel about various eating establishments across the United States and their signature or most popular desserts. The series features interviews with guest pastry chefs and food criti ...

''. He also appeared as a guest judge on baking competition show ''

Nailed It! ''Nailed It!'' is an American reality television series that premiered on March 9, 2018 on Netflix. The series is a bake-off competition in the style of reality television, where three amateur bakers compete to replicate complicated cakes and conf ...

'' on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

, Food Network's ''

Halloween Baking Championship ''Halloween Baking Championship'' is an American cooking competition show that premiered on Food Network on October 5, 2015. Like its sister show, Holiday Baking Championship, it's a seasonal program that runs for a few weeks (in this case, the ...

'', and Food Network's ''Chopped''.

Early life

Zac Young was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

, in 1982 in Portland, Maine to Jonathan and Susan Lebel Young. Growing up, he wanted to learn how to bake after his

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

mother never baked cookies for him. After participating in community children's theatre shows from third through eighth grade, Young was admitted to Walnut Hill School for the Arts in

Natick Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Young momentarily worked as a costume designer before deciding that baking was his true passion. He then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2003 to enroll at the

Institute of Culinary Education The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is a private for-profit culinary college in New York City. ICE is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), and offers career training diploma programs in the cu ...

and graduated in 2006.

Career

Following graduation from the Institute of Culinary Education, Young first worked under Sebastien Rouxel and Richard Capizzi at

Bouchon Bakery Bouchon (also known as Bouchon Bistro) is a French-style restaurant with locations in Yountville, California and Las Vegas. The restaurant was founded by Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, rest ...

, then accepted a pastry chef position at Butter. Young trained in France with Philippe Givre at

Valrhona Valrhona is a French premium chocolate manufacturer based in the small town of Tain-l'Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine-growing district near Lyon. It is now a subsidiary of Savencia Fromage & Dairy. The company was founded in 1922 by a French past ...

and Philippe Parc at

Michel Cluizel Michel Cluizel is a bean-to-bar chocolate making company that was founded in the French town of Damville in Normandy in 1948 by Marc Cluizel. History The company was founded when Michel Cluizel's parents Marc and Marcelle Cluizel expanded thei ...

. In 2009, Young became executive pastry chef at Flex Mussels on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

, where he ran a seasonal pop-up donut shop in

Grand Central Station Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

. Young joined David Burke Group, later renamed Craveable Hospitality Group, in 2012 as an executive pastry chef. In 2015, Young and David Burke Fabrick's pastry chef, Gian Martinez, originated the PieCaken dessert. PieCaken, originally intended to be sold by the slice in restaurants, is a layered dish of

pecan pie Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter, and sugar (typically corn syrup). Variations may include white or brown sugar, cane syrup, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey. It is popularly served at holiday ...

pumpkin pie Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both a symbol of harvest time, and pumpkin pie is generally eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada it is u ...

, and

spice cake Spice cake is a type of cake that is traditionally flavored with a mixture of spices. The cake can be prepared in many varieties. Predominant flavorings include spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg. Variations A map ...

held together with cinnamon

buttercream Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing or frosting, is used for either filling, coating or decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar. Buttercream is commonly flavored with vanilla. Other common flavors a ...

and topped with

apple pie An apple pie is a fruit pie in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. The earliest printed recipe is from England. Apple pie is often served with whipped cream, ice cream ("apple pie à la mode"), or cheddar cheese. It is generally ...

filling. (The ''Wall Street Journal'' described the piecaken as "a fusion of a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie and an apple upside down cake".)

Personal life

Young is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Filmography

References

External links

*
Food Network profile
* 1982 births American television chefs Food Network chefs Gay entertainers American LGBT entertainers American gay men LGBT people from Maine Living people American male chefs Pastry chefs People from Portland, Maine Chefs from Maine LGBT chefs {{chef-stub