Happy New Year! Check out The Cake Boutique in the Courier Post

Alexander Benas wants to improve her techniques for gluten-free products at her bakery in Mullica Hill.

Rich Kramer will spend the first half of the year building an oven outside his Petersburg home.

Susan Dargay can’t wait to try her new convection oven in her Bordentown home.

Chef Kathy Gold, owner of the In the Kitchen Cooking School in Haddonfield, will expand her ethnic culinary knowledge with a trip overseas.

While some may view the New Year as a good time to kick start a diet or cut out sugar or caffeine, others see it as a great time to up the ante in the kitchen.

The idea of trying something different in the new year applies as much to culinary endeavors as anything else. Whether a chef, a baker, a grocery chain or amateur cook, ’tis the season to consider experimenting and expanding.

Gluten-free goals

“One of the things we do every year is add on something to improve our products,” said Benas, owner of the Cake Boutique in Mullica Hill. “In 2014, we plan to go more into the gluten-free area, even though it’s not the easiest to go to. I’m researching more.”

Part of that effort included introducing customers to French macarons, which are made gluten free.

“I like to be challenged. I like to get cake designs that are cool. I kind of gravitate towards them,” said Benas, who has designed a cake shaped like a dump truck with cookies for wheels and one like an Uncle Sam top hat with dog tags to welcome a soldier home.

“I just started doing baby reveal cakes,” she said of the new trend of hosting a party to announce the gender of a new addition to the family.

“We make the cake pink or blue. And there are new and interesting ways to showcase them,” Benas said.

All fired up

Rich Kramer of Petersburg is going to build a wood-burning, stone pizza oven in his yard.

“I do a lot of barbecuing and I was a judge at the Kansas City BBQ Society competition. I also do a lot of entertaining,” said Kramer, who has taken classes in baking and culinary essential techniques at In the Kitchen.

The oven also will be used to roast meats and cook casseroles and other covered dishes. “My wife will use it for making bread,” Kramer, 53, said. “My wife is a wonderful bread baker.Kramer, who works for Verizon, will construct the oven himself on weekends. “I am hoping to have it done by July 4.”

New toy, more veggies

Susan Dargay, who has taken some 20 classes at Gold’s cooking school, just bought a new oven — the old one croaked — and it came with a convection oven. She’s looking forward to giving it a try, first by baking cookies. Such an oven cuts down on cooking time because it circulates heated air so it cooks faster and more evenly, Dargay said.

She also plans to prepare more vegetarian meals this year, incorporating vegetarian recipes.

“My husband John and I do it one day a week now, and would like to go to three days,” said the 57 year-old Bordentown resident.

Part of the reason is financial. “Meat is more expensive. John also is a cancer survivor, so there’s the health aspect. It’s better for you.”

Another item on the wish list: learn more about Greek cooking.

Culinary horizons

Among other changes related to her busy cooking school, Gold plans to learn new techniques in bread making this year.

“We want to expand our offerings to sell fresh bread and pastries I bake in our store in Haddonfield,” she said.

Gold also has travel plans this year, sort of a working vacation.

“I want to experience other cuisines and cultures. I’m going to Rome, Florence and Paris this year. I’ll research a lot of food that has to be tested, with techniques learned and perfected.”