Chef Joseph Utera is a professor of Baking and Pastry Arts at CIA New York. Among the courses he regularly teaches to students pursuing bachelor’s and associate degrees in Baking and Pastry Arts are Individual Production Pastries, Baking and Pastry Techniques, Confectionary Arts, and Basic and Classical Cakes. Students learn skills such as the creaming method, blending method, foaming methods, fillings, icings, custards, mousses, ice cream, pate a choux, laminated doughs, yeast-raised doughs, chocolate and sugar work, to name a few.
Before joining CIA in 2007, Utera taught pastry arts at Orlando Culinary Academy and Valencia College, both in Florida. His industry background includes serving as president and pastry chef at Desserts by Design Inc. in Orlando, FL; executive pastry chef at the Hyatt Regency Westshore in Tampa, FL; and pastry chef at the Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth, TX.
Utera earned both his Master of Education and Bachelor of Science in Business from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT. He also holds an Associate of Occupational Studies in Baking and Pastry from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, and a certificate in computer programming from Valencia College in Orlando, FL.
A Certified Master Baker (CMB) and Certified Executive Pastry Chef (CEPC), Utera has earned 36 medals in American Culinary Federation competitions, primarily for his chocolate and sugar work. He won gold medals and Best in Show awards for his sugar display three consecutive years (2011–2013) at the Société Culinaire Philanthropique Salon of Culinary Art in New York City and another gold medal in 2010. In 2007, he competed in the World Chocolate Masters Competition representing the Americas.
Stepping away from competitions himself, Utera has been coaching CIA students for SkillsUSA® and ACF Culinary competitions. He also coaches high school students for SkillsUSA in the cake decorating and production baking categories.
When he’s not in the kitchen or classroom, Utera enjoys cooking at home, working out in the gym, and being outside. He has two cats, a dog, and 12 chickens that keep him very busy.