‘Yes, chef!’ - what baking the monster 4kg chocolate cake from The Bear taught me about trust

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships”.

– Stephen Covey

Earlier this year I saw the first series of the American TV show, ‘The Bear’. It has to be the very best TV show I have seen all year (it’s on Disney Plus in the UK).

The Bear tells the story of Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto, a very talented chef who leaves the high-pressure world of New York Michelin starred restaurants to save, run and in the process transform, his brother’s family ‘local sandwich shop’ in Chicago. Let’s just say he is in for quite a ride. There is so much going on that Carmy has to consider both psychological and physical safety for his team. One memorable episode runs full tilt in a single adrenaline rush filled take with the kitchen team preparing to open for the day. It’s incredible, breath taking TV, brilliantly written with a fantastic cast.

Every episode made me hungry. Whether it’s the cooked beef sandwiches, Coca Cola infused short ribs or the 'family style' pasta, it was all mouth-watering. Chicago is on my bucket list to visit again one day to find a place like ‘The Original beef of Chicagoland’. (The last time I was there I was a student and slept rough in the central train station, that was an unforgettable, character-building night I can tell you).

But one menu item from the show trumped everything…

Throughout the series, the pastry chef, Marcus, develops an amazing chocolate cake. He continually looked to innovate and refine it. It was made up of a thick chocolate mousse layered between 3 slabs of gooey chocolate fudge cake and covered with a rich chocolate icing. It was created by the show’s pastry consultant, chef Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader. And boy this is one amazing cake. I actually dreamt of this cake it left such a mark on me.

I knew as soon as I saw the cake I had to make it, but held off. It terrified me. It’s a monster of a cake. It looked very technical. But then I read an article in The Guardian, where a reporter attempted to make a number of recipes from the show, including the cake. This was just the nudge I needed.

Challenge accepted – how hard could it be?!

So over the recent UK bank holiday weekend I made the cake. And channelling Carmey I wore his staple outfit - a white t-shirt and blue apron while I made it. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever baked. It took 24 hours to make, had 21 separate ingredients including 15 eggs, one stage required the egg yolks to be constantly whisked over a pan of boiling water until the eggs hit a target temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit and one stage called for juggling not one but three clean mixing bowls and whisks. When I weighed it, it was a whopping 4kg! In for a penny…

Here are a few pics of the bake…

My god it tasted good. This has now surpassed my favourite cake, the quadruple peanut butter chocolate cake I’ve been making over the last few years - it's that good (sorry Nigella!). I wish there was some way I could convey to you how chocolatey and moist this cake is.

So, as usual, I thought I would share a few things I learnt about transformation and change management from baking the chocolate cake and watching The Bear. And it’s all around trust. I don’t want to spoil any of the story here but will touch on aspects of the show that I hope give you a flavour of things.

1. Trust your gut. Carmy is constantly tormented by his past, both from moments with his family and previous jobs in the high-pressure world he had worked in. He channels this torment into his work. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to adopt a ‘we’ve always done it like that’ mindset, but he soldiered on. He brought in aspects from his family and his career that he knew would work in the restaurant. He had to trust his gut as he transformed the restaurant. It’s all about his leadership at the end of the day.

2. Trust your team. To transform Carmy had to engage the hearts and minds of his team. The team had to adapt to Carmy’s leadership style, but in parallel, Carmy had to adapt to their ways. When he started it was chaos. But he inspired them to raise their game and try new things. Marcus’s chocolate cake is the perfect metaphor for transformation here. It’s unlikely Marcus would have created something so amazing if Carmy hadn’t inspired him by sharing recipes to inspire him. Carmy then got out of Marcus’s way by trusting him to develop the cake.

3. Trust the process. Changing the operation to the 'French Brigade' operation that Carmy followed in the Michelin restaurants was a strategy to the transformation. This was a playbook of best practices that he knew worked. He promoted Sydney (the Chef de Cuisine and my favourite character btw) to adopt the French Brigade method. This was a well defined process, following a strict methodology using data. They had a start of day and end of day briefings. The process worked the world over, but would it work in the restaurant?...(I don’t want to spoil it for anyone here).

And of course, it was wonderful when they celebrated success together with the 'Family style dinner' where Marcus served the cake to everyone. It’s a fantastic moment.

Trust is so important. To make someone ‘feel’ trusted takes time, both from the trust giver and trust receiver. It doesn't matter if you are making a small change to a process or making a major transformation to an organisation; it's the same principle - trust is everything. People need to know you have their back whilst they navigate the high wire transformation journey.

This wonderful show completely showcases what can happen when trust is achieved and its important role in getting transformation right.