Florian Bellanger

Before starting his own company, Bellanger was the executive pastry chef at Fauchon and oversaw 24 other pastry chefs at its Tea Salon flagship store in New York City, a "legendary French Epicurean emporium of cakes, cookies, ice creams and sorbets. There, he became known for creating inventive combinations of flavors outside of the norms of tradition, such as eclairs flavored with orange zest, passion fruit or coconut and raspberry marshmallow cake, Toulouse violet ice cream and raspberry-chili pepper sorbet. From 1991 to 1994, he was under the command of famous French pastry chef Pierre Herm and was also the executive pastry chef for Fauchon's flagship store in Qatar from 1994 to 1996.

Florian was Eric Ripert's pastry chef of the world renowned (3 stars Michelin) restaurant Le Bernardin from 1996 to 2001, where his desserts were described as "light and dreamy" by Ruth Reichl of The New York Times.

Bellanger was named one of the 10 Best Pastry Chefs in America in 2004 and 2003 by Pastry Art & Design magazine. In 2000 and 2001, the James Beard Foundation acclaimed Bellanger's accomplishments with a nomination for "Outstanding Pastry Chef."

He is a permanent judge on the hit Food Network competition series "Cupcake Wars" which air in US, Canada, UK, Belgium, Hong Kong and Singapore, he is also the Jury President of the US Pastry Competition that held every February in NYC, and has been featured on many networks including CNN, NBC, Food Network and Martha Stewart Living. Bellanger's cake and pastry works have received attention in various magazines and publications including House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Weddings, Forbes, Brides, Modern Bride, GQ magazine, Time Out magazine, People, The New York Times, InStyle magazine, Pastry Art & Design, Food Arts, Chocolatier magazine, The Nibble, Delta Sky and New York Magazine, and PastryScoop.com.

Bellanger is now the chef and co-owner of Mad Mac Macarons - "the Authentic French Macarons and Madeleines" an acclaimed French cookie and pastry company, which he helped found in 2006.