“converting dieters one bite at a time….....’

I met Fran and her husband Jim a few days after moving to Hawaii back in August of 94.  My son was part of a Gourmet Supper Group of about 20 people or so and I was invited to attend one of the dinners.

Even through members of the group took turns 'hostessing' and choosing a theme, the setting for the dinner parties was usually at Fran and Jim's as they had a long dining table able to accommodate everyone and also a fabulous kitchen which was great to work in!

I fell in love with Fran through chocolate.  Her contribution to that dinner was a 'Death by Chocolate' multiple layer Viennese type torte  that included, chocolate butter cream, chocolate ganache, chocolate mousse and goodness knows what else between the layers of the cake.  It was decadent, delicious and left such an impression that I still go into a chocolate comma just thinking about it almost 15 years later.

Fran opened a small café in downtown Hilo with a partner a few years ago….although the food was great, the desserts were fabulous!

Now Fran has opened Puff City in Hilo, a cream puff paradise where she is trying her best "converting dieters one bite at a time…'

Meet Francine Morales McCully:

Q. Fran, how did you learn to be such a great baker?

I'm mostly self-taught although Jim did give me a gift of a series of specialty classes at the French Culinary Institute in NYC and the French Pastry School in Chicago a couple of summers ago.  Farsheed and Barbara of Cocoa Outlet have classes from time to time and if I can work it into my schedule, I try to go to as many as possible.  

It helps that I have an OCD tendency when I'm trying to master a technique or dish.  I can't tell you the number of chocolate mousse attempts poor Jim had to eat before I got a recipe that worked for me.

I started catering seriously in the early 80s but never proactively as I had a young family.   I later opened Francine Marie in '03 but that was short-lived. 

I mostly research foods on the internet or at the library.  My mother used to make these dishes and then have us taste and guess what was in it.  She said it was how her father had trained her to taste and identify what was in the food.  I used the same technique with my sons as well.

Q. When did you open Puff City?  

I opened Puff City on June 10^th of this year.  I'd gotten a dessert catering gig through Kanoa around Christmas of '08 and later told him that I liked doing it and had started looking for a site.  He asked if I wanted to share the space and I said yes and so we started pooling leads, etc.  I was a bit discouraged the first couple of weeks.  I was also overly ambitious as it turns out.  We had breads, cakes, cheesecakes, pies, sandwiches...but very little positive response to what I had available.

The next week I started eliminating things.  Bread was the first to go, just too problematic to time everything.  Then the cakes and cheesecakes and pies went. Afterwards, word started getting out about the cream puffs and that's how we got to where we're at right now.

Q. What gave you the idea/inspiration?  

I'd taken a leave of absence from pretty much everything except homemaking since selling the restaurant in March of '05.  We bought the house we're living in back in Sept. of '07 but didn't formally move in until April of '08.  

We straddled our rental and this one for a number of months and I was cleaning, painting, moving, rearranging.  And then near the end of '08, after the catering gig, a friend of ours got promoted and I made some liliko'i cream puffs for his party.  I realized how much I liked making that and decided I wanted to specialize in just that.

Q. What are some of the flavors you offer and which have proved to be the most popular?  

I've been trying to concentrate on the tropical:  liliko'i, coconut, guava, mango, pineapple.  People asked for custard.  Amazingly enough, vanilla custard cream with chocolate ganache has been the most popular.  We also have a chocolate custard cream with Chantilly cream and I replaced rum/chocolate mousse with a tiramisu:  a cream cheese custard cream with coffee topped with a white chocolate/coffee ganache.

To keep things interesting, I decided I'd introduce a new flavor every two weeks and eliminate one otherwise I'd run into the same situation I had previously:  new specials kept being added on and I was making an extra dozen dishes a day, in addition to the standard menu.

I'd like to have six or seven flavors available at any one time.  We're also adding a sugar-free custard due to popular demand.  I'll try it and see the response.  After we finish up with the tiramisu, I'm adding peanut butter/chocolate.

Q. I notice your card says exotic edibles, wedding cakes, cream puffs and more - do you want to elaborate a bit?  

I like incorporating fruit into my cakes and desserts.  I have a number of cakes that have mousse filings around fresh fruit.  And after my Chocolate Decorations class, I got 'reinspired' to incorporate more chocolate "accessories" on my desserts.  Jim lets me go through the greenhouse and sometimes there are plenty of orchids for me to use on a cake. 

I like to do individual desserts and am trying to figure a way to do more of that as well.  I am also making wedding cakes, the cream puffs you know about, and I try to have a few breakfast-y type things available daily:  a fruit muffin, some type of scone, bread pudding, a cinnamon/sugar something.  

I'm making fresh bread for sandwiches: an 18% whole wheat mini-baguette and a cranberry/oat/walnut hoagie loaf for the turkey and ham sandwiches.  We're also making Puff City Muffins, which are like English muffins but I tweaked the No-Knead bread recipe until I was happy with it.  It's also an 18% whole wheat formulation.

Q. Do you offer special orders/catering?  

At the moment all cakes are made by special order only.  I have been hopping with the cream puff production and have to actually schedule in the time to make cakes.  I announce it to my sister and niece and they know they have to take care of everything else until the cakes are in the oven.  I agree to only one cake per day.  I know it's not very efficient but that's all the time I have to spare and I want every customer to be really happy with what I've done for them.

I cater desserts as well, can make pretty much anything you'd like although I do take into consideration the time of year and what the weather will probably be like before agreeing to something I know won't work here.

My sister is the business manager.  Thank goddess because if I had to figure that out as well, I'd probably not be open.  I'm going to be looking for a replacement for Ashley before too long as she's leaving to be one of Senator Dan Akaka's interns this coming semester.  She's got that special touch that neither Monica nor I have in terms of sales and customer connection.  She's leaving on the 18th.  We'll have a bit of reprieve because Quinn (Fran and Jim's son who is also a chef) will still be here but he leaves on the 27th.

Really, there's not much to me aside from my previous experience, creative imagination and technical know-how.  I was at my girlfriend's massage parlor and took note of all the certificates and training she'd had and felt totally inadequate in terms of formal training.  But when I got to school, it was obvious that I had a lot more experience than most of the others and even some of the instructors complimented me on my abilities.  Glad you seem to think so as well.

Puff City

1348 Kilauea Avenue in Hilo

808/961-6964

Open Wednesday ~ Saturday
7:00 am - 3:00 pm

Check their website www.puffcityhilo.com

Below: Our midmorning tea featuring Liliko'i, Chocolate, Tiramisu and Guava Glaze Cream Puffs!

Original article