{"id":84616,"date":"2025-01-02T10:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=84616"},"modified":"2025-01-02T10:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:20:02","slug":"from-personal-trainer-sleeping-in-his-car-to-making-chocolates-for-clients-like-marvel-and-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/from-personal-trainer-sleeping-in-his-car-to-making-chocolates-for-clients-like-marvel-and-disney","title":{"rendered":"From personal trainer sleeping in his car to making chocolates for clients like Marvel and Disney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Albert Daniel had been working as a personal trainer for 14 years when he decided to bring a batch of his freshly made cake pops to his coworkers at Equinox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shared them on a whim, just hoping to spread joy with a new skill he\u2019d started honing, but a piece of advice from one of those coworkers would help set his life on a new trajectory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ditch the weights and stick to sweets, she told him: \u201cI\u2019m leaving Equinox to follow my passion, so should you,\u201d Daniel recalled her saying. \u201cHer words were very impactful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition wasn\u2019t easy. Daniel began working at a vocational school to support his confection work but lost his job and apartment on the same day in 2014. Daniel slept in his car for a week before a friend lent him a room in exchange for personal training services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after, while working at an Apple Store and crafting desserts out of his friend\u2019s kitchen, he got a break. Disney requested his services for its opening of the Guardians of the Galaxy ride in the California Adventure theme park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Daniel went out the next morning and bought a handful of toys from the franchise so he could create molds from them, a technique that turned out so accurate that it required approval from Marvel\u2019s legal department. This reduced his timeline to deliver the job to only a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working out of the kitchen of his San Pedro apartment, he managed to deliver 1,000 units with a mix of characters from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The effort paid off. The event was a success and word spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next decade, Albert\u2019s Petite Sweets<\/a> has filled custom dessert orders for Disney, Marvel, Netflix, PGA Tour, Hyundai and the Grammys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His notoriety has grown along with his skill. In 2021, he won the first episode of Hulu\u2019s baking competition show A Baker\u2019s Dozen<\/a>, hosted by Tamera Mowry-Housley of Sister, Sister fame. He took home the $5,000 cash prize and a golden rolling pin trophy after beating 12 other dessert experts in three rounds of competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chef Albert Daniel, owner of Albert’s Petite Sweets, pours excess chocolate out of a Christmas tree mold while working at his kitchen in Long Beach, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In February, Daniel moved into a new commercial kitchen at Partake in Downtown Long Beach. It\u2019s a major upgrade from the home kitchen where he spent the past 11 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he can better control the conditions to produce prime confections. Room temperature must range between 68 and 70 degrees with humidity between 50% and 55%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3D molds he crafts himself have to be washed, sanitized and individually polished between each batch. That is what gives the finished product its shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel showcases parts of that process on his Instagram<\/a>, where he\u2019s amassed over 32,000 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often spending 12 to 14 hours a day in the kitchen, Daniel churns out sweet treats by the thousand for corporate clients, holiday bundles and various special occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, Daniel says he can produce a batch of 1,000 chocolates every four hours, a far cry from the week his Guardians of the Galaxy job took.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chef Albert Daniel, owner of Albert’s Petite Sweets, takes excess chocolate off of a Christmas tree mold while working at his kitchen in Long Beach, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For retail buyers, he offers treats like chocolate-dipped marshmallows, bonbons and chocolate squares in nearly two dozen flavors \u2014 including the viral Dubai chocolate filled with pistachio<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also p\u00e2te de fruit in five varieties. The most unique flavor is calamansi, a Filipino fruit with a distinct lemon-lime flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaking people happy\u201d and a \u201cfear of failure\u201d keep him motivated to perfect his sweets, Daniel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert\u2019s Petite Sweets sells products online<\/a>, out of Partake and Chapter II Coffee<\/a> in Belmont Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately, he has expanded his offerings to freeze-dried fruits and added an assistant to help him keep up with orders and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next five years, Daniel said he wants to have his own store and expand the chocolate-making classes he offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always think of life being like a tidal wave,\u201d Daniel said. \u201cYou may feel that the water is like descending from you, but then this wave comes and you have to be ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working out of his apartment, and now a commercial kitchen in Downtown Long Beach, Albert Daniel\u2019s fine confections have earned him a following.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":84408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[631],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-84616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-chocolate","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84616"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84627,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84616\/revisions\/84627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84616"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=84616"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=84616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}