Pastry chef Jessinta Fantauzzo is the peninsula’s Pied Piper of Sicilian cannoli and other traditional Italian desserts. People come from all over to eat her delicious fresh-made pastries. Jess is a stickler for perfection, just as her Nonno (grandfather), Lino, taught her. “Everything I do is from scratch following the recipes of my grandfather and great-grandfather,” she says.
“In my family, we did a lot of cooking. I started prepping in the kitchen when I was seven. I spent weekends at Nonno’s house cooking and baking. We made everything. When I was little, I was always creating art or cooking. Making food is a form of art,” she says. Jess distinctly remembers telling her Nonno that when she grew up she was going to open a cake shop in his name. At just 24 years old, she did.
In my family, we did a lot of cooking. I started prepping in the kitchen when I was seven
Jess nearly got knocked off course in Year 10 by a negative cooking teacher. She thought that she had better go into beauty therapy like the other girls around her, but then she remembered the promise she’d made to Nonno. Jess left high school at the end of Year 11 to study at William Angliss Institute in Melbourne where, after eighteen months of hard work, she achieved a Certificate IV in Patisserie.
“After that, everything I learned, I learned from Nonno. I’m a visual learner. I watched Nonno and worked on his recipes for three months before I opened my first business, Mio Nonno, in Airport West. I worked seven days a week for three years until everything was just right. I had to get the nod from Nonno before anything went on the shelf, ” she says.
A strong work ethic and artistic flair runs through her veins. Her father is an entrepreneur with his own bespoke signwriting business and her mother is a florist. Jess’s Nonno, Lino and his father, Vincenzo had their own shop, Pasticceria Belvedere in Thornbury. Despite the pressure and expectation she put on herself, Jess was determined to make a success of her own business.
Jess’s Dad, Enzo, encouraged her to move from Airport West to the Peninsula a year ago. He knew there was nothing like Mio Nonno in the region. Jess had a dessert cabinet at Two Buoys Restaurant in Dromana, but it wasn’t long before she outgrew it. In March this year, she opened Mio Nonno Pasticceria at Mia Roma Caffé in Rye and it’s been going gangbusters ever since.
Jess relies on local producers for her ingredients, but imports chocolate from Italy. Her goal is to have empty shelves in her dessert fridges because as she says, “ When you eat a cannoli, it needs to be fresh and crunchy. The shell should not lift off the custard. My cannoli are piped fresh.” She’s obviously gotten it right because 250-300 cannoli are flying off the shelves every week.
It’s fitting that Jess’ favourite dessert is cannoli. She doesn’t like them too sweet and they have to be plump. “My Nonna wanted the look of the desserts to be just right. She was very particular. I am very much like that too. Everything has to look appealing.
My Nonno wanted the taste to be perfect. When Italians come to visit my business, they tell me ‘it tastes like home’. That is the biggest compliment I could get,” she says.
Jess has fond memories of the big smile on Nonno’s face as he made cannoli for the family. He always had a piping bag and icing sugar on the kitchen counter and he would make one after another until the grandchildren and their cousins had had their fill. “For us, cooking is love. I put love into what I make and you can taste it,” she says.
For us, cooking is love. I put love into what I make and you can taste it,” she says
Jess makes six varieties of cannoli: three custard filled: vanilla, chocolate and a mix of the two. In her ricotta versions, customers can choose: plain, pistachio coated or chocolate dusted. The ricotta cheese is sweet, but the shell counterbalances that sweetness. And while her cannoli are very popular, Jess makes plenty of other things.
Some of her other desserts are: ‘fafella’ butterfly cupcakes with custard and liqueur, ‘cannoncini’ puff pastry horns, continental birthday cakes with layers of custard infused with liqueur and chocolate flake plus a new favourite, ‘zeppoli’, hot donuts with or without jam.
“Living on the Mornington Peninsula has relaxed me and made me the best version of myself. I love what I’m doing and the local support has been amazing. I have a lot of repeat customers,” she says. That’s what happens when you create a product with heart. Come taste the love at Mio Nonno inside Mia Roma Caffé in Rye.
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