The food: “The Devil” Chocolate Cake with chocolate ganache & toffee

Where to find it: Craftsman and Wolves Bakery, Mission District, San Francisco, California, USA

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Welcome to another edition of #FoodEntrepreneur Friday, where I serve up an order of international food with a side of guidance for entrepreneurs. Today, I want you to think about grades, and to give yourself an A. Sounds good already, huh?

Here’s a story of how a ‘devilish’ cake can help you create your dream job—your slice of ‘heaven’.¹

Recently I graduated from Draper University, a Silicon Valley school for entrepreneurship that teaches students to strike their own path. Formal rules do not exist at this school. The school administration eradicated grading rubrics from campus. As a straight-A, valedictorian uber nerd who graduated from ‘traditional schools’, this place felt funky at first. Instead of scantron exams, the school tests students on their own merit—on their own business ideas, which we pitched to a panel of venture capitalists as a ‘final exam.’

Our society starves for this type of innovative education system. Famous music conductor and teacher Benjamin Zander gives all of his students an A on the first day of class. In years past, he felt tired of seeing anxious conservatory students take the safe approach to their music education in order to get the all-holy ‘A-grade’. Instead, he threw down a challenge. Students would write what they would do to earn that A-grade in the year to come. In detail they’d explain the story of the person they would become, the challenges they’d tackle and the worldview they’d gain from the experience. ‘Give yourself an A’—the practice created countless successful students who set out to achieve their A-grade and their dreams.

A few months ago, I witnessed ‘A-level’ material in a bakery.

Marching down the immaculate serving tray, a row of mini chocolate cakes lined up in full force and glory. Capped with chocolate ganache and toffee, they embodied uniformed soldiers ready for a battle of the tastebuds. As a food-lover I felt both intrigued and intimidated. The perfection in each chocolate tower weighed upon me. I could never create something so beautiful as this. Sure, I can cook, but precision and sell-your-soul sacrifices go into baking this ‘devil’ of a cake. I’m not worthy. Craftsman and Wolves bakery may only be a year old as of this writing, but it has already nabbed GQ Magazine’s 6th spot for “50 Best Things to Eat & Drink.” As a foodie who has set out to pursue his young career in his passion for food, this level of perfection intimidates me. How can I gain on the ganache and topple this toffee?

But then I snapped out of that subservient funk and realized I play in an entirely different classroom from Craftsman and Wolves. I don’t bake. I deem my cooking ‘decent.’ No, I’m a filmmaker, photographer and storyteller. I have different lessons to learn.

I’m creating a documentary series about food entrepreneurs. With myself, my venture and my documentary team, this 2014 I will give all of us an ‘A’. In other words, I will give us a challenge. We will peer into the future and think about what we would do to earn an ‘A’ for our work on the documentary series. We’ll move towards challenges with gusto and enthusiasm². We’ll consider how we want to change our worldview—and, better yet—others’ worldview of food entrepreneurs and life, in general.

Food is created by more than the celebrity chefs. Yet, that’s all they show on the popular food entertainment networks. Food entrepreneurs are like my friend Daniel who aspires to create a modest, down-to-earth Michelin star restaurant in northern California. They’re like my friend Gloria, the poultry queen of Spain. Or my Vietnamese host, Thoi, the water distributor of a hot and thirsty Vietnam. Food entrepreneurs usually serve your meal everyday and get very little of the credit. When was the last time Martha Stewart made the milk in your cereal?

Whether you’re a chef, a baker or a filmmaker, you can give yourself an A. Each person, each (food) entrepreneur and each teammember has a dream to chase and lessons they want to learn along the way. Unlike, say, baking a perfect chocolate cake, there’s no recipe for achieving your own version of an A-grade. So I say, if you want to be more entrepreneurial for 2014 and beyond, then give yourself an A so that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Craftsman and Wolves used to stuff “The Devil” chocolate cake with foie gras before California banned it in 2012. Even this bakery broke traditional baking rules, recipes and rubrics to make this perfect chocolate cake.

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¹ My dream job is hosting and creating TASTE with Kevin Longa, a documentary series that will feature the stories of food entrepreneurs. To stay up to date on the series, like our facebook page. And if you’re a food entrepreneur and you feel like you have a story to share with the documentary series, then please fill out this email form. A ‘food entrepreneur’ is anyone who dares to create with food: from an aspiring chef to a global food enterpriser.

² The ‘gusto and enthusiasm’ line comes from the “Superhero Oath,” which we Draper University students pledge each morning before class. See the entire oath below.

Superhero Oath

(Recited each morning by students of Draper University)

I will promote freedom at all costs.

I will do everything in my power to drive, build and pursue progress and change.

My brand, my network, and my reputation are paramount.

I will set positive examples for others to emulate.

I will instill good habits in myself. I will take care of myself.

I will fail and fail again until I succeed.

I will explore the world with gusto and enthusiasm.

I will treat people well.

I will make short-term sacrifices for long term success.

I will pursue fairness, openness, health and fun with all that I encounter. Mostly fun.

I will keep my word.

I will try my best to make reparations for my digressions.

The Black Swan Clause: I am bound to this oath unless in my travels I determine that the oath has somehow missed something important and extraordinary.

The Evangelism Clause: I will promote and add to the ongoing success of Draper University, its students, its faculty, its administration, and its facilities. I will help prepare the next generation of Superheroes.

The Superhero Clause: I will accept the lifelong obligation to hone my Superhero powers, and apply those Superhero powers to the good of the universes.

³ Write drunk. Edit sober. That’s the advice writers always provide. Or at least after a titanic Thanksgiving meal, I’d say I’m writing ‘stuffed,’ and I won’t have remaining energy to edit sober. Either way, you can say that I have a tendency to speak from the gut after any satisfying meal—no pun intended. And today’s #FoodEntrepreneur Friday blog post definitely came straight from there.