Erika Dupree Cline
Over the past 20 plus years, celebrated pastry chef Erika Cline has crafted some of the country’s most scrumptious desserts and chocolates. Cline’s grand career started in Detroit, Michigan as a pastry cook under the country’s first master chef, Milos Cihelka.
These days, Cline is living in the British Virgin Islands with her own chocolate boutique called Bleu Chocolat. Bleu Chocolat is a bean-to-bar chocolate boutique that has more than five origins of cocoa.In July 2012, Cline opened and developed the chocolate program for Graycliff Chocolatier in Nassau, Bahamas.
Cline was one of the original 2010 contestants on Bravo’s Top Chef: Just Desserts. She has been featured in the Huffington Post, the Pastry Arts Magazine, Afar Travel Magazine, Black Enterprise, and other publications. Cline has also made numerous television cooking appearances and has served as a judge for the Food Network’s Rock n’ Roll Pastry Challenge.
In 2008, Cline created a non-profit organization called Culinary Wonders USA. Culinary Wonders USA’s mission is to introduce, share, and cultivate the culinary arts to minorities. As president of CWUSA, Cline believes that mentoring, scholarships, and volunteerism are all great avenues for providing direction in the culinary world.
Cline’s long-standing motto is "A day is never good without chocolate.”