Melinda Wilkins

The Climb

At Terrapin restaurant, pastry chef Melinda Wilkins worked in the daily grammar of the pastry station: folds, finishes, timing, and the discipline needed to keep each element clean. She also worked as a pastry chef creating specialty wedding cakes, where technical control had to carry the weight of celebration and the cake itself had to resolve as both precise work and finished display. Taken together, those roles established the terms of her practice: elegance at the bench, exactness in execution, and desserts that read as composed rather than ornamental. At Cafe Stella, Melinda Wilkins applies that same discipline to pastry that shapes the room without dominating it. In that setting, dessert functions as part of the meal’s structure, not an afterthought, and her work reads as measured, restrained, and deliberate. The effect is a pastry style built on control and clarity, where the finish matters as much as the first impression.

Today

She is associated with Cafe Stella’s Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries. At Cafe Stella, the Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries sits comfortably within Melinda Wilkins’s register: layered, contrasting, and direct. The dessert holds brightness and richness in balance, with enough delicacy to stay light on the plate and enough structure to register as complete. It is consistent with a pastry hand that favors poise over display.

Career - Pastry chef — Cafe Stella, Ghent and downtown Norfolk - Pastry chef — Terrapin restaurant - Pastry chef creating specialty wedding cakes

Signature

Melinda's signature dishes include Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries. As a signature, Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries reflects a pastry approach grounded in assembly, texture, and finish. The name signals layered work rather than excess, and the dessert’s value lies in how those parts are brought together with control. It is the kind of plate that depends on steady composition: present, legible, and finished cleanly.

Recognition

In 2017, Cafe Stella named Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries as one of her creations. That 2017 recognition at Cafe Stella tied Trifle with Pistachio cream and Strawberries directly to Melinda Wilkins’s work, making the dessert part of her record there. It marked authorship in plain terms: a specific creation, named and attributed, and a clear sign of the consistent hand behind her pastry practice.

FAQ What is Melinda Wilkins's current role? What recognition has Melinda Wilkins received? March of Dimes Signature Chef Auction, Best Dessert (2013).