Under the bright lights at a local television studio, Malka Espinel blushed and smiled downward when the bubbly host introduced her as ``a premier pastry chef.''

It wasn't her first time cooking on TV or being complimented for her work, but, like many pastry chefs, the modest Espinel just isn't used to much attention.

''In pastry, we like to work quietly, in our own little spaces,'' she said. ``We're not loud and crazy like other chefs are.''

Espinel has created desserts the past 11 years for chef Johnny Vinczencz at Johnny V in Fort Lauderdale and the recently opened Smith & Jones a few blocks east on Las Olas Boulevard. She fuses tastes from her Colombian upbringing with classic recipes to create dishes like the three-berry crème brulée that's a popular seller at Johnny V.

''Malka has the South Florida regional cuisine down to a science, which is what she has to do as a pastry chef because the recipes require precision,'' Vinczencz said. ``I'm the kind of cook who just goes into the kitchen, throws things together and wings it. You can't do that in pastry.''

As painstaking as it is, dessert making remains a low-profile craft in the celebrity-focused world of fine dining.

''Pastry chefs don't get the same kind of attention as regular chefs,'' says Brooklyn pastry chef Dalia Jurgensen, whose new book, Spiced (Penguin, $24.95) gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life on the sweet side of the kitchen.

''I think it might be a function of a more abbreviated menu,'' Jurgensen says. ``Everyone orders an entree, but not everyone orders a dessert. Sometimes it's frustrating, but I think we all just want to put out really good food.''

Jurgensen, who quit an office job to attend culinary school, dishes in her book about her struggles to gain footing in the frat house-like environment of a kitchen, including her fling with a Nobu waitress and a longer relationship with an executive chef. She also recounts the many hours and countless smeared plates it took for her to perfect writing ''Happy Birthday'' in chocolate.

''Many people have the wrong idea about pastry, that it's all cookies and cupcakes and decorating birthday cakes,'' says Joel Lahon, the French-born pastry chef who recently left Nobu in Miami Beach for a job in Mexico City.

``It's not only that. Many people don't see the physical job: the long hours, always standing up, no weekends, no Christmas vacation or New Year's Eve.''

Like their culinary counterparts, pastry chefs are trying to push the envelope, away from the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake and Key lime pies to more adventurous combinations of sweet and savory.

Jurgensen makes a bacon-almond brittle to complement her homemade toasted-almond ice cream. Espinel churns her own peanut-butter-and-jelly ice cream. Lahon put his own spin on Nobu's signature bento box dessert.

''There is a passion about this job,'' he says. ``And for me that means trying to always get better.''

In South Florida, where every day could be a bikini day, pastry chefs face a particular challenge, says Hedy Goldsmith, pastry chef at Michael's Genuine Food and Drink in Miami and the grande dame of South Florida pastry.

''You have to mix it up -- a rich dessert with lots of fresh, local fruit,'' says Goldsmith, whose repertoire includes a tangerine pot de creme with blackberry-basil marmalade and hot doughnuts.

``The body-conscious are happiest while believing they are eating something light and healthy.''

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