Tatiana Vorobej, Ottawa pastry chef

Years in the industry: 27

Inspiration: “I’m half German and half Russian so I grew up always having home baked stuff—the fire was ignited in me fairly young.” She began helping out with baking projects in the home at 8 or 9, burnt her first gingerbread house when she was 10, and ‘never looked back.” She also demonstrated an entrepreneurial streak from a young age, baking cookies and cupcakes at home as a teenager to make money.

Career highlights: While at the Four Seasons hotel in Ottawa, she played a role in creations served to Pierre Trudeau, Paul Martin, Jean Chretien, Adrienne Clarkson, Princess Margaret, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. She began entering competitions when she was 18: “It was the only way to gain respect. The attitude at the time was that women couldn’t handle the heat and physicality of a kitchen but many men can’t either!”

From 1994 to February 2008, Vorobej ran Cakes by Tatiana, a bakery on Ottawa’s Bank Street, and was praised as ‘the dernier cri of wedding cakes’ in the National Post. She has now sold the business to focus on freelance baking projects and teaching, either in private sessions, or in classes at local schools. She makes semi-regular appearances on A-Channel Ottawa, and is chairperson of the Ontario Industry Committee for Baker/Patissier, where she is advocating allowing apprentices to begin training at the high school level.

Education and training: Vorobej was entirely self-taught when she landed an apprenticeship in the early 1980s at the Four Seasons Hotel in Ottawa under Roger Stephenson, who had just arrived from Buckingham Palace. “He subscribed to the ‘do it right the first time’ school. We did everything from scratch, and I swear he had eyes in the back of his head.”

After 6 years, she entered Algonquin College’s baking program to get a grasp on the technical and theoretical aspects of baking that she hadn’t picked up on the job. She is also Red Seal qualified.

Why pastry: “I’ve never had any desire to do cuisine.” She believes pastry is more artistic/creative, and allows a chef to have more control. Paraphrased from her answers: pastry involves more science, like chemical reactions, and requires more thinking ahead, rather than being reactive as in cuisine. She says she can always tell if a chef has had formal training in theory by seeing how that person reacts to a piece that doesn’t work out as planned—is there an attempt to analyze where it went wrong, and thought about how to do it better next time around. That’s part of why she has consistently allowed apprentices and Cordon Bleu students doing their stages into her kitchen, and why she is so adamant that access to formal chef training should be expanded. She’s hoping to teach a ‘Sugar as Art’ course at the Ottawa School of Art this fall.

Challenges: “Nothing ever burns in my kitchen, but cream and I have been at odds ever since my apprenticeship days.”

Role models: “Any chef that believes in a ‘from scratch’ policy using only all natural ingredients blended with passion and finesse gets my vote.”

Work-life balance: Part of the reason she left the Four Seasons chain two decades ago was to stop working 12-14 hour days. She takes time to travel abroad, to seek out new flavours and inspirations, and loves books, films, and art.

Favourite creation: “It has yet to be made... any good artist will always tell you that it’s around the next corner. That being said, I did a piece once that required me to replicate a Klimt painting with a very dark nature. I got a tremendous amount of joy from that as I had just come back from Vienna having seen many original Klimts and Schieles—two of my favourites.”

Long term plans: To write a book, and to continue baking forever. “I plan to be buried with my spatula, a fair sized chunk of Belgian chocolate and my favourite pastry book.”

Sharing with FoodConnect: Tatiana says anyone can learn to bake. Test out her theory with her recipes.

Poached Pear Anise Torte

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Praline Crunch

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