WHO IS...

 

Zach Townsend’s relationship with superior chocolate began with his close friendship with Michel Jambon, founder of the European chocolate company,  Jeff de Bruges. Through Monsieur Jambon, Zach cultivated his love of truly fine chocolate. He complemented his self studies with courses in baking and chocolate at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, France and is a graduate of the Ecole Chocolat Professional School of Chocolate Arts.

 

Over the last twenty years, Zach has traveled throughout France exploring the foods of its regions and sampling desserts along the way for inspiration. In 2009, he worked in Paris along side Miyuki Watanabe of Gérard Mulot fame. Since 2006, Zach has been an assistant to the undisputed queen of baking Rose Levy Beranbaum, award winning author of The Cake Bible and other classic books on baking including The Bread Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible. Rose has featured one of Zach’s chocolate desserts in her new book Rose's Heavenly Cakes (Wiley), winner of the 2010 IACP Cookbook of the Year award, in which he was heavily involved with recipe testing and editing.

 

Zach was featured in 2009 by cookbook author and editor Tish Boyle in Dessert Professional Magazine and was the featured chocolatier at the 10th annual Stephan Pyles Celebrity Chef Dinner administered by the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas and was the participating dessert chef at the Forth Worth Chefs for Farmers event in 2010. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Times microblog on the topic of cake as well as a contributing writer to Dessert Professional magazine.

Zach also performs recipe consulting, writing and editing, as well as French to English recipe translations. His French to English translations have appeared in Wine Enthusiast magazine.

 

Zach's desserts have been featured on the menus of Dallas restaurants and have been served to President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. His inspiration comes from the grand chocolate and pastry houses of France combined with his love of selecting the right kind of chocolate to pair with premium ingredients for each of his chocolate desserts. Contact Zach for individual orders or events. 

 

Texas Certified Food Manager and a member of the Fine Chocolate Industry.