Do you follow? Rebecca Marshman-Eynon
Follow @rebeccamrondeau
Only customers of London’s Coutts Bank get to taste Rebecca’s exquisite pastries.
As Head Pastry Chef, she explains what excites her at work: “I love how technical pastry is. You can have fun with flavours. But it’s also meticulous. It’s a balancing act: every ingredient must be just right.”
Rebecca uses ingredients from Coutts’ urban rooftop garden: “We grow strawberries, rhubarb, mint and more. We even have beehives.
My inspiration
“My Dad loved cooking. He was a passionate amateur, with hundreds of cookery books. He was a plumber by trade, but at home there was always something bubbling away, some new stock or sauce he was trying out.
“My mum gave me the best pastry tips ever, including never to get flour on your palms! Only use your fingertips when combining the butter and flour for the lightest shortcrust pastry.”
My career
After an apprenticeship at Westminster Kingsway College, Rebecca jumped into the hospitality deep end at Rules, London’s oldest restaurant, in Covent Garden. “I was given ‘official hours’ at first, but quickly I was given double shift after double shift. They probably thought I couldn’t hack it. But I managed it!”
She also won the Craft Guild of Chefs Apprentice of the Year while working at the London Hilton Hotel Park Lane at just 17. This was one of the stepping stones that led her to become Head Pastry Chef at the Wimbledon All England Tennis Club.
Here she had the opportunity to prepare afternoon tea – her speciality and favourite thing to make. “There are some incredible pastry chefs out there,” she admits. “It’s why Instagram is so cool. I love sharing tips and tricks, my fun inventions and building a community,” she says. “It’s so nice to get comments from people who’ve tried my recipes.”
