Gentry Magazine - Leading By Example:

Anni Golding, Gateau et Ganache's founder/chocolatier /pastry chef, is profiled in Gentry's Annual "Women in Business" issue. To view the digital version of the magazine, follow the link below and turn to page 45. For the text-only version, read on...

THE CHOCOLATIER:ANNI GOLDING PASTRY CHEF AT GATEAU ET GANACHE
by Jennifer Massoni

Anni Golding, pastry chef and owner of Gateau et Ganache, knows her chocolate. And her Tahitian vanilla bean ganache. And her passion fruit bonbons, and, well, you get the idea. Five years ago, however, the then high-tech career woman (with a selfprofessed sweet tooth) simply set out to whip up some Valentine’s Day chocolates for family and friends. “After the first batch, that was it. I was hooked,” Golding says. She promptly enrolled in the Baking and Pastry Program at the Culinary Institute of America, where she put her detail-oriented habits to work with chocolate, which is temperature-conscious and can be as tricky as it is tasty. Golding calls this the “science of chocolate.”

Cakes were her initial focus and Golding started a cake business, appropriately named Gateau. As she played with her chocolate creations a bit more, she added Ganache (French for chocolate and cream filling) to the business and officially started Palo Alto-based Gateau et Ganache in 2004. She doles out fine chocolates and confections with flavors fit for each season. Her two product lines include French-style bonbons and truffles as well as handmade marshmallows, some peppermint and dipped in dark chocolate for the holidays, others fruity pillows of lime, passion fruit, or blackberry. “I’m inspired by the fresh fruit in the area,” she says, which means she’ll use lemons in the spring and coconut and orange in the winter, among some 25 different flavors.

You can find her creative confections carried at local fine markets like Draeger’s, Piazza’s, and Cosentino’s (and online at www.gateauetganache.com). “I like working with the local businesses who have been so supportive,” says Golding, a native Australian, but who’s been a Californian since her college days. She also uses her talents to support the community whenever she can. “I’m insanely lucky I can follow my passion and share. It’s a gift to be a part of people’s happy occasions.” What’s more, these treats truly are “hand-made in Palo Alto.” Golding makes every last one of her bonbons (which take two days to complete) and truffles (which clock in at three), and which she serves up in small batches to savor. “I have no shortage of taste testers in my life. It’s fun to see people try passion fruit for the first time.” Or, organic cinnamon, or star anise, or, well, you get the idea.