Pastry Chef Emily Benson
A Sweet Journey
story by KATE PARDEE HAMILTON photos by SUSAN DELOACH
Feasting your eyes on Emily Benson’s pastry Instagram photos, you are immediately engaged. Can something so beautiful taste as good as it looks? The answer is yes. Emily is a talented pastry chef and a confectionary wizard.
Emily’s culinary journey began in the kitchen of her hometown in Vancouver, Washington, where, alongside her grandmother, Cecelia Riehl, and Mom, Linda Benson, she’d spend hours baking—and loving every minute of it.
“My grandma grew up poor and learned to bake with only materials she could afford,” Emily says. “She didn’t even measure, but she had the touch, and everything was delicious.” Emily fondly states, “One of my favorite memories is going and picking strawberries, and making homemade strawberry ice cream. Still, when creating something, I think of my grandmother.”
Academia, however, was a different story. “It was a struggle,” Emily says. Until her junior year of high school, she was fortunate enough to enroll in a magnet program at a neighboring public high school. In addition to the core curriculum, the school offered vocational courses. Emily would spend a portion of the day in the culinary program. While she learned techniques and skills, she also discovered the science of baking.
In high school, Emily’s first job was working with her sisters, Sarah and Rachel, at a local bagel shop in her hometown of Washington. Although there was sibling rivalry, it revved up her career aspirations. “I wanted to experience it all,” she says, adding, “the good, the bad, and everything in between.”
Awakening in the kitchen, Emily began to focus: “At that time, baking was the only thing I enjoyed and was good at. I liked cooking, but my real passion was the pastry side. Some people call it my obsession,” Emily says with a laugh.
With the support of her program mentors during high school, Emily entered the Washington statewide baking contest, where her eclairs placed first in the competition. She then went on to have her pastry awarded one of the top ten in the Nationals. “I fortunately did very well winning and placing, which helped me financially plan for college and start the long road to where I am now,” she humbly says.
Emily was awarded scholarships to the New England Culinary Institute, Johnson and Wales, and the Culinary Institute of America. She decided to attend the New England Culinary Institute (NECI) in Vermont. “I didn’t know when I went to college that I wanted to be a pastry chef. I honestly didn’t even know what being a chef was. That title comes with so much more than just being able to throw a handful of ingredients together. It is something that is taught and experienced over time.”
During college, Emily also had a Caribbean internship in Tortola to work at Road Town Bakery. “It was the first time I left the country and the first time I was working in a real bakery and learning too. The owner’s name was Jonathon Highfield, and he was incredibly talented with bread.”
After graduation in 2008, Emily moved back to Seattle, Washington, to work with Tom Douglas, who had an incredible culinary empire of restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. “I was a pastry cook, not earning the title of pastry chef yet, with him; it was my hardest job ever. The most demanding mentally and physically, I still was limited in experience and was now in the real culinary professional world. My ego was a bit too big, and I was quickly put in my place and grounded. I learned the most during this time and from this position.”
Next was a move to Nantucket Island to become the executive pastry chef at the exclusive Nantucket Golf Club for three years. She then went on to work and manage Petticoat Row Bakery and was the pastry chef at the Cru Oyster Bar. She continued working with Nantucket Island Resorts at the Wauwinet Resort in her well-earned role as the pastry chef.
She had never experienced living in the South and had plans to move to Charleston, South Carolina, but saw an ad for a local bakery in Beaufort. “I bought a plane ticket, and that was that.” She started work at the Herban Market and Cafe in Beaufort.
Settling into Beaufort with her son, Elijah, Emily continued to enjoy it all. Her role as pastry chef thrived, and she also focused on her photography on the Herban Market and Cafe’s Instagram account.
Emily reminds herself, “Baking is all about being precise and is a science. I am very OCD, which helps, and I love it.” Does she now have a favorite thing she likes to bake? “I love everything I make and get overly excited about it all.”
She feels great inspiration from celebrated pastry chefs. There is Joanne Chang, owner of Flour Bakery in Boston, MA. “I have so much respect for how she creates her pastry. It is not overly fancy, but you can feel from her what I hope I bring to the table; it is made simply with so much love.” She also respects her customers: “When someone is gracious enough to buy one of my pastries, I hope they are genuinely happy.”
Emily also wants to continue growing as a business owner and pastry chef. “I want to go to Europe. I believe they do so much with their cooking in a traditional, old-fashioned way. I want to collaborate with people, but I also want to keep concentrating on photography.”
“I just want to keep growing. I think sometimes people get a kick out of my fixation on the culinary world and all that it entails. There’s just so much. I love reading cookbooks, but I usually just use them for inspiration. I have hundreds of them and tend to read them more like novels.”
Besides her love of cooking, she has another great love: her 13-year-old son, Elijah. Together, they explore Hunting Island and ride bikes; he is a talented artist too. We have to ask whether he also loves cooking. Emily says with a smile. “Elijah will either become a fabulous chef or never want to step in a kitchen again. I like hanging out with him if I am not in the kitchen. He is one cool kid.”
Elijah then joins us. Sitting in the closed, empty restaurant on a Sunday— Herban Market and Cafe—you can see in his quiet smile how proud he is of his mother as she speaks about her career and many accomplishments. Elijah knows he is part of her journey. When asked why he likes being in the kitchen with his Mom, he simply says, “I just like cooking with her.” Their connection is steadfast.
It is another beautiful Beaufort day, and it is time for this Mother and Son to enjoy their Sunday together. We look forward to following Emily Benson’s sweet journey and know it will be a delicious trip for all of us.
