Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado

From Barnes & Noble

Gesine Bullock-Prado was living the enviable life of a Hollywood insider -- and she hated it. As the CEO of her sister Sandra Bullock's production company, she could list the acquisition of Miss Congeniality among her credits and passed muster at dozens of A-list events. But for Gesine, something just didn't fit. Following their hearts, she and her husband moved to Montpelier, Vermont, where far from celebrity shores, they opened their own modest patisserie. Confections of a Closet Master Baker tells the story of Gesine's pastry passion from childhood to full buttery fruition, including all the hit-and-miss baking experiments in between. She also posts an impressive dividend for readers: a cluster of time-tested baking recipes. A baker's friend.

From the Publisher

A former Hollywood insider trades the Hollywood Hills for Green Acres—and lives to tell about it in this hilarious, poignant treat of a memoir.

As head of her celebrity sister’s production company, Gesine Bullock-Prado had a closet full of designer clothes and the ear of all the influential studio heads, but she was miserable. The only solace she found was in her secret hobby: baking. With every sugary, buttery confection to emerge from her oven, Gesine took one step away from her glittery, empty existence—and one step closer to her true destiny. Before long, she and her husband left the trappings of their Hollywood lifestyle behind, ending up in Vermont, where they started the gem known as Gesine Confectionary. And they never looked back. Confections of a Closet Master Baker follows Gesine's journey from sugar-obsessed child to miserable, awkward Hollywood insider to reluctant master baker. Chock-full of eccentric characters, beautifully detailed descriptions of her baking process, ceaselessly funny renditions of Hollywood nonsense, and recipes, the ingredients of her story will appeal to anyone who has ever considered leaving the life they know and completely starting over.

Publishers Weekly

In this terrifically lively account chockfull of elegant, Old World recipes, Bullock-Prado, a former Hollywood film developer and sister to actress Sandra Bullock, recounts the joys and heartbreaks of running her own patisserie in Montpelier, Vt. Having fled the “soul-sucking” routine in Los Angeles with her husband, Ray, for the simpler pleasures of a small town near the Green Mountains, the author opened her own bake shop, Gesine Confectionary, in 2004, mostly on the fame of the macaroons she refashioned from her German mother's favorite almond treat, mandelhoernchen (and the casual mention in an interview her sister did for In Style). Although a law school graduate, Bullock-Prado always relished “playing with sugar, butter, and flour” and concocts an affectionate homage to her mother, who recently died from colon cancer, and grandmother. Her memoir follows one day in a busy baker's life, from waking at three a.m. to prepare the batter (croissants, scones, sticky buns) and bake before opening shop at seven; through the hectic lunch (focaccia); and the three p.m. tea time. In subtly compelling prose, the master baker conveys her touching sense of responsibility for the “emotional needs of [her] patrons,” and offers mouthwatering recipes. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Bullock-Prado chronicles her career change from schmoozing Hollywood production company executive to running a bakery in Montpelier, VT. Living in the shadow of her famous older sister, Sandy, and working with "fame-hungry bores," Bullock-Prado eventually discovered that sugar, butter, and flour could help make her happier. And so she secretly began to bake, eventually opening her own bakery in the Green Mountain State. Between hilarious descriptions of a childhood virtually free of sugar and junk food and biting contempt for the shine of Hollywood, Bullock-Prado writes touchingly of the death of her mother and her relationship with her father. Recipes are a blend of her heritage—German and American—and include German classics such as Mandelhoernchen (almond cookies), American standards, and her own creations—Golden Eggs, a kind of baked doughnut, and Starry Starry Nights, a deep bittersweet chocolate cookie. VERDICT Memoir lovers will find this a lighthearted, entertaining read filled with humor and acerbic wit; foodies will enjoy the insider's view of running a bakery. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/09; a pick at BEA's Librarian's Book Shout and Share program.—Ed.]—Pauline Baughman, Multnomah Cty. Lib., Portland, OR

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