Marie Sanderson
Head of Pastry
Growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, Marie left school at 15 to attend Culinary School, following her passion for cooking, particularly desserts.
While at Culinary school, Marie completed her apprenticeship at the oldest Michelin restaurant in Copenhagen, Kong Hans Kælder. During this time, Marie was awarded the gold medal for the best apprentice in Denmark, an accolade that allowed her to meet the Queen of Denmark.
Over the past 22 years, Marie has worked for some of the best chefs at world-renowned restaurants, including Kong Hans Kælder as a Commis Chef and later as Head of Pastry. Marie was Head of Pastry at Sølyst, a Royal shooting club that held events for the royal family. During her time at Michelin starred restaurant Ensemble, Marie gained the opportunity to work at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck in England as a Chef de Partie with a period in the chocolate room, and worked closely with Heston during the filming of the Feast program. This was a pivotal moment in Marie’s life professionally and personally was working for Heston Blumenthal, exposing her to an innovative and unique professional kitchen, and it is where she also met her husband Adam, with the pair now having three beautiful children.
In 2011, Marie and her family moved to Melbourne, where she worked at Cutler and Co, the Builders Arms Hotel, and Bistro Guillaume. Deciding on a change of scenery, moving to the Peninsula brought Marie to Ten Minutes by Tractor before taking on the role as Head of Pasty at Pt. Leo Estate.
When crafting a dessert, the most important element to Marie is balance, considering the whole dish and how each flavour profile interacts rather than the isolated components. It is no surprise that Marie is particularly passionate about chocolate, and enjoys working with Valrhona chocolate, as-well-as small-batch producers like Italian brand Amedei and local Cuveé Chocolate. Using unusual flavour combinations or parts of fruits or plants that are often discharged as waste, as-well-as nature and the seasons, inspire and fuel Marie’s creativity. When the season calls on the Peninsula, Marie will go wild blackberry picking as a family with her children, returning home to bake with the berries. A considerable part of Marie’s Danish heritage is bread making, and when baking for her children at home Marie will mill her own organic flour.