An award-winning pastry chef and author of two cookbooks. “The Wine Lover’s Dessert Cookbook” – Recipes and Pairings for the Perfect Glass of Wine, Mary’s first cookbook was released September 2005. “Savory Baking” will release October 2009, both published by Chronicle Books.

Mary’s dynamic career has taken her into the nation’s finest kitchens, including Charlie Trotter’s, where she served as pastry chef for two years helping the Chicago restaurant raise its level of excellence from a 3-star to a 4-star rated restaurant. She was the opening pastry chef for both the five-diamond resort Grand Wailea in Maui and the famed Cypress Club Restaurant in San Francisco.

Mary has won prestigious recognition twice as one of the “Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America” by Chocolatier magazine and was named “Pastry Chef of the Year” by Chefs in America.

After overseeing the pastry program for more than 40 restaurants for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises in Chicago, Mary was recruited by the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park to be among a select opening team of five instructors to launch the CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley. Considered one of the nation’s top teachers in pastry arts, Mary helped design the CIA-Greystone curriculum and taught all pastry courses at the Napa Valley campus prior to embarking on a career as a consultant in Asia with the USDA, teaching for home chefs across the nation, and writing her cookbooks.

Mary’s achievements include five first-place awards and “Best of Show” in the NYC Annual Salon of Culinary Arts competition; a presentation of her desserts at the James Beard House; and an integral team member representing the United States at the La Coupe du Monde World Cup of Pastry Competition in 1991.

As a part of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the Western Trade Association’s initiative in Asia, Mary has traveled to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and China serving as chef representative, teaching pastry arts and assisting in developing the Asian baking industry. Mary’s recipes have been featured in numerous publications including Bon Appetit, Chocolatier, Art Culinaire, Veggie Life, Cooking Smart and in several cookbooks.

Mary Cech is among the nation’s highest acclaimed pastry arts instructors for both professional and home chefs. Formerly Mary served as director of Baking and Pastry for Cook Street School of Fine Cooking in Denver, Colorado where she taught and worked on her first cookbook with co-author Jennie Schacht. Moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mary taught locally at Santa Fe Community College and continued to grow her travel teaching circuit by teaching at Draeger’s - Menlo Park, San Mateo, CA; Sur La Table - Portland, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Utah; Publix Market - Tampa, Sarasota FL; A Southern Season – Chapel Hill, NC; Central Market – Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Ft Worth, Dallas, TX; Lets Get Cooking – Phoenix, AZ; Les Gourmettes – Westlake, CA; Las Cosas School of Cooking and Santa Fe Cooking School, both in Santa Fe, NM.

Mary and her husband now live and work fulltime in beautiful Park City, Utah while working at Dakota Mt. Lodge (Waldorf Astoria property) and getting a degree in nutrition.