Roland Mesnier - Roland Mesniers Basic to Beautiful Cakes

I would like to thank the following people for their support and encouragement as I worked through the years to develop my cake baking skills at the White House and began a new career as a cookbook author:

My wife, Martha, for her understanding as I spent so many hours in the White House kitchen and on the road, and for typing and proofing the many pages of this book. Also, my son, George, for his support.

My brother, Jean Mesnier, who introduced me to the pastry world. All my other brothers and sisters for their support: Gabriel Mesnier, Lucien Mesnier, Genevive Guyez, Bernard Mesnier, Serge Mesnier, Ren Mesnier, and Marie Thrse Mesnier.

Great thanks to Sydny Miner, a wonderful editor and advisor.

Thanks to Angela Miller, who has guided me in my second career as a cookbook author.

Lauren Chattman, for her work on Basic to Beautiful Cakes . May we write many more books together.

John Uher and his staff for the incredibly realized cakes, perfectly photographed. You are artists!

Kathie Ness, once again, for sharp-eyed copy editing.

Michelle Rorke and Laura Holmes in editorial at Simon & Schuster; Jackie Seow, of the Simon & Schuster art department; Elizabeth Hayes in publicity. And a special thanks to Deirdre Muller, who is always a pleasure and a great help.

Many thanks to Ted Conklin and the staff of the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, New York. Im always inspired when I visit!

Jack Bishop for his practical advice on writing about baking.

First Ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush, who will always be inspirations to me.

Special thanks to all my colleagues, friends, and supporters: Michel Finel for always sharing ideas; Michel Galand for his friendship and support; Michel and Janet Bus for their hospitality in Sag Harbor.

Many thanks to Yvon Hezard, my great friend and a very talented pastry chef, who gave me a great helping hand in making the cakes for the photo shoot.

Thank you to Mr. Bodo von Alvensleben, former general manager of the Princess Hotel in Bermuda, for encouraging me and making it possible for me to exhibit at the culinary salons in New York City.

I want to also thank the Acadmie de Cuisine and its owners, Franois and Patrice Dionot, and the schools wonderful pastry chef, Mark Ramsdel.

Many thanks once again to Brian Maynard and Justin Newby for the donations from KitchenAid.

I grew up in a rural French town in the 1940s. I was one of nine children; our family didnt have much money. My father worked for the railroad, in the maintenance department. My mother also worked for the railroad: Whenever a train was approaching, a bell would ring in our house; my mother would run out to the tracks that crossed the road where our house stood and close the gates on either side so that the dairy farmers leading their cows across the track from the pasture to the farm for milking four times a day wouldnt be in danger. She did this job seven days a week, from 5:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night, and if she had to leave the house, one of us kids would have to be there to listen for the bell and close the gates.

The house where I grew up had no oven. We bought bread at the village bakery, but we couldnt afford to buy cake there. Maybe three or four times a year on special occasionsa religious confirmation or a brothers return from military servicemy mother would make her famous mocha cake, a simple genoise, with rough flour from the local mill and eggs from our own chickens. She baked it on top of the stove in a covered cast-iron pan. Her buttercream had just three ingredients: pure, rich country butter from the farm next door, confectioners sugar, and coffee, for which she had to scrimp and save. I cannot exaggerate our excitement when she would bring this lopsided but wonderfully fragrant cake to the table. It was her pride to be able to produce, with so few resources, something so delicious. She presented it with much feeling, and was rewarded with our shouts of anticipation and our moans of enjoyment as we savored every bite.

I thought often of those intimate celebratory moments throughout my career, as I tried to create the same excitement and emotion with my desserts, first as a pastry chef in restaurants and hotels throughout Europe and the U.S. and then as White House pastry chef for twenty-five years. Looking back, I have to say that while the spectacular State Dinner desserts I created as tributes to foreign governments were received with admiration, it was the cakes I made to celebrate personal occasionslike birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and weddingsthat elicited the most heartfelt feeling.

At the White House, I made cakes for presidents, their families, and their guestsa disparate group including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Prime Minister Nakasone of Japan, and Bob Hope. Each cake was designed with the guest of honor in mind. In June of 2006 I was called out of retirement to design a birthday cake for George W. Bush, who was turning sixty. I decorated the cake with sugar pieces representing the important places and moments in his life: the house in Midland, Texas, where he was born; his graduation from Yale; a Texas Rangers cap to represent his purchase of the baseball team; the emblem of Austin, where he was governor; and 1600, the number of acres of his ranch and the address of the White House. My longtime assistant Susie Morrison and I wheeled the cake to his table, and I knew it would be the last one I would make for a president. When he studied it, he had tears in his eyes. I felt it was a job well done.

Cakes, Basic to Beautiful

I may have known only one cake as a child, but in my professional life I pride myself on making a new cake to commemorate each occasion, and to do so with ease. I was so lucky with my job at the White House. Unlike most pastry chefs, who produce the same menu items over and over again, maybe changing a few desserts with the seasons, I had no set menu and no fixed repertoire. My work demanded just the oppositeit called for a never-ending stream of new desserts. It was a challenge, but it was also my favorite part of the job. I was always thinking, always learning.