Rebecca Freeman

The Climb

Since 2012, Santa Fe’s dessert programs have shown Rebecca Freeman working in contrast: heat against cold, sugar against spice, plated service against pastry case rhythm. Her pastry reads in pairs—brightness with richness, softness with crunch—using familiar formats and pushing them a step off center.

Today

At The Club at Las Campanas, SantaCafé, and Coyote Cafe and Cantina in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rebecca Freeman works across plated dessert, banquet service, breakfast pastry, rolls, and test baking in the same day. That range is part of the discipline of the craft, and she names it plainly: "In one day, I can experience the vastness of baking and pastry." That breadth shows at SantaCafé, where the desserts are built with close attention to balance and finish. The KEY LIME TART is paired with passion fruit cremeux, coconut sorbet, and crispy coconut meringue, pushing tartness against tropical sweetness and crunch. GOOEY BUTTER CAKE comes with pineapple sorbet, vanilla poached pineapple, and butter kumquat sauce, carrying a familiar cake into brighter territory. The OPERA TORTE layers vanilla sponge cake, bittersweet chocolate ganache, candied cocoa nibs, salted caramel, and café de olla whipped ganache. Bittersweet chocolate mousse is lifted by brûléed orange, blood orange gelée, amaretti cookies, and tonka bean ice cream. Across these plates, Freeman works in deliberate counterpoint: cool and warm, creamy and crisp, citrus and cocoa. The desserts land as composed finishes rather than a single note of sweetness.

Signature

Rebecca's signature dishes include toffee date cake, KEY LIME TART, GOOEY BUTTER CAKE, OPERA TORTE, and BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE MOUSSE.

In Their Words “In one day, I can teach a class, design a new plated dessert, plate a banquet, make breakfast pastries, make dinner rolls, and work on a new chocolate chip cookie recipe.” “In one day, I can experience the vastness of baking and pastry.”

Recognition

Rebecca Freeman received National Pastry Chef of the Year (2023).