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Pastry Chef Natalie Basarov (center) with her assistant chefs Justine Braden and Nicole Taylor
Why does Devil’s Thumb Ranch {83 Country Road, Tabernash; 970.726.5632} Pastry Chef Natalie Basarov love baking? “It’s controlled chaos,” she says. Unlike manning the line, she gets to plot out her work in advance and escape the grips of the ticket machine that dictates cooks on the line.
But Basarov’s charge at DTR is no small order. As one of just a few full-time pastry chefs operating in the mountains, she prepares 85-percent of the seasonally changing breads and desserts on the menu at three restaurants, two cafés, room service, and for catered functions. Everyday, she bakes fresh cookies for turn-down service. For the Ranch’s daily sleigh rides, she bakes muffins. Come Christmas, she builds a gingerbread house. Oh, and did we mention Basarov and her team of two create 50-60 custom wedding cakes every year?
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Basarov loves decorating cakes and posts her unique creations on Pinterest @devilsthumbrnch (Photo by Devil’s Thumb Ranch)
For Ranch House Restaurant, Basarov deconstructs and rebuilds classics, then plates in avant-garde fashion. Recently, Winter Park magazine challenged Basarov to come up with a dessert for the issue in two days. She dreamt up a tribute to her father Larry, a nod to his birthday dessert tradition: German chocolate cake. She tops a fudgy, dense brownie with coconut ganache, pecan brittle, toasted coconut, and coconut-caramel sauce. The crowning garnish? A pecan dipped in caramelized sugar, and dripped to create a sugar icicle. She dubbed the dessert Sir Lawrence William. “It’s kind of an inside joke,” she says, “since I poke fun at my dad for being regal and a little medieval in demeanor.”
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Basarov’s latest creation for the spring menu at Ranch House Restaurant: a Blueberry Ricotta Cornbread Pudding with basil ice cream, fresh blueberries, and blueberry-basil coulis.
For Heck’s Tavern, Basarov creates more approachable, kid-friendly desserts such as a series of ice cream pies. Right now, she has a Banana Split ice cream pie in the works with a chocolate crust, house strawberry ice cream, fresh bananas, pineapple, chocolate, and peanuts—the works.
There’s a sweet ending to this tale of a pastry chef in the mountains. About a year ago, Basarov “commandeered”—as she put it—the lead banquet chef when she was short-staffed to help her out with a tall bread order. Goran Basarov, who was at the time working at Devil’s Thumb Ranch through a J1 program, had bread-making experience at his family’s bakery back in Macedonia.
The pair immediately became best friends, eventually fell in love, and then married. While he’s still over at banquets, the two still love baking together.
By Maya Silver | Editor
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