Known for her technical mastery, organizational discipline and artistic flair, Chef Sarah Helzer has cultivated a career that spans some of the country’s most demanding kitchens—without ever losing sight of the importance of flavor, elegance and hospitality.
A nationally recognized pastry chef and consultant, Chef Helzer is one of the tasting candidates for the 2025 U.S. National Selection for the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, the world’s most prestigious pastry competition. For her, this is not just a moment of personal achievement, but a culmination of years spent refining foundational techniques while embracing contemporary demands for creativity, dietary flexibility and sustainability.
Chef Helzer is currently based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where she works as both executive pastry chef for The Nomadic Table and Primrose and as an independent consultant. She specializes in seasonal menus, petite pastries and custom desserts that reflect the ingredients of the region. Her work is as much about mentorship and infrastructure as it is about sweets: she advises on kitchen layouts, trains pastry staff, and leads clients through tastings designed to refine ideas into refined executions.
Before setting roots in the Rockies, Helzer’s pastry pedigree was formed under the rigorous discipline of a three-year apprenticeship at The Greenbrier Inn in West Virginia. There, under the guidance of Executive Pastry Chef Jean-François Suteau, she immersed herself in the classical canon: entremets, chocolate bonbons, petit gâteau, pastillage, and elaborate showpieces in both sugar and chocolate. Her apprenticeship concluded with a 10-hour live pastry competition judged by culinary luminaries Chefs Nathaniel Reid and Sylvain Leroy—a fitting precursor to the competitive stage she now finds herself on.
Image: Sarah Helzer/Instagram
She remained at The Greenbrier as assistant executive pastry chef, overseeing production for large-scale events and managing a team of more than 30. It was an early introduction to the pressures of high-volume execution, budget management and leadership—skills that would later prove invaluable in fine dining environments.
Her resume reads like a tour of America’s culinary operations. At The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chef Helzer developed plated desserts and café pastries for high-end clientele. At the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, she worked as cake artist sous chef, designing wedding and custom cakes while managing the resort’s cake studio. At Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, she contributed to both daily service and major banquet productions, all while refining her collaborative approach in a fast-paced setting.
Each stop was a building block: a new challenge in scale, creativity or logistics. But it was back in Colorado where Helzer appears to have found a balance between culinary innovation and grounded hospitality.
Image: Sarah Helzer/Instagram
At Sauvage, a fine dining restaurant in Steamboat Springs where she served from 2020 to 2022, Chef Helzer designed bread programs, plated desserts, and private event menus. She embraced local produce, emphasized dietary accommodations, and created custom experiences that went beyond the plate. Her collaborative work with sommeliers to create dessert and wine pairings reflects not just technical skill, but an ability to see pastry as part of a larger sensory narrative.
That holistic mindset now drives her consulting practice. Whether sketching cake designs or assembling sugar decor, Chef Helzer works with intention—each element calibrated to the guest, the setting and the moment. She emphasizes staff training, streamlined production workflows and clean, efficient kitchen environments. It’s a vision that appeals as much to restaurateurs as it does to wedding clients.
Her style is marked by a quiet confidence rather than spectacle. “Known for her technical precision and collaborative spirit,” reads her official biography, and those who’ve worked alongside her often cite her composure and clarity in even the most intense culinary environments.
Image: Sarah Helzer/Instagram
Now, with the 2025 Coupe du Monde National Selection ahead, Chef Helzer stands among the country’s top pastry chefs. The stakes are high. But in many ways, she’s been preparing for this her entire career—from her early days baking viennoiserie at Walt Disney World to perfecting bonbons at The Greenbrier.
As she crafts tasting menus that may represent the United States on the world stage, Chef Helzer remains rooted in her core values: precision, creativity, and respect for the craft.
For pastry professionals, aspiring chefs and clients alike, Chef Sarah Helzer represents a model of what’s possible when culinary excellence is pursued with humility, discipline and vision.
The Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie Team USA is supported by an esteemed group of partners. Valrhona serves as the organization’s main founder and platinum partner, joined at that level by Truffly Made and Gourmet Foods International. Gold partners include Midwest Global Imports, Paul Strabbing and AUI. Silver partners are Dobla, Nielsen-Massey Vanillas and Chef Rubber, while Paris Gourmet, The Pastry Depot and King Arthur Baking Company serve as bronze partners. Koerner Company and St. Michel are allied partners, and Chef Works | Bragard is the exclusive provider of chef wear for Team USA.
The 2025 U.S. National Selection is scheduled for Sept. 6 at the Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute in Chicago, as part of the Chicago Baking & Pastry Forum. The forum, running from Sept. 4 to 6, offers culinary professionals and enthusiasts opportunities for education and networking. Tickets for the event—and to witness Team USA’s National Selection—are available through Eventbrite.