At new Carnegie bakery Coco's, a corporate worker ditches paperwork for patisserie

A former communications professional has swapped the corporate world for early starts and baker's whites, opening an artisan bakery in Carnegie, an area where Katherine Marks says hand-crafted bread and pastries are in short supply.

"I literally said to my husband that if I won the lottery and didn't have to work, I'd love to open a patisserie," says the baking enthusiast.

Marks opened Coco's Patisserie in January and has won over locals with berry danishes, brown butter baked cheesecake, chocolate-walnut babka and more.

She spent most of 2021 at TAFE doing a certificate in patisserie and working casually in a couple of bakeries while also managing her day job in strategic communications at Red Cross Life Blood. "It sounds insane," she says.

Finding the site for Coco's last October, literally across the road from her house, was the final piece of the puzzle.

She acknowledges that she hasn't won the lottery and is now working seven days, with help from her three daughters, but adds: "I absolutely get a buzz every time the oven goes whoosh."

Head pastry chef, Kane Neale, previously worked at Vue Group as an executive chef and brings both sweet and savoury training to the role.

"They're at the top of their game," she says of her team. "I'm really the junior. I'm the apprentice."

Neale's experience will come in handy as the menu expands to include more savoury dishes, such as soups and pies, that can be enjoyed in the 16-seat venue.

Toasted sandwiches, including roast chicken and pickled cabbage, are proving popular and a lamington with seven layers of house-made raspberry jam, cream and sponge might become a signature. Coffee is by Industry Beans.

Open daily, 7am-3pm

88 Koornang Road, Carnegie, 0407 114 362, cocospatisserie.com.au