About me
I am Tanya Novak, pastry chef and author of the Tannov Pastry Journal.
For more than twenty years, I have worked with pastry, cakes, chocolate and recipe development. Today I bring that work together through TANNOV and Art Bakery & Gourmet.
I begin with flavour, not decoration.
I want every cake to make sense when you eat it. Appearance matters, but it comes after flavour, texture and balance. Fruit should retain its acidity and character. Chocolate should taste unmistakably of chocolate. Creams should feel light enough for the composition around them. Sweetness should support the ingredients rather than cover them.
That is how I approach both cakes and recipes: technique matters when it makes the dessert taste, feel or work better.
Education
Classical training gave me the language of pastry.
I graduated with the Le Cordon Bleu Grand Diplôme, where classical French technique became the foundation of the way I think about pastry. I later continued developing my chocolate work through the Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Belgium.
That training taught me to ask why a recipe works. When I understand how temperature, water, sugar, fat and proteins are behaving, I can make a deliberate change instead of guessing.
Professional kitchens
Restaurant discipline changed the way I work.
I worked in the pastry team at J’AIME by Jean-Michel Lorain in Bangkok and also worked at Maxim’s. Professional kitchens taught me that a good recipe is not enough. It has to be repeatable, organised, stable and precise under real service conditions.
That discipline still shapes my work. I look at the whole dessert: the formula, method, temperatures, resting time, storage, finishing and how it behaves when it reaches the guest.
Teaching & development
Explaining pastry made me understand it more deeply.
My professional work has included teaching pastry technique to chefs internationally. Teaching forces you to go beyond instructions: you need to explain what is happening, why a method works and what changes when one variable moves.
That is also how I approach recipe development. I am interested in causes, not just outcomes — why a ganache breaks, why a mousse becomes dense, why a laminated dough loses definition, or why a fruit preparation needs a particular pectin rather than another.
Art Bakery & Gourmet
Building a pastry business in Spain.
I am a co-founder of Art Bakery & Gourmet, where my work extends from individual cakes and desserts to product development, kitchen standards and the creative direction of the pastry range.
Art Bakery is where many of my ideas meet the practical reality of daily production. Ingredients have to perform consistently. Recipes have to work for the team. Desserts have to travel, hold, serve well and still taste the way I intended.
Tannov Pastry Journal
I explain the decisions a recipe often leaves out.
In the Tannov Pastry Journal, I share recipes, formulas, ingredient behaviour, temperatures and ways to solve common pastry problems. My aim is simple: you should understand what to do and why it works.
I write in the first person because I want the advice to feel clear and accountable. When I give a temperature, method or ingredient choice, I also explain what could make me change it. When guidance comes from a manufacturer or technical study rather than my own formula, I say so.
Current work
My work today
My made-to-order cakes are currently based in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. TANNOV is where I share the recipes, techniques and practical pastry guidance that can be useful wherever you work.