Rachel is a pastry chef and entrepreneur working in San Diego and Orange County, CA. With a degree in Anthropology from UCI, she developed a fascination with the pastry arts in her late 20’s and eventually found her way to the CIA’s Baking & Pastry Program at Greystone, graduating at the top of her class. Working in a bakery and several restaurants, she founded Blackmarket Bakery in 2004 in an industrial space in Irvine.
Building a small business based on wholesale baking & farmers markets, she also taught classes at the kitchen, on subjects ranging from decorated cakes to pasta, from confections to frozen desserts. Years of this lead to a position at Cypress College’s Culinary Arts program, where she taught Intro and Advanced Baking & Pastry for 4 years.
In 2012, Blackmarket Bakery built its first retail store at the eclectic shopping district in Costa Mesa known as "The Camp”. The Blackmarket name was inspired by a WW II era poster about sugar and butter rationing, and still inspires the product line today, namely a focus on flavor and craft built on simple high-quality ingredients.
Over the years, several stores were added, each with their unique personalities, infused with these same original values.
Klemek has also used her culinary acumen and quick wits to be Cake Champion on Chopped (season 43, episode 11). Plus she displayed those skills at a multitude of charity events and fundraisers.
From the deceptively simple creation of a braided Challah to the whimsically eccentric construction of an edible gingerbread Airstream to the management of a small chain of retail locations, Rachel Klemek’s career represents a multifaceted manifestation of her commitment to Baking and Pastry.
