Hello, and welcome! I’m a Salt Lake City-based food writer, recipe developer, and food photographer with over 12 years of professional culinary experience. Below you’ll find a little more about me and my work, or you can always jump to a specific section of my portfolio to learn more:
Food Writing // Food Photography // Food Videos // Video Courses with Craftsy // My Book
Elizabeth LaBau is a pastry chef by training, but she chose to leave the bustling restaurant world in order to share her dessert recipes with a broader audience. She brings her culinary training and years of professional restaurant experience to all of her work, crafting recipes that are creative, fun, modern, and most importantly, aspirational but accessible.
Her award-winning dessert blog, SugarHero, was founded in 2012 and has quickly become a premiere online destination for dessert lovers seeking recipe inspiration and drool-worthy photographs. In just a few short years, SugarHero has received millions of visitors, been named a Best Baking Blog by Better Homes & Gardens, and has been featured in many national publications, including Food & Wine magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Kitchn, and ProBlogger. SugarHero has successfully partnered with food brands such as KitchenAid, Ghirardelli, Whole Foods, Kraft, Godiva, and many others, to feature their products in original recipes.
In addition to her work with SugarHero, Elizabeth is also a cookbook author, on-camera instructor, freelance food writer, and brand ambassador. She has been the Candy Expert at About.com for 10 years, she has released two dessert video classes with Craftsy, and her cookbook, The Sweet Book of Candy Making, has been translated into five other languages. Across all of her projects and platforms, she is passionate about teaching everyone to become a sugar hero in their own kitchen.
I attended culinary school and got my start as a pastry chef in Los Angeles, working in many of the city’s top restaurants and bakeries. While working at a famous bakery called Sweet Lady Jane, I took a side job writing about candy for About.com. I didn’t know it at the time, but this little part-time job would change the entire course of my career. From my work at About.com, I learned that I loved writing about and photographing food, and using my culinary training to develop new and innovative recipes.
Over the course of many years, I transitioned out of professional restaurants and became a full-time culinary consultant. This means that I do a bit of everything related to food: I develop recipes for companies using their ingredients, style and shoot food photographs, write cookbooks, articles, newsletters and blog posts, maintain my dessert blog, SugarHero, shoot and edit videos, and the list goes on! I’ve got my fingers in a lot of pies…but only metaphorically speaking. I adore what I do and feel so lucky to have a job that allows me to work with amazing companies, express my creativity, and eat delicious food!
On the personal side, I’m married with one adorable son, and we’ve recently relocated from California to Salt Lake City. I love being active, and my favorite sports are boxing, running, roller skating, and hiking in the gorgeous Utah mountains. I never know how to answer the question, “What’s your favorite dessert?” because truly, if it contains sugar, I’m guaranteed to love it.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to discuss ways we can work together. I look forward to making your product look, sound, and taste amazing.