Short Cake Biographies
Hourie Sahakian
Recently honored with Zagat's "30 Under 30" award, Pastry Chef Hourie Sahakian is distinguished as one of L.A.'s most promising culinary leaders. Her interest in food started by flipping Porterhouse steaks with her dad at the age of three, crafting delicate Armenian cookies with her grandmother at age five, and preparing elaborate dinners with her mother at ten years old. This passion extended into her adult years, where she found herself experimenting with every type of cookie, cake, custard she could think of. Experimentation quickly developed into a love for creating food that is vibrant in flavor, traditional in style, and continuously innovative.
Every item that comes out of the kitchen of Short Cake reflects Sahakian's style, influenced by the deeply-rooted love and care for food she shared with her family, the technical prowess of her mentor Nancy Silverton, and in honor of the greatest inspiration, the late Amy Pressman.
Today, through Pressman's spirit and Silverton's leadership, Sahakian creates a delicious variety of sweet and savory pastries, cakes, and breakfast and lunch items that celebrate the time-honored traditions of food and friendship.
Amy Pressman
Co-Founder of Short Cake, the late Amy Pressman, fell in love with baking in her Easy Bake Oven at a very early age.
After graduating from the Restaurant School in Philadelphia, Pressman moved to California to pursue her passion for the culinary arts. She began her career managing a group of May Company restaurants and soon after, became the Assistant Pastry Chef at the acclaimed Spago restaurant under Nancy Silverton. The two forged a lifelong friendship both in and out of the kitchen. 
After Spago, Pressman took a position as Pastry Chef at Parkway Grill in Pasadena, however it was just a matter of time before she rejoined Wolfgang Puck and moved to Dallas to consult at the Crescent Court Hotel. Eventually, Pressman found her way back to Los Angeles where she began a wholesale business for her much-loved pastries.
An accomplished chef and restaurateur, Pressman was best known for opening the beloved Pasadena institution, Old Town Bakery, earning her to be known, in many circles, as the most famous chef no one has ever heard of. She was humble and understated, but her passion and talent were evident through and through. As her “swan song” and “happy ending”, opening Short Order and Short Cake with Nancy Silverton represented the culmination of her many years of hard work and dedication to her craft.
Short Cake continues to honor Pressman’s memory through her protégé Hourie Sahakian’s innovative and delicate pastries and desserts, her friend Nancy Silverton’s wisdom and a team dedicated to sharing a culinary passion and craft with the community.