White House promotes first woman to executive pastry chef

WASHINGTON -- For the first time, a female chef is in charge of dessert at the White House.

Michelle Obama's office says Susan Morrison is taking over as executive pastry chef after helping make presidential sweets for nearly two decades.

Morrison will create desserts for all White House social events, including the Gingerbread White House that will be on display during the holidays.

She is the seventh White House executive pastry chef. The previous six were men.

She started at the White House in 1995 as a contractor from the Ritz-Carlton in McLean, Virginia, and was hired as an assistant White House pastry chef in 2002.

The White House says Morrison has a special interest in honey production and will continue to tend the White House bee hive.