Topic: The World Pastry Cup 2019
Intro: A team of 3 malaysian chefs (Ming Ai Loi - ice carver, Wei Loon Tan - sugar chef and Otto Tay - chocolate chef) recently brought home the trophy and title of World Pastry Champion 2019! Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie is a prestigious international pastry contest that is organised biennially held in Lyon, France.
About the competition
For the past 3 decades, the contest have been exploring innovations and consumer trends.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, for the FIRST TIME in the history of this event; the competitors were challenged to not use any animal products at all to reflect the decline vegan trend in pastry. They have also been given a theme of Nature, Flora and Fauna.
Specifications / Deliverables
Each team with 3 candidates have been allocated 10 hours to produce the following pieces:
3 chocolate dessert with Valrhona vintages
3 frozen fruit dessert from the Capfruit range
3 artistic sculptures made of sugar, chocolate and hydric ice respectively.
According to food ingredient first, vegan cakes can be tricky because the formulation turns out different. Baker technologist, Paul Dean states that egg provides a stable emulsion, structure, stability and texture.
Critique and pastry chef, Ludovic Mercier from the event also shared in order to make up for eggs and other fats in the emulsions, candidates opt to use carrageenans (edible seaweed extract) or xanthan gum, a bacteria that works as a thickening agent.
Additional challenges
On top of that, the competitors faced additional challenges in the competition. The founder, Gabriel Paillasson hopes to shed light on environmental preservation. More specifically, he wanted to use the opportunity of the 30th anniversary to raise awareness on biodiversity and feature the essential role played by bees and pollination. Thus, competitors were required to prepare..
15 identical plated dessert
Each team has to produce 15 identical plated dessert with a biscuit made with honey.
Besides that, he included..
Blown sugar crafting
Candidates have to put aside their sugar moulds and showcase their technical talent by making at least one transparent item that is 25/35cm in blown sugar.
PETA coverage
Non profit organization, PETA has acknowledged and applauded the World Pastry Cup competition’s efforts in exploring vegan pastry. They even shared vegan baking inspirations from PETA’s Great Vegan Bake Off 2018 winner.
Questions host can ask:
If you were in their positions, do you think 10 hours would be sufficient to prepare that many dishes?
What is one of the most challenging recipes you’ve followed?
Vegan patisserie is still a relatively new market in France but vegan/vegetarian desserts have been in Asia for awhile. Have you tried them?
Have you seen the other countries pastries, which is your personal favorite in each category? Why do you like each one?
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