Japan took home the win from the Pastry World Cup, also referred to as Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie . Yes, you heard that right, we’re referring to baking- not the soccer world cup. The Pastry World Cup has been around for 36 years ,with 18 countries participating in it each year.
Each year revolves around a different theme, with this year’s being “National Heritage”. Each team was instructed to craft a pastry based around it’s culture and heritage and richness of it’s nation. Each team was comprised 3 people, each specializing in different areas, such as chocolate or sugar making. The teams are given 10 hours to produce a restaurant style dessert, using ingredients from their home country. Not only did they have to work on the taste of the dish, they also needed to blow the judges away with the visuals of their dish, presentation is a big part of the competition. Recently added, the challenge “show Chocolate” was a test designed to push the competitors to take even more risks in the already intense competition. To be prepared, each of the competitors will have to do work outside of their kitchens.
During the 10 hour competition, Japan successfully completed a lemon, pear, marigold, and chocolate granita in the shape of a hemp leaf as well as an apricot that represented a spinning toy.
France committed a serious mistake with their ice sculpture, which ended up costing them the gold medal, allowing Japan to win the competition by only a few points. France being the country that usually comes out on top with 8 total wins compared to Japan’s 5 and Italy’s 3, the competition is fierce!
