Coupe du Mondede la Pâtisserie ..as exciting as it gets!

For those of you who don't know me, outside of travelling you will find me inside a kitchen making bavarians or mousses as I am a pastry chef. Food is my other passion, particularly pastry and it is another reason why I love to travel so much. Travel allows me to see different cultures through their food and whenever I taste a local dessert I really do feel connected to that city, I feel like I've experienced that culture. Recipes usually reflect local produce or spices that are in abundance in that particular area of the world and some pastries will even have interesting history behind them! So, you can understand why I was incredibly excited to travel to Lyon at the end of our two week road trip to attend the World Pastry Cup! Yes, it exists and it's every bit exciting as you would imagine a pastry cup to be. From cheering fans, horns to the drama of falling sugar sculptures. Attending the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie has been a dream of mine for many years and I still can't believe I was able to attend.
Along with an international pastry competition, there was a humongous trade show at the Sirha Trade building and here you could find every industry product and equipment you could imagine. It was so exciting to admire the cutting edge products and techniques and I really did learn so much. However, the main event for me was attending the Coupe du Monde and the first morning of the two day event we lined up extra early at the entrance gate along with dozens of Japanese fans bearing flags, face paint and noise makers. When the time finally came for opening everyone shoved through in a mad rush to get to the stadium.
We managed to get THE prime seats with perfect views of all competing teams, judging tables and sculptures and I was happy to say we were the first ones in...both days (yes I am a die hard and my fiance is supportive). The sound of chainsaws tearing into ice blocks filled the stadium and we watched intently as an emotionless block of ice slowly transformed into works of art with nothing more than an industrial chainsaw and a pick.

Throughout the morning we admired the ice sculpture artists, the beginning stages of sugar and chocolate showpieces and finally the judged desserts. There were three categories of served desserts: Iced dessert, Chocolate dessert and plated desserts.

                                                    

Along with the chocolate, sugar and ice sculptures these components made up the competition and eventually determined the world champion. Watching the talented chefs hard at work with such grace and concentration was incredibly inspirational...these people were the finest of the pastry world and I truly felt honored to have the opportunity to watch them.
The desserts you witness at Coupe du Monde are like no other. The plates are pieces of art decorated with hand crafted sculptures and perfectly placed sauces and the main components boast world class flavor combinations. Many countries also follow a very distinctive theme throughout their desserts such as Italy's 'Circus' theme or Frances' race car theme.

My favourite part about attending the Coupe du Monde was the cheers and applaudes that occurred after every slice into a dessert. Unassuming white domes of iced bombes revealed bold red sorbets and vibrant green disks inside sending the crowds into a frenzy...the energy was amazing.

 Close up cameras provided excellent views of the desserts on the large screen giving the audience a judges view. You could never tell the reaction from a judge when they sampled a spoonful of carefully prepared cake or icecream, as each judge remained emotionless and serious...I don't know how they did it!

At the end of each day countries must move their chocolate and sugar sculptures to judging tables and everyone holds their breaths as teetering works of art sway in the air. I will never forget the sound when Malaysia's amazing sugar sculpture as it came crashing to the ground. Hours of hard work and tedious details gone in a split second, it was gut wrenching to watch. However, it wouldn't be a world class competition with people pushing ideas to the limit if there was no drama.

 Many countries intertwined their sugar and chocolate sculptures together especially France and Korea whose pieces worked seamlessly together to create one impressive scene. My personal favourite was South Korea mainly because of the piercing eyes painted onto their Medusa sculpture...the eyes looked right through you!

Italy's circus scene was also amongst my top favourites with the USA surprisingly not being very impressive to me personally this year. All of the countries did a fantastic job and truly demonstrated why they were on the pastry world class stage. Both action packed days were fantastic and watching team France win the competition was an honor especially when the young team captain shakily accepted the prize with tears in his eyes...he truly had reached a tremendous goal.

Since I was a Red Seal Pastry Chef, I was given a VIP badge allowing me to enter the 'Chefs Area' where I was able to admire all of the countries sculptures up close and admire the detail that was put into each piece. We got to wander around the room alongside proud competitors with champagne in hand and chefs busily networking. I even got to stand within meters of the Coupe du Monde founder MOF Gabriel Paillasson and if I'd spoken more French I would of even had the opportunity to have a quick conversation with him.

Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie was such an exciting event and I am so happy to of attended. It was everything I'd ever imagined it to be and more! My fiance and I have decided that every other year when the competition takes place, we are going to attend. The competition provokes inspiration, creativity and admiration to both professionals and pastry enthusiasts alike and makes me so proud to be a pastry chef as it truly is a magical profession where the sky is your limit.