Team UK prepare for European Pastry Cup this weekend

Barry Johnson and Nicolas Belorgey will compete for Team UK in the European Pastry Cup in Geneva on Sunday.

A total of six countries will compete for the three spots available in next January’s World finals in Lyon.

After being chosen by the International Organisation Committee, Denmark, Russia, Israel, Switzerland and Sweden will all be battling it out as well as the UK with their team of one chocolatier, one pâtissier and a president.

UK team captain Barry is head chocolatier at Rococo Chocolates while Nicolas has been selected for the sugar category following his work as a teaching chef at Le Cordon Bleu.

Executive pastry chef Martin Chiffers will take the role of team president looking ahead to the event he said: "The UK Pastry Team have been training very hard over the past few months, it was such a short time after the UK Pastry Open in October until The European Cup being held in January and not March this year.

"We are feeling quite confident with what we are going to showcase after many hours and sleepless nights of preparation, and will certainly be hoping for a repeat of last year's success and win.

A big thanks to our valuable industry sponsors as this would be an almost impossible task without their support, a big thanks also to those that have assisted in the preparation and volunteered to drive the truck of equipment to Geneva."

Gabriel Paillasson, President-Founder of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, said: “Europe is privileged. We have a very exceptional diversity of regional products: excellent milk, smooth cream, tasty butter and perfumed fruit.

“European pastry cooking has a good image throughout the world and is very good for export, especially to Asia and the United States as well as to emerging countries. European pastry has become a trademark and a label that indicate value.”

This weekend’s event will take place as part of the Sirha Genève trade exhibition and to celebrate, Claire Heitzler, head pastry chef at two Michelin-starred Lasserre, Paris, has been chosen as the president of honour and she believes that “European pastry is buzzing with excitement”.

Teams must create four pastry dishes in the five allotted hours under the categories of: two fruit desserts to serve eight persons, nine identical desserts incorporating chocolate, an artistic creation made of sugar and an artistic creation made of chocolate.

As well as the top three qualifying for next year’s main event, there will be prizes on the day including medals and trophy plus €4,000 for first place, €2,000 for second and €1,000 for third.