Winners of Callebaut’s For the Love Of Chocolate challenge crowned
The search for the nation’s most innovative desserts is over as executive pastry chef for Jamie Oliver and Pollen Street Social’s pastry chef both win the once-in-a-lifetime trip to a cocoa plantation in Ghana.
Callebaut’s For the Love Of Chocolate Challenge has seen Ed Loftus, executive pastry chef of Jamie Oliver Ltd scoop the top prize in the ‘over 22’s’ category with Thomas Leatherbarrow, pastry chef at Pollen Street Social victorious in the ‘under 22’s’ group.
To enter the competition, chefs, chocolatiers and pâtissiers were invited put an creative twist on one of the nation’s top five chocolate desserts – brownie, cheesecake, cake, pudding and ice cream*. Ed’s successful entry - The Ultimate Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich – features two layers of chocolate chip cookie tuille, sandwiching layers of white chocolate parfait, roasted cocoa nib jelly, arriba chocolate, burnt caramel parfait and a molten gianduja centre. This is then half dipped in chocolate before rolling the edges in toasted nibbed hazelnuts.
Talking about his winning entry, Ed says: “I love nostalgic desserts that remind us of growing up and reinventing these childhood favourites is a big passion of mine. The ice cream sandwich is perfect for this and, best of all, is completely accessible to everyone. There are so many different ways to use chocolate so it’s great to see Callebaut inspiring chefs to think differently. I’m chuffed to have won – I’ve never been to a cocoa plantation before and I’m sure it will be an amazing experience!”
Taking the top prize in the under 22 year olds category, Thomas incorporated Callebaut Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa) and Callebaut White Chocolate (28% cocoa) with smoked sea salt and whole pistachios for his innovative twist on a chocolate brownie, before serving it with vanilla cream and candied kumquats.
The judges were particularly impressed by the combination of flavours in this dessert and the attention to detail in the recipe to give a crisp top and bottom to the brownie, with a beautifully rich and chewy centre.
Speaking of his win, Thomas says: “Winning Callebaut’s For The Love Of Chocolate Challenge is a huge honour for me and the trip will be an amazing experience. I have used Callebaut’s range of chocolate for a few years now to create many different dishes – entering this challenge has given me the opportunity to showcase my style and passion for creating desserts!”
The Challenge forms part of Callebaut’s “For The Love Of Chocolate” campaign which has been developed to guide caterers through their chocolate choices and ensure dessert menus remain profitable by giving customers exactly what they want.
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