Thursday, September 20, 2012
National Showpiece Champions
Congratulations to Team Captain Daniel Keadle and his Assistant Chef Craig Chamberlain for their fantastical work at this year’s National Showpiece Championship. Their chocolate Showpiece reflected a South American Mythical Dragon and Chef Keadle’s love of architecture and design was beautifully executed. The meticulous details further accentuated the overall design which beautifully displayed a varied of chocolate techniques. Great work chefs! Click on the image for a closer look.
For more photos of the event please visit Pastry Live.com
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Team Japan Sugar Showpiece
Congratulations to Captain Tetsuya Seno, Hisashi Onobayashi, and Koji Fujita-Team Japan for their OUTSTANDING work at this year’s World Pastry Team Championship. Both their sugar and chocolate pieces towered over the competition, but it was their scores in degustation that won them their title. Beautiful work Team Japan! Click on the image for a closer look.
We were honored that MOF Stéphane Tréand’s Amazon Leaves Showpeel was used for the green leaves in sweet Virgo‘s headpiece. Available at our online store.
Easter Inspiration
As that special day when we honor the wonderful women in our lives is fast approaching (May 13th), we though breaking the rules and presenting an amazing chocolate Easter Egg might inspire your own creations.
We are proud to present this lovely piece by Assistant Pastry Chef Oralia Perez, of the Ritz-Carlton Resort Naples. Great use of cast, modeled and piped chocolate. Hoping this lively spring bouquet will set your ideas sprouting. (click for a larger image)
Great Work Chef Oralia Perez!
Executive Pastry Chef Franck Iglesias of the Foxwoods Resort Casino created this Chocolate Showpiece for the 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner of the owners of the resort, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. The event was to be celebrated with Native American dances and other traditional commemorations. Chef wanted to pay homage to the tribe and other beliefs important to the Pequot nation. The Mashantucket Pequots are a native Algonquin people in Southeastern Connecticut known for their “Pequot spirit of survival”. The show piece took around 80 collective hours to make, here’ s Chef Iglesias description:
“The Pequot was a warrior nation represented by topping the showpiece with the Spring Leaves Showpeel. Red was the main color of the warrior. The arrows are also part of the Mashantucket Pequot homage. The “tree of life” coming from the ground (earth) was chocolate hand sculpted. The “S” part coming out of the tree trunk was made with the Silicone Noodles. I wanted something more elegant to make the piece “lighter”, but with the effect of being “one” part, almost like an elegant silhouette coming out of a tree trunk. The chocolate rocks, flowers and leaves was also important to the theme as nature is a way of life for the Native American culture.” (click for a larger image)
You interpreted the Spirit beautifully, Thank you Chef Iglesias!
Andreas Schwarzer, Baking and Pastry Arts Instructor at School of Hospitality and Tourism at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary, designed this piece for their “Elegant Showpiece” section. The flowers and some flourishes are made from pastillage, the rest of the showpiece is made of pulled and cast sugar using a variety of silicone molds (the main piece is cast with silicone noodles).
This showpiece is used as the new guideline when it comes to students and their shop objectives. Lucky students and the employers who hire them!
Thanks for thinking out of the box Chef Schwarzer, we especially like the ‘floating’ effect. (click on the photo for a bigger image)
Italy’s Sonia Balacchi, was awarded the title of Pastry Queen, a new annual competition held at the Sigep exhibition in Rimini, Italy. Kyun Ran Baccon representing France, won second, and Susan Notter of the United States, placed third.
The contestants had to prepare a cake made with Domori chocolate, an innovative plate served dessert (with fruit sorbet) and a sugar/pastillage showpiece on day one and a chestnut cream dessert served in a glass day two.
Congratulations to the winners and stay tuned for a Pastry Postcard. (click on the photo for a close up)
To all hardworking Chefs, congratulations for surviving the Holidays!
After our last Newsletter, we heard from several chefs and this story caught our eye:
In our nation’s capitol, Washington DC, Executive Pastry Chef Laurent Lhuillier of Windows Catering Company, created these amazing gingerbread houses for the Holiday Gala at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Over 400 lbs of gingerbread were used in their construction, 80lbs of candy, including gum drops, jelly beans, peppermints, gum balls, white chocolate coins, sugar Dragees were used to decorate and 100lbs of sugar icing helped hold it all together beautifully. It took Chef Laurent and his team over 100 hours of decorating time to skillfully adorn all the gingerbread houses that consisted of the White House, The US Capitol, and the Pentagon. Magical work Chef!
(Please click on the images for a larger view of the photos by Daniel Schwartz.)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
At the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto, Yusuke Aoki, Senior Pastry Cook, enjoys creating elegant chocolate showpieces like this for internal display and guest affairs. Yusuke Aoki’s work captures our imagination with his well-crafted, graceful work. Passion, talent and patience drives this chocolate artist, we look forward to seeing more of his work.
National Showpiece Champions
