We were delighted to welcome International Executive Pastry Chef Consultant, Martin Chiffers and Executive Pastry Chef, Michael Kwan from The Dorchester Hotel London to the studio last week. Both are multiple award-winning masters in their field and, as part of The UK Pastry Team, their most recent accolade was winners Of the European Pastry Cup 2022 held in Paris.
This is an award the UK has won 3 times, in 2012, 2014 and 2015, and which qualifies them to compete in the highly acclaimed Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie 2023 final, the biggest competition for pastry and chocolate in the world, which is where Andrew comes in. Martin, who was president and coach of The UK Team from 2011 – 2017, and has continued coaching the UK team since, approached Andrew back in 2017 to help and coach him with sculpting the piece that led him to win ‘Best Showpiece’ in another competition he had entered, the World Chocolate Masters UK.
The sculpture, titled ‘Shushan’ from the Futropolis theme was the torso of a life-size manga style, sci-fi female AI robot. Once sculpted in clay, a mould was made which Martin then used to cast an amazing chocolate sculpture and develop the award-winning chocolate showpiece. The UK Pastry Team is training very hard every week and the goal is to reach and stand on the podium at the next World Pastry Cup 2023. It is no surprise that they have once again approached Andrew to help them with their latest chocolate sculpture and making of the mould. As Martin Chiffers explains:
“We are here with Andy to train and learn from a true master of his craft he is our sculpture coach and will help us bring our vision to life. With his outstanding knowledge, skills and understanding of anatomy we could not wish for a better coach for this prestigious competition representing the UK.”
Andrew is working on this piece with Martin and Michael with the utmost discretion, as the design and composition is top secret. It will be revealed in January next year as part of their submission to the judges at the World Cup competition in Lyon.
