On January 24 the European Pastry Cup took place in Geneva, which pitted a total of eight teams against each other. Finally, the Belgian team, made up of Nicolas Arnaud (sugar) and Mathieu Dierinck (chocolate), won the competition, ahead of Denmark and Sweden, second and third place respectively. The three countries obtained their spot in the final for the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie  to be held in Lyon in January of next year. Switzerland will be joining them, which is a “wild card” for having been fourth. With regard to the special prizes, Markus Kunz (Spain) won the award for the best sugar piece, while Natalya Makarenko (Russia) won the award for the best chocolate piece.

In five hours, the contestants had to prepare two ice cream cakes, ten plated desserts, a sugar piece, and a chocolate piece including a 20 kg block of sculpted Valrhona chocolate. The other four countries that were left out of the classification were Spain, Russia, Lebanon and Turkey. Gabriel Paillasson, president of the competition, stressed the importance of tasting when leveling out the balance in the combinations in favor of one or the other.

Fabrizio Donatone, member of the Italian team that won the last edition of the Coupe du Monde de Pâtisserie, took the stage of the salon where the championship was held for a demonstration of a plated dessert made with the double chocolate bath technique, presented for the first time in the pastry competition.