Although we cannot say with total certainty due to the current situation not allowing it, it seems that everything is ready for the celebration of a new edition of the World Pastry Cup, which will take place on September 24 and 25. A total of 14 countries will face off in an edition that we could call transitional. Everything is very special for several reasons.

First and most obvious, the global pandemic situation has forced the cancellation of many events and initiatives related to the competition, to the extent that the World Cup has had to delay its dates eight months compared to the usual date in January. These restrictions have also prevented the holding of national and continental qualifiers. In many countries, the teams have not been able to properly prepare. That is why this year there are fewer participating teams, 14, (it is usually 22 countries) and in some cases they have been chosen using criteria other than the ones normally used.

But it is also a transitional edition because Pierre Hermé now commands the competition and does so by paying special attention to the present times and to the latest trends and values ​​that enter strongly both in society in general and in the pastry sector in particular. The traditional ice test has disappeared, now we have a block of chocolate that needs to be sculpted and the tests have undergone some variations. A total of ten hours will be given to make four cakes for sharing, four ice cream cakes, ten restaurant desserts, one artistic sugar piece, and one artistic chocolate piece. Regarding the sugar piece, it has already been communicated that each combination must create a vegetable piece (ribbon, foliage, realistic, or abstract flower) and in the restaurant desserts section, E171 or E172 cannot be included, in line with a more responsible and sustainable pastry.

All the changes promoted by Pierre Hermé, and also sponsored by the honorary president Patrick Roger, have already been previously explained by the organization. Now is the time to get to know all the participating teams and their components.

List of participating teams

RUSSIA

Yulia Ivanova (president), Andrey Kanakin (chocolate, captain), Aleksandr Vasilev (sugar), Anton Afanasev (ice cream)

   

MOROCCO

Kamal Rahal Essoulami (president), Abdelkader Ejjatioui (chocolate), Ali Gousaid (sugar), Mohamed E Yazidi (ice Cream)

   

EGYPT

Ahmed Younes (president), Abdelrazek Baz (chocolate), Moustafa Helmy (sugar), Sedhoum Aly (ice cream, captain)

   

UK

Jamie Houghton (president), Michael Ho Lam Kwan (chocolate), Nicolas Houchet (sugar), Chris Seddon (ice cream, captain)

   

SWITZERLAND

Patrick Bovon (president), Nicoll Notter (chocolate, captain); Arnaud Dousse (sugar), Antoine Chopin (ice cream)

   

SOUTH KOREA

Suk Won Lee (president), Hyo Jung Kim (chocolate, captain), Dong Hwan Oh (sugar), Sung Mo Jung (ice cream)

   

MEXICO

Francisco Vázquez (president), Alan Tercero (chocolate, captain), Omar Robles (sugar), Gustavo Barbabosa (ice cream)

   

JAPAN

Hiroshi Igarashi (president), Seiya Harada (chocolate), Yuuya Tsukada (sugar, captain), Kengo Akabane (ice cream)

   

ITALY

Alessandro Dalmasso (president), Massimo Pica (chocolate), Lorenzo Puca (sugar, captain), Andrea Restuccia (ice cream)

   

FRANCE

Stéphane Glacier (president), Kevin Ollivier (chocolate, captain), Fabien Emery (sugar), Nabil Moudni (ice cream)

   

CHINA

Samara Tan (president), Jason Ao (chocolate), Carson Ao (sugar, captain), Rain Liu (ice cream)

   

CHILE

Gustavo Sáez (president), Mauricio Cabrera (chocolate, captain), Frank Aragón (sugar), Ariel Millaman (ice cream)

   

BRAZIL

Renata Arassiro (president), Rodrigo Ribeiro (chocolate), Marcia Garbin (sugar, captain), Alessandra Lira (ice cream)

   

ALGERIA

Yakoub Mehenni (president), Salah Eddine Amour (chocolate), Abderrezak Abdoun (ice cream)