On 25 and 26 October, six candidates, selected by representatives of l’École Valrhona and StarChefs, met in New York to compete in the Valrhona C3 Pastry Competition.

It was the first time the event was held in the United States and the level of all the participants was very high. The event involved creating an original plated dessert and a chocolate bonbon, based on the theme “ILLANKA 63% Peru”. The jury, using parameters such as originality, taste, combinations of flavors, textures and the incorporation of the competition theme as bases, proclaimed chef Nicolas Blouin of the Rosewood Mansion (Dallas, Texas) as the winner. He presented a plated dessert made with brownie, raspberry compote, Illanka cream, jasmine raspberry sorbet and jasmine Illanka foam, and a chocolate bonbon made of Mandarin jelly, black tea ganache and sesame tuile. Nicolas has been awarded $5,000 and the chance to represent the North America region at the 2016 C³ Competition at ICC, that will gather the winners of the regional C3s worldwide. Venue, rules and details of this competition shall be communicated during the first half of 2016.

The second prize of $2,000 went to Steven Tran, of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (Vancouver, Canada), who presented a plated dessert made with pecan praline, yuzu jam, grapefruit, Illanka ganache /crémeux, earl grey ice cream, and a chocolate bonbon made of Illanka chocolate ganache, yuzu jam and pecan praline.

The chef Erin Kanagy-Loux from the Whyte Hotel (Brooklyn, New York) won the press prize.