Tonatiuh Cortés has won the Best Traditional Panettone award at the fourth edition of the Coppa del Mondo del Panettone, held at the Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan from 8 to 10 November. The Mexican chef, owner of Suca’l in Barcelona – formerly Cloudstreet Bakery – qualified in the Spanish qualifying round held last year in Gastrónoma (Valencia) and has now managed to dethrone Italy from the top position on the podium in this world competition. Italian chefs Pasquale Pesce and Maurizio Sarioli came in second and third place respectively. Ton Cortés had already been recognised in the past as Best Panettone in Spain (2019) and runner-up in the world in the Panettone World Cup for teams.

The award for Best Chocolate Panettone went to Pasquale Iannelli, from Pasticceria Casa Mastroianni in Lamezia Terme. Second place went to Pasquale Marigliano and third to Armando Pascarella.

Meanwhile, the award for best non-European went to Yasuda Tazumi (Japan) in the traditional category and Carlo Strobbe (Peru) in chocolate.

Participation in this competition was very high. After two years of national selections in different countries, 24 pastry chefs reached the final in the Traditional Panettone category and 18 in the Chocolate Panettone category. The candidates came from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the United States, and Australia.