WKC lecturers to represent UK at Patisserie World Championships

The specialist patisserie lecturers competed in the French Open Dessert Competition 2010 in Paris last weekend which is a qualifying event for the Coupe de Monde de la Patisserie next year. In the specialist patisserie competition, the two College lecturers faced tough competition from competing nations such as Denmark, Russia, Spain, Hungary, Morocco and Tunisia to create elaborate sugar and chocolate sculptures. After a hard fought event, the UK Team were awarded third place overall, which qualified them for a place in the Patisserie World Championships in 2011. The team were also awarded the Prix du Sucre for the Best Sugar showpiece in the competition. Team President Sue McMahon, cookery editor at Woman's Weekly said she was very impressed by the dedication of the chefs from the UK Team. Sue said: "It's a long time since a British team has competed in the Patisserie World Cup. "I'm very proud of Chefs Javier Mercado and Chris Loder who trained really hard and achieved incredible success during the Paris qualifying round so that they will proudly be representing the UK at the world event in Lyon in January 2011." Gary Hunter, head of Culinary Arts at Westminster Kingsway College, added: "This is the first UK team for eight years to enter the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie and make it to the final. Contrary to popular opinion lamenting the dearth of talent in the art of patisserie and confectionery on these shores, Chris and Javier from the Westminster Kingsway College Pastry Team has shown that it is alive and well."