PUNTOITALY N°2 - July - December 2012

The 10 professional pastry chefs competed against one another in a series of exciting challenges on the theme “The World of Women”. All the challenges tested their creativity and professional skills to the limit, and pushed them to achieve ever higher stan- dards: they all had to create a Domori chocolate cake, an innovative dessert plate to match with a fruit sorbet, and a sculpture in sugar and pastillage. The last test, in which the competitors had to create an exclusive dessert to be served in a glass based on marrons glacés, was held at the stand of the partner company Agrimontana, in the presence of journalists working for specialised magazines and of opin- ion leaders in the sector and internationally renowned master pastry chefs. The jury, chaired by Master Pastry Chef Iginio Massari, was made up of the ten trainers of the competing teams. Honorary chairman of the panel of judges was Master Competitions 30 QUEEN OF PASTRY CHEFS The first World Pastry Queen Championship, held at the last Sigep Expo in Rimini, saw the Italian pastry cook Sonia Balacchi emerge victorious over 9 other competitors from all over the world. Under the banner of “A Woman’s World”, 10 of the best women pastry chefs from the five continents competed in the first ever World Pastry Queen Championship, held at the last Sigep Expo in Rimini. At the end of the competition, the 29-year-old Italian pastry chef Sonia Balacchi was declared the winner, having also ob- tained special mentions for innovation and for the best chocolate cake. “It seems incredible”, commented the World Champion. “My dream now is to open my very own choco- late shop, though I wouldn’t mind enjoying some time abroad. I really wanted to win, I’ve worked really hard to pre- pare, a year ago I’d never have thought it possible to get this far. How did I do it? You have to be really determined and work flat out if you want to achieve your goal”. Sonia Balacchi, winner of the World Pastry Queen Championship at the last Sigep Expo in Rimini.