For the past nine months, it has been all systems go for the Australian team ahead of the Juniores Pastry World Cup, which will be held on January 22 and 23 in Rimini, Italy as part of SIGEP 2024.

The team, made up of pastry chefs Damien Wright and Bianca Piromalli, as well as trainer Andre Sandison, have been training under the watchful eye of team captain Scott Astley from TAFE Ultimo NSW.

“The team has been training very hard for the past nine months. We are coming to the stage where we need to tidy up our products, so the feeling is good,” Scott said.

“The team feels good, but there is still a lot of work to get ready.”

Scott said although the traditional route of building the team through an Australian competition had to be bypassed due to COVID, the team’s two members were instead chosen from a previous selection and their skill level was exceptionally high. This excellence has also been credited to the assistance of other experts in the field that have leant helping hands during the training period..

“We have had a sugar expert from Mayers Fine Foods / La Rose Noire help us for the past six months; Andre Sandison. He has been giving us his time free of charge, and this has been more than 200 hours of work,” Scott said.

“Parfait Patisserie owner Troy Hindmarsh has helped train Damien, our male competitor since 2021, and has also allowed Damien to practice and use his premises. Lastly, as team captain, I’m training Bianca for the last year in chocolate work. Also TAFE NSW Ultimo has been a huge help for allowing us to use the kitchens there to train.”

Boasting the theme myths and legends, the 2024 Juniores Pastry World Cup competition will see each team make an array of items including a vegan sorbet in a glass, plated dessert, street food dessert, modern chocolate cake, sugar sculpture, and chocolate sculpture.

Scott said he and his team were feeling confident ahead of the challenge.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for young chefs under the age of 23,” he said.

“We will absolutely do Australia proud.”

Image: Damien Wright hard at work training ahead of the 2024 Juniores Pastry World Cup