After a gruelling four-day competition the 2024 Bake Skills Baker and Pastry Chef winners have been announced.

Ryan Wu from Eat Cannoli in Victoria successfully claimed the Baker competition. Caleb Braszell from Blanc Bakery placing second.

Imogen Fearon from Brisbane’s Cerin Pasticceria claimed the 2024 Pastry Chef title. It was the second major title Imogen has claimed this year, after she also took out the LA Judge Award earlier this year. Laura Allan from The Gumnut Patisserie placed second.

Both competitions put the entrants to the test.

The four pastry chefs spent the first day focusing on pastry creations including choux pastry for modern eclairs and Gateau St-Honore, gourmet pies, sweet shortcrust pastry tarts, and three-quarter puff pastry products. The second day of the competition saw them knuckle down and focus on special creations including the Dairy Farmers Baked Cheesecake Challenge, Callebaut Chocolate Entremet, and a spectacular decorated celebration cake.

Imogen said the experience was equal parts  terrifying and rewarding.

“I have met so many incredibly talents people and learnt from them all. The competition was stressful and quite nerve-wracking going into a different state, but I felt extremely supported by my trainers at the BITA,” she said.

“My favourite part [of the competition] was the entremet. I made purple entremet with four different layers including a passionfruit and apricot jelly, a crunchy macadamia base, a chocolate brownie, and a Callebaut chocolate macadamia mousse. I finished it with passionfruit mousse domes, a ruby chocolate collar, gold leaf, and beautiful fresh flowers.”

The four bakers also spent two days putting their skills to the test.

The first day saw them create a rye sourdough, ciabatta and Turkish bread, vegetarian coloured croissants, instant white dough, brioche, and baguettes. Day two saw the four entrants return to create pretzels, sweet yeast dough, white sourdough, rye sourdough with their flavour of choice, and the bread showpiece Fine Food anniversary.

Ryan and Imogen were presented with their coveted green jackets, trophy and plaque at Fine Food Australia, and they will be jetting off to Germany to visit the world’s largest tradeshow, iba, next year.

(L-R) Courtney Brooks, Caleb Braszell, Ryan Wu and Patrick French