An internationally renowned New South Wales pastry chef will begin teaching chocolate classes for the baking industry in 2012.

Newcastle born and bred pastry chef and Hunter TAFE teacher Dean Gibson will pass on his skills and knowledge to chefs, apprentices and people wanting to retrain to enter the industry with two classes in hotel restaurant pastry and chocolate confectionary. The classes will start in February and run until June 2012.

Dean recently travelled to Paris to judge the World Chocolate Masters, the world’s leading global culinary competition solely dedicated to the art of chocolate, in which Australia came fourth. During his time in Paris, Dean toured the pastry and chocolate shops such as Fauchon, Pierre Herme and Patrick Roger.

“I was blown away by how good these places are, to see new concepts and products but also great to see that macarons, verrines and choux pastry are still very popular,” Dean said.

“The standard was so high with some competitors training full time for six months and up to two years of preparations, it was an amazing experience to judge the desserts, cakes and chocolate sculptures at this level.”

Dean is currently mentoring both Adrian Pagano (Gumnut Patisserie) and Yves Scherer (Sokyo at The Star) to compete for the Australian chocolate masters next year.

“That the students in my class get to see these guys work while learning the fundamentals of being a pastry chef is a great opportunity,” Dean said.

Dean is heavily involved now with international and national pastry competitions as a couch, judge and mentor, bringing him new ideas, innovation and education. He will become more involved in both the New South Wales BakeSkills and World Skills teams next year.