Sydney-born, France-based pastry chef Richard Hawke has carved a career out for himself that most people can only dream of. From teaching at one of the world’s most prestigious schools to working in countries including Morocco and Slovakia, and now establishing himself product and recipe development, Richard is the walking epitome of never say never.

With a career that spans multiple countries and roles, and a number of international trophies under his belt, it’s hard to believe that when Richard Hawke first finished school he was uncertain about where his future lay.

The Sydney native had taken a job in a video shop, and each day found himself walking upstairs to the bakery to buy lunch. After chatting to the bakery owner, the two discovered they were neighbours and what initially began as carpooling finished with an accidental offer of a job at the bakery.

Richard accepted and four weeks later found himself delivering bread in the morning before diving into sales and marketing work for the bakery for the rest of the day. Before long, Richard had moved into the kitchen.

“It was thanks to my boss and that experience [that I became a pastry chef]. He was the one who explained it to me and showed me some very small intricacies of what it is to understand French pastry,” Richard said.

 “I was a bit of a complicated student because I was older than everybody. I started my apprenticeship in my early 20s and in theory sessions I was always happy to ask lots of questions. I was with 16-year-olds and they weren’t too interested in that.”

Richard set himself the goal of moving to the culinary capital of France, Lyon, following his apprenticeship – admitting that in theory it was easy to say but harder to do. But once he landed Richard said he realised he had a way to go with his training before he’d be up to French standards. Combine that with a language barrier and French bureaucracy, and he had his work cut out for him.

Richard’s Milky Praline

“I’ve always been a hard worker. When I was working in Australia I was working six or seven-days-a-week for my apprenticeship. I’d start work at midnight and stop at 7am, have a shower and then go to TAFE. It’s unsustainable, but what I had to do,” he said.

“It wasn’t easy at first in France. When I first moved to Lyon I was working for a catering company and then I ended up working in a boulangerie. It wasn’t an amazing job, but [through these different jobs] I got to work in different structures and that helped me get different experiences. That’s what makes you a better chef.”

Richard landed a job with World Pastry Champion Jérôme Languillier’s team before a spontaneous decision to send his CV to l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie – one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world – saw Richard move into teaching, which opened up a whole new world of challenges.

Richard was able to set his own curriculum for his classes, following themes each week, which enabled him to explore and learn new aspects of the industry. Beyond that, Richard said when he wasn’t teaching he was able to sit in on other professional masterclasses.

“This is a patisserie school where you have international students but also there are lots of high profile chefs coming in to do professional classes. This is where I could meet other chefs and learn from them,” Richard said.

“[After] I’d been at the school for almost five years I was ready to leave. I wanted to get a head chef position, but my wife, Amandine, didn’t want to move to Asia or the Middle East, and that’s where all the jobs are. I ended up accepting a job in Morocco.”

Once again, Richard was thrown in the deep end when his boss decided to make the patisserie, located in Casablanca, gluten-free.

Richard initially pushed back before realising it was another opportunity to learn something new. He spent the better part of a year-and-a-half in research and development, teaching himself how to construct a recipe at the same time.

“If you ask one question to 10 chefs, you’ll get 10 different answers. Sometimes we like to disagree but understanding what’s going on can save you time,” Richard said.

“Not many people know how to do that [create a recipe]. We don’t teach them that. Not many people understand the ingredients involved, which can be a shame because understanding how to replace certain things in recipes can solve problems we have in the industry.”

An apple slice – with a difference

A further two years were spent in Slovakia before Richard and Amandine moved back to France for the birth of their second child. It was at this time Richard began to focus on incorporating lactose-free and vegan recipes into his repertoire. It’s a move he describes as logical.

“I knew how to make the gluten products, I knew how to go gluten-free and then I was moving to the lactose-free. The problem is that when you start changing these things – things like the gluten in flour or remove eggs, this is all structure. This is all our basics of pastry, so you need to forget everything you have learnt and start something new,” he said.

“Am I gluten intolerant? No. Am I vegan or plant-based? Also no, but I like a challenge and that’s where things moved forward.”

These days Richard focuses his time on recipe development, working with the likes of brands such as Louis François, in addition to content creation and regular masterclasses held at schools around the world. He also released his book Adapt | A Unique Pastry Concept in 2021.

When asked how he planned out the next steps in his career, Richard said he had come to realise he liked to have a loose plan but also knew it would change along the way.

“It’s a bit like never say never now,” he said.

“I realised that sometimes I would say ‘I’ll never do that’ and then I find myself doing it.”

Beyond the bakery

Beyond his work as pastry chef, Richard has also taken home a number of international awards, including first place in the Artistic chocolate showpieces category at the 2015 Challenge des Mains d’Or, and third place for Best chocolate entremets, sugar showpiece, at the 2014 Asian Pastry Cup with the Australian Pastry Team.