A fundraising dinner to support Team Pastry Australia’s upcoming competition at the World Pastry Cup was held in November.

The sold-out event, held at Le Cordon Bleu Sydney Culinary Arts Institute, was attended by 100 industry representatives including pastry chefs, chocolatiers and suppliers.

Le Cordon Bleu generously donated $85 per head and a further $22,000 was raised during an auction of products supplied by various supporters.

Gary Willis from F.Mayer Imports said he was impressed with the generous spirit of both guests and suppliers.

“There were some great products up for grabs including a Kitchen Aid Commercial Blender, a double flat-pack production rack from Mackies and a Sinmag Planetary Mixer from WP Reedy,” Gary said.

F.Mayer Imports also auctioned off a spot on the upcoming Callebaut cocoa plantation tour of Ghana, Africa, which was won by Mackies’ chief executive officer Lars Bryndum.

Team Pastry Australia team coach Dean Gibson said their preparation was coming together well.

“I think there are two great competitions in the world; the Coupe de Monde and the Chocolate Masters. They are the two premier competitions and for Australia to have such presence in both competitions is absolutely great,” Dean said.

“Jian Yo [manager] and myself have been working towards this for four years, and it’s been an extraordinary amount of work. But to be so well-supported by the industry shows we are heading in the right direction. It was really great to see such a broad cross section of the industry represented at the fundraising night.”

The eight-person strong team will fly to Lyon, France, for the World Pastry Cup on January 23, 2013.