I have been a pastry chef for 30 years. I originally started at Barnfield collage doing NVQ 1,2,3 and a Craft Guild diploma in pastry. My career progressed at L’Ortolan under John Burton Race, then I went on to Claridge’s with John Williams.
I continued my education with TVU and gained and HND and a BSc while working, and am currently the Head of the pastry department at the House of Commons. We serve the parliamentary estate, and do everything from cafeteria dinning to state banquets and fine dining.
During my career I have competed in the Culinary World Cup and Culinary Olympics with team England achieving a gold. This has both static and live disciplines.
Other successful competition experience includes:
- APC dessert of the year
- Hotelympia - both static and Parade des Chefs live service
- Wessex Salon live
- Pastry Annual Awards of Excellence
- All the previous experience has led to me being a judge for the Worldchefs Association
I am currently a mentor for the Craft Guild Graduate Awards, to help develop young chefs in the science of pastry and working with City and Guilds as an industry validator for future pastry qualifications. In addition I work in a small artisan bakery near my home on my off days to continue development in bakery and floor mopping!
The APC are proud to host the ‘Dessert of the Year’ Competition at Salon Culinaire each year.
This long running competition sees some of the best chefs across the UK wowing the crowds with mouth-watering desserts. Keep a look out for further competition updates to be announced, along with meeting some of the judges, and what they look out for when judging both live and static competitions.