World Pastry Cup results

Twenty-two nations came together to compete in the 11th Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, or the World Pastry Cup. This prestigious pastry competition took place Jan. 25 and 26 in Lyon, France.

Each country's team was composed of a pastry chef, a chocolate specialist and an ice cream specialist. Teams had 10 hours to prepare three chocolate desserts, three frozen fruit desserts, an ice sculpture, a chocolate sculpture and drawn-sugar sculpture.

First place went to Team France, second place to Team Italy and third place to Team Belgium.

While an unfortunate toppling over of Team USA's 3-foot-tall chocolate showpiece put them out of contention for the big win, team members beautifully executed other aspects of the competition. The team theme was "Native American," as pictured here in the Kokopelli design prominently featured on a uniquely marbled chocolate dessert.

Team USA captain David Ramirez (pictured below, second from left), executive pastry chef, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla., told CET, "The marble look came from a coffee-infused glaze. Ninety-five percent of the glaze mixture was combined with white chocolate, and 5 percent we added [Valrhona] Pure Caraibe. When we actually glazed the cake, we would start with mostly the white chocolate coffee-infused glaze and only add a bit of the dark glaze at the end for the marble effect."

In addition to Ramirez, Team USA's members were: Roy Pell (second from right), executive pastry chef, The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Remy Funfrock (far right), executive restaurant pastry chef, The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and alternate Jim Mullaney (not pictured), Artisans Group, Atlanta. The team president was En-Ming Hsu (far left), the former captain of the 2001 gold medal-winning Team USA and currently a pastry chef-instructor at the French Pastry School in Chicago.