With this piece, the Catalan pastry chef Lluc Crusellas won the prize for the best chocolatier in the world at the World Chocolate Masters competition in Paris 2022.
A 2-meter-tall, 170-kilo chocolate elephant is part of the attraction at the El Carme de Vic pastry shop, located in Barcelona, Spain, whose owner, the Catalan pastry chef Lluc Crusellas, won the award for best chocolatier in the world at the World Chocolate Masters in Paris 2022 thanks to him.
The 26-year-old Crusellas prevailed among pastry chefs from 17 countries in this year's prestigious competition organized by Cacao Barry.
The winning piece is an elephant two meters high and one and a half meters wide made of pure chocolate.
The Catalan pastry chef had to use around 170 kilos of chocolate and present the piece in a setting that simulated a shop window.
The elephant will be on display at Pastisseria El Carme, in Vic (Rambla de les Davallades, 21) until the end of the Christmas holidays.
The best chocolatier in the world
Lluc Crusellas was proclaimed the best chocolatier in the world on October 31st after winning the World Chocolate Masters contest in Paris 2022.
Crusellas, who had obtained the title as the best master chocolatier in Spain, prepared for a year for this competition in which they must work with a team of up to 8 people and have instruments and raw materials for the challenges of this contest.
In this competition, the contestants were asked to make different pieces with very specific specifications.
The first challenge consisted of preparing a chocolate cake divisible exactly by 6, and Crusellas proposed one that, pretending not to be divided, was already cut into portions.
The second test consisted of setting up a shop window, for which Crusellas devised the two-meter-tall elephant and 170 kilos of elaborately detailed chocolate.
Finally, on the last day of the competition, when only 10 finalists remained, the contest challenged them to make an artistic chocolate structure, as well as a versatile piece that could appeal to both an athlete and a chocolatier or a fan of innovation. .
Crusellas devastated with a piece of sugar-free chocolate that had reused brioche and edible banana skin.