The United Kingdom has been named winner of the European Pastry Cup, and will now go forward to compete in the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie in 2015.

The contest took place at the Sirha exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday (26 January), with the UK taking home a cash prize, gold medals and trophies.

Denmark came in second place and Sweden third, with a special award given to Sweden for its chocolate work, and Denmark for its sugar work. Switzerland will also go through as the ‘wild card’ entry.

The contest requires team to produce four pastry creations in five hours. Each team is composed of two pastry chefs and must create: two fruit desserts to serve eight people; nine identical desserts, incorporating chocolate, served on a plate and representative of pastry in the country of origin; an artistic creation made of sugar; and an artistic creation made of chocolate.

The UK team for the 2014 semi-final was announced in October last year, and comprised: Martin Chiffers, executive pastry chef - consultant (team president), Barry Johnson from Rococo Chocolates (team captain and chocolate candidate), and Nicholas Belorgey from Le Cordon Bleu (team member and sugar candidate).

Johnson said: “I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to get such an amazing result. We wouldn’t have done it without all the support and training. Obviously we can’t stop here: we now need to really get ready for 2015.”

The Coupe du Monde will take place in Lyon from 25-26 January 2015, as part of the Sirha exhibition.