For 10 hours, chefs from 22 countries mixed, melted, tempered and moulded, hoping to take home bragging rights to being the best pastry maker, chocolatier and sugar sculptor at the World Pastry Cup in Lyon, France.

With home-team advantage, France took the gold medal, beating Japan and Italy.

These are their desserts and sugar sculptures that wowed the judges.

 

Gold medal: France

Making up the team in the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie competition were Quentin Bailly, Mathieu Blandin and Joffrey Lafontaine.

They won the €21,000 cash prize and bragging rights.

The team also won for its entremet au chocolat dessert, or layered chocolate cake.

Helping to steer it to victory was its sugar sculpture, themed on the oldest active sports car race in the world — the Le 24 Hours.

 

Silver medal: Japan

Japan’s silver medal winning team was made up of Tetsuro Akasaki, Daisuke Tomita and Koh Moriyama. They developed a recipe flavoured with Kiyomi orange, meringue and whipped cream.

Their second offering was a chocolate layered cake, also known as an entremet au chocolat, flavoured with Kiyomi orange.

They created a sugar sculpture dedicated to music.

 

Bronze medal: Italy

Francesco Boccia, Marcello Boccia and Lucca Cantarin made up Team Italy. Their plated dessert Alegria was made with crème Anglaise, hazelnuts, mandarin and chocolate.

Their chocolate offering was an entremet au chocolat, or layered cake.

The colour, spectacle and movement of the circus was the inspiration for their sugar sculpture.