LYON, France — At Sirha Lyon 2025 on January 25, the 19th edition of the Pastry World Cup ended with Japan taking first place during the grand finale. France and Malaysia took second and third place respectively.
The defending champions, the Japanese team retained its world championship title, driven by the talent of Masanaori Hata (chocolate candidate), Yuji Matoba (sugar candidate) and Ryu Miyazaki (ice-cream candidate). Already the winner of the Asia section last year, Japan is increasingly asserting itself as one of the world’s leading pastry countries.
New for this edition, the candidates were confronted with an unprecedented test: the “Chocolate Show.” During this event, they created and designed 26 sweet creations based on Valrhona chocolate in a finger-food spirit, a nod to the street food acclaimed in the world. This event highlighted the involvement of a whole team and took the candidates out of their laboratories in the middle of competition to highlight them in front of the members of jury and the public.
“This year again, the competition provides a magnificent demonstration of the pastry know-how and the surpassing of oneself of the candidates,” says Pierre Hermé, president of the Pastry World Cup. And with many changes, such as the duration of the competition which has been reduced, the transformation of the chocolate dessert by a ‘Chocolate Show’ which forces the pastry chefs to show great creativity and to get out of their laboratories, the candidates can be proud.”
“Being here in the heart of Sirha Lyon for the Pastry World Cup is an honour, and an exciting moment for a pastry chef like me,” says Amaury Guichon, honorary president of this grand finale. “You can see each team and therefore each culture interpreting its heritage through its art in each of its creations. The level is extremely high in the use of chocolate and sugar, it’s sincerely the highest artistic level of what can be done in pastry.”
Belgium won the special eco-responsible prize of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, a prize awarded by the International Organizing Committee to the team that best complied with the various CSR criteria imposed by the competition rules and regulations.
