Junior Chocolate Masters 2023 - Meet the Competitors

Junior Chocolate Masters 2023 - Meet the Competitors

Marion Balouin
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  • Chocolate Academy

Our Junior Chocolate Masters 2023 Final is just around the corner and we wanted to introduce you to our finalists.

This year the competition takes place on 27th July 2023 at the UK & Ireland Chocolate Academy in Banbury.

This years theme is...The Changing World 🌎 ⁠
The world is under pressure to change to survive. Environmental issues and food manufacturing processes are under scrutiny to improve and evolve to keep our planet going. Health is a top requirement for customers, people want healthy ingredients that give nutritional boosts to food and snacks. Individual choice is important and customers want vegan and free-from options.⁠
The world needs our help to survive, sustainability and ethical food choices are vital to the changing world. Chocolate is a special ingredient that has always inspired creation and mystique, the mission is to use chocolate to help change the world.⁠
 

We're excited to introduce you to one of our Finalists - Marion Balouin, Chocolatier at Melt Chocolates.

1. Where did it all start? How did you fall in love with cooking, pastry and chocolate?

Since my childhood, all my family has been cooking a lot and I was doing a lot of pastry with my 2 grandmother’s. When I was in school, I did 1 week of work placement in a chocolate shop ( l’Atelier de ValĂ©rie, France ) It was the best experience of my life because at the end of this week I knew that I wanted to be a chocolatiĂšre.

 

2. What or who is your greatest source of inspiration?

ValĂ©rie Cottet-Emmard ( L’Atelier de ValĂ©rie ) is the one who give me the chance to work with chocolate, she made me fall in love with it. She is a inspiration because she started her company alone, and years upon year it has grown. It’s really inspiring.

 

3. What has been your favourite culinary creation so far?

I would say the « Vanilla Flower » by Cédric Grolet, the texture of the ganache is really smooth, the praline inside is really crunchy and has a really good taste of vanilla. The balance between the sweetness and the vanilla is really good.

 

4. What motivated you to enter the Junior Chocolate Masters competition?

My chef Paul Stradling showed me the publication of the competition. I really wanted to challenge and motivate myself to show what I can do . It’s the chance for me to improve my skills for the Showpiece, from the sketch to the final creation.

5. What does the theme “The Changing World” evoke to you?

The Changing World is the world who’s evolving, like the flowers, the trees, even us, we are all changing, as the way we are working, eating, thinking. Especially for the vegan dessert - It’s really interesting to think differently than we learn at school to use cream, milk, butter, eggs.

 

6. How are you preparing for the competition?

I’m training after my workshift, I’m coming back during my days off, I work at home for the dessert. I organise some tasting with my friends to get their feedback.

 

7. What is your favourite chocolate? Why?

In general, I love milk chocolate and my favourite one is the Cacao Barry Papua New Guinea 35%. I really love the taste of the smoke and the roundness/sweetness of the milk chocolate.

 

8. Any ambition for the future you'd like to share with us?

I would like to continue to work in a chocolate shop to keep learning news skills, developing new creations, manage a team and in a future why not become a chocolate teacher in the professional high school where I’ve been studying. I would like to create my own chocolate and going to harvest the cocoa pods: seeing all the steps for the creations of the chocolate in real life.

 

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