Taste Creations
The World Chocolate Masters "Taste" challenge represents the ultimate frontier of sensory gastronomy, pushing the world’s elite pastry chefs beyond traditional boundaries to redefine how chocolate is experienced. In this stage of the competition, cocoa transforms from a familiar luxury into an evocative storytelling medium, one driven by bold temperature contrasts, multi-layered textures, kinetic plating, and boundary-pushing ingredient pairings.
KALEIDOSCOPE
Chocolates: Callebaut Peru 65% dark, Ecuador 39% milk, Velvet white; Plein Arôme cocoa powder.
Flavours: Bison grass, pear, quince, sour cream, chocolate and bison grass vodka.
Concept: A playful dessert that changes before your eyes. Its chocolate decoration creates shimmering colours through light refraction, while a frozen quince gastrique melts into a sauce, gradually revealing new flavours. Crisp cacao croustade contrasts with smooth crémeux and whipped ganache.
PINK LINE
Chocolates: Callebaut Signature Collection Rustic Philippines 68% dark and Zestina Peru 65% dark; Plein Arôme cocoa powder.
Flavours: Cranberry, lime, Clavalier pepper, quinoa, brown rice and dark chocolate.
Concept: Inspired by diamonds and panther imagery, this dessert plays with shifting light reflections and textures. The tasting progresses from crisp quinoa and rice nougatine through soft chocolate biscuit and creamy ganache to bright cranberry gel, sauce and foam.
COCOA POD
Chocolates: Callebaut 70-30-38 70.5% dark; Rouge Ultime cocoa powder.
Flavours: Lychee, raspberry, Greek yoghurt, vanilla, chocolate and liqueur-soaked dried lychee.
Concept: A hot-and-cold dessert featuring a warm molten chocolate cake, frozen fruit purée and cold yoghurt-vanilla gelato. A lychee shell slowly melts into sauce. The interaction between yoghurt and dark chocolate softens the bitterness, creating a milk-chocolate-like impression.
CRYSTAL CACAO
Chocolates: Callebaut 70-30-38 dark, 811 dark, Power 41 milk; Plein Arôme cocoa powder.
Flavours: Lemon, bitter caramel, hazelnut, coconut, cacao pulp, shio koji and ama koji.
Concept: A Japanese-inspired layered parfait presented as a mythical cacao crystal. Each spoonful reveals changing flavours, textures and temperatures, from bright lemon and cold coconut granita to rich chocolate, crunchy hazelnuts and the distinctive savoury-sweet umami of fermented koji.
TURNING BACK TIME
Chocolates: Callebaut 70-30-38 dark, Power 41 milk, Fleur de Cao 70% dark.
Flavours: Wild raspberry, makrut lime, vanilla, long pepper, almond and dark chocolate.
Concept: A warm chocolate fondant meets a chocolate-coated raspberry centre. The fruit sauce is frozen during preparation, then allowed to liquefy inside its shell. When cut, the raspberry flows into the warm fondant, combining rich chocolate with bright forest-fruit acidity.
THIS IS NOT A HAT
Chocolates: Callebaut Zestina Madagascar 67% dark, 823 milk, Velvet Ecuador 39% milk; Grand Caraque cocoa mass and Plein Arôme cocoa powder.
Flavours: Piedmont hazelnut, sourdough, bread, kumquat, chocolate, coffee and cocoa.
Concept: A trompe-l'œil dessert disguised as a bowler hat. Breaking its delicate cloud releases a savoury bread foam, revealing layers of hazelnut praline, chocolate mousse, crème brûlée and sponge. The familiar chocolate-hazelnut combination becomes a surprising sweet-and-savoury experience.
BEYOND THE VEIL
Chocolates: Callebaut Zestina Madagascar dark, Zestina Dominican Republic dark; Cacao Barry Grand Caraque cocoa mass, hazelnut praline and Extra Brut cocoa powder.
Flavours: Bergamot, Jeju lemon, tangerine-blossom honey, hazelnut, almond, vanilla, roasted barley and citrus.
Concept: A delicate bergamot air gradually disappears, revealing a peacock-inspired pastry beneath. The tasting moves from bright citrus and light textures towards creamy chocolate espuma, rich gianduja and crisp crumble, with chocolate becoming increasingly prominent.
CURRENT
Chocolates: Callebaut 60-40-38 dark, Power 41 milk; Plein Arôme cocoa powder.
Flavours: Raspberry, hazelnut praline, dark chocolate, vanilla and cocoa.
Concept: Inspired by the movement of Antwerp's port, this pastry features flowing cocoa puff-pastry curves. Bright raspberry leads the tasting before giving way to richer chocolate ganache, soft sponge and Chantilly, finishing with roasted hazelnut and crisp cocoa pastry.