It’s anything but a chocolate cup. Employed at the Conservatoire de la Confiserie, in Amboise, Marine Tabert was rewarded during the Coupe de France for young chocolatiers and confectioners 2023, which recently took place in Paris. The young woman received the flavor cup from the hands of a jury made up of professionals and academics, a distinction rewarded for work mainly noted on taste and presentation.

A piece on the theme “Aztecs and cocoa”

« C’est pour moi une grande fierté d’avoir remporté ce concours, un grand encouragement de la part de ces professionnels. En plus, je commence à me faire un nom dans la profession», confie Marine Tabert, employée depuis un an et demi au Conservatoire de Confiserie ouvert par Nicolas Viollet dans le quartier du Bout-des-Ponts. 

“I learned a lot from Nicolas Viollet. Here, I feel good, I love my job, I learn every day and, during visiting days, I love talking about it and communicating my knowledge.”

To participate in the Coupe de France, organized by the French Academy of Chocolate and Confectionery, each competitor had to first complete a theoretical test, then go through four practical tests. The first test consisted of making a piece approximately one meter high, with a base of 45cm, on the theme “Aztecs and cocoa”.

A hundred hours of work

“To create this piece, I was inspired, on the first floor, by the gods and symbols of this Amerindian people to finish, at the very top, with two hands holding a pod as an offering to the God of the Sun,” explains Marine Tabert. The other tests consisted of creating a chocolate candy, a fruit paste and, finally, a chocolate nougatine. 

“For the chocolate candy, I chose to think outside the box, with a balance of tastes to make a ganache infused in two layers: cocoa praline plus Chiloé berry and a bergamot with black tea. As for the fruit jellies, I I relied on a banana and passion fruit base with, inside, a slightly peppery rum and cocoa liquid, all in a nougatine box. 

In total, a good hundred hours of work duly rewarded!