Recently, North Kent College student Abby Webster was invited to compete at The Chefs' Forum Student Pastry Chef of the Year 2023 competition to find the next best pastry chefs. The final took place at West London College and Abby was one of 12 students to make it to this stage.
Abby was tasked with designing a plated fine dining dessert for a tasted and visual assessment by their panel of expert judges. The final lasted 4 hours, followed by judging, lunch and a prize giving ceremony. Abby was joined by North Kent College Chef Lecturer Andy Barker and the head chef of her current employment (The Beacon, Tunbridge Wells), Scott Goss. Abby was extremely proud of herself to get to the final and excited to represent Kent at the competition.
After judging, Abby came in at fourth place, missing the third place position by a few marks. Abby did a fantastic job staying calm and producing a brilliant dessert that saw her place fourth in the country.
Andy Barker, Lecturer in Hospitality and Catering, said “Myself as Abby’s lecturer I am extremely proud of Abby’s commitment and dedication to reaching the live finals to showcase to the culinary world her skills and talent. Abby performed amazingly in the live final overcoming a wide range of different hurdles and pressure to plate her 5 star fine dining dessert to 12 Michelin starred judges who included ‘Great British bake off the professional’ judges Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden. Abby did me and the college proud. Additionally, Scott Goss was extremely proud of Abby’s Performance.“