Pastry and confectionery competitions in 2025

The year 2025 promises to be full of challenges in showcasing the art of sweets in all its forms. A host of events and competitions will punctuate the year and will allow talent to be revealed in pastry making, chocolate making, and ice cream making.

These key moments in the calendar allow us to identify trends in terms of tastes or presentation , to discover innovations , to spot talented young chefs, but also for candidates, to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their passion and expertise .

In our 2025 calendar of pastry and sweet arts competitions , we have gathered a varied selection: prestigious competitions, world days, contests and trophies or trade shows dedicated to sweet arts.

Baking competitions are opportunities, and in particular, a chance to:

• Challenge yourself in competitions where talents from all over the world compete.
• Showcase your expertise
• Push the boundaries of your creativity
• Experience a real adrenaline rush, alone or as a team!
• Or simply observe the candidates' techniques to draw inspiration.

Mark your calendars for the events you don't want to miss in 2025, including:

→ Pastry competition
→ Chocolate and Confectionery Competition 2025
→ Ice Cream and Sorbet Competition 2025
→ Mixed and specialized competitions
→ Apprentice and amateur competitions 2025

Pastry competition 2025

• Pastry World Cup

📅 January 23-27, 2025
📍 Lyon, France - SIRHA Lyon
An iconic global event reserved for professionals. For 9 hours, national teams create chocolate and sugar desserts and sculptures.
🔗 Official website

• National Croquembouche Festival

📅 March 8, 2025
📍 Biarritz, France - HORESTA
Candidates must present a display piece of between 60 and 90 cream puffs, which will be judged on creativity and technical skill. It is open to apprentices, professionals, and artisan pastry chefs.
🔗 Official website

• New Desserts Trophy

📅 March 2025
📍Strasbourg, France - EGAST
Open to pastry professionals from the Grand Est region (business owner, production manager and any pastry worker aged 18 years or older holding a CAP pastry chef qualification).
🔗 Official website

• French Dessert Championship

📅 April 2025
📍 Rennes, France
Participants, whether professionals or apprentices, create a plated dessert in 3 hours. Junior and professional categories.
🔗 Official website

• Talented Fruits Competition (Andros)

📅 May 2025
📍 Lot, France
A competition for students and apprentices, showcasing fruit in innovative sweet creations. Candidates must be 30 years of age or older on the day of the final.
🔗 Official website

• MAF Pastry Shop

📅 Final: October 2025
📍 Paris, France - Paris Chocolate Fair
Competition for apprentices (16-21 years old), celebrating excellence in chocolate and confectionery.
🔗 Official website

• Challenge your senses

📅 October 2025
📍 Nantes, France - SERBOTEL Trade Fair
Each chef and apprentice duo must recreate a pastry discovered blindfolded.
🔗 Official website

• The Golden Spoon

📅 November 2025
📍 Paris, France - EquipHotel Lounge
Competition reserved for women (professionals and amateurs), with a challenge to create creative desserts on a given theme.
🔗 Official website

• Best Vanilla Flan Competition

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
Participants must elevate this essential French pastry with creativity and technical skill.
🔗 Official website 

• Best Chocolate Éclair Competition

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
Reserved for food industry professionals, highlighting a revisited classic.
🔗 Official website

• Best Chocolate Yule Log Competition

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
This competition is open to professional pastry chefs, bakers, chocolatiers, restaurateurs, ice cream makers.
🔗 Official website

Chocolate and confectionery competition

• Cacao Criollo Trophy

  

📅 February 2025
📍 Nice, France - AGECOTEL
An artistic competition for experienced pastry chefs and chocolatiers, based on the theme "Art and Design".
🔗 Official website

• BOGATO Competition

📅 May-June 2025
📍 Paris, France
A national competition open to amateurs and professionals, ideal for enthusiasts wishing to challenge themselves with chocolate.
🔗 Official website

• MAF Chocolate and Confectionery

📅 Final: October 2025
📍 Paris, France - Paris Chocolate Fair
Competition for apprentices (16-21 years old), celebrating excellence in chocolate and confectionery.
🔗 Official website

• Pascal Caffet Trophy

📅 November 10, 2025
📍 Troyes, France - Gastronomy Fair
Open to apprentice pastry chefs, chocolatiers and confectioners under 20 years of age, the objective is to promote the chocolate-making professions.
🔗 Official website

• Criollo Trophy

📅 November 23-25, 2025
📍 Bordeaux, France - Exp'hotel
Competition reserved for professionals, combining the Pierre Mirgalet Trophy (chocolate) and the Thierry Bamas Trophy (pastry).
🔗 Official website

• Bruno Le Derf Trophy

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
A high-level competition with selection based on application, open to all professionals. Participants must create an artistic piece entirely made of chocolate on the theme "Celebration and Indulgence".
🔗 Official website

• Pro and junior golden pod

📅November 2025
📍Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
Competition with 2 categories (junior and professional). Competition based on the creation of chocolate pieces.
🔗 Official website

Ice cream and sorbet competition

• MAF Glacier manufacturer

• Glacier Challenge

• Snöbell – Ice Cream and Sorbet Trophy

• Taste bud agitator trophy

📅 October 2025
📍 Nantes, France - SERBOTEL Trade Fair
Competition focused on chocolate, with artistic and technical challenges around entremets.
🔗 Official website

• French Championship of Culinary Arts

📅October 2025
📍 Nantes, France - SERBOTEL Trade Fair
Open to all students and apprentices enrolled in the Vocational Technical Certificate (BTM) and Vocational Baccalaureate (Bac Pro) programs who are in their second year of training in Pastry (BTP Pâtissier), Ice Cream (BTM Glacier), or Chocolate (BLM Chocolatier), and in their final year of the Bac Pro. Applicants must be under 26 years of age on the day of the final rounds. The competition includes pastry, chocolate, and ice cream making.
🔗 Official website

• European Sugar Art Championship

📅November 2025
📍Lyon, France - SIRHA Lyon
Candidates will have to create an artistic work using pulled sugar, blown sugar, ribbons, and other original techniques.
🔗 Official website

• International Pastry and Chocolate Trophy

📅 November 2025
📍 Paris, France - Paris Chocolate Fair
Competition organized into 2 categories (amateurs and professionals). Open to professional pastry chefs, chocolatiers, confectioners, and ice cream makers working in France.
🔗 Official website

• World of Gourmet Coffee

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
Open to adults aged at least 20 years, with a minimum of 2 years of experience in the food industry, on the date of the start of the competition, all nationalities in the world can be represented.
🔗 Official website

Apprentice and amateur competitions

• Limouzi golden trophy

  

📅 April 2025
📍 Limoges, France
Dedicated to amateurs and apprentices, showcasing the Limousin apple through innovative creations.
🔗 Official website

• Nutella Academy Competition

📅 October 2025
📍 Paris, France
National competition for apprentices and students in training, showcasing creations based on Nutella.
🔗 Official website

• Amateur Breton Far Competition

📅 November 2025
📍 Vannes, France - Chocolate Fair
Reserved for enthusiasts, showcasing the famous Breton dessert in a friendly atmosphere.
🔗 Official website

© Photo credits:

CMA Formation Bourgogne Franche-Comté, World Pastry Cup on L'Est Républicain, Ajay Boodhoo Photography for Journal des Femmes, Bourians blog for the Andros competition, Nougat Chabert & Guillot, Freepik, Radio France - Thibault Delmarle, © FTV Enrique Garibaldi for France Info and the French Dessert Championship, Christian Visticot for Sud Ouest, Laëtitia Bertoni for the Fruits de Talent Andros Chef competition and La Dépêche, Antoine Hebert at the Vannes International Chocolate & Pastry Fair, www.exphotel.fr , www.salon-du-chocolat.com, www.nutella.com/