Baking and Pastry Arts Management graduate Emilie Duffin and student Thuy Thanh Nhan Huynh recently travelled to Italy to participate in the Juniores Pastry World Cup, hosted from January 23-27 at the Rimini Expo Centre. Their pastries, baked goods and chocolate sculpture showcased and celebrated Canadian history, cultures and flavours.
The team's showpiece paid homage to Canada's first woman in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar.
The international team competition is designed to highlight and promote young pastry talents aged 26 or younger. Creations had to include a vegan coffee cake, a homegrown street food dessert, an innovative breakfast yeast product as well as an artistic presentation in chocolate.
Conestoga’s team paid homage to Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first woman in space. A detailed chocolate sculpture of Roberta Bondar was at the centre of the showpiece, which also featured a chocolate rocket ship, a galaxy and an Earth-shaped vegan coffee cake. Alongside it, the team presented a maple-leaf-shaped cherry butter Danish and Saskatoon and birch syrup bannock, a staple bread in many Indigenous cultures in Canada.
They had only ten hours to complete their showpiece.
Aside from the time pressure, the team also had to handle unpredictable temperatures at the competition. “It was very hot. Our chocolate didn’t set. When we tried to assemble the sculpture, we failed at first. But we still tried our best to get our product out there,” said Huynh.
Sabine Heinrich-Kumar, team lead and pastry arts professor, together with Tim Simpson, training pastry chef and pastry arts professor, selected Duffin and Huynh to travel to Italy. “They both displayed a lot of energy and are self-driven,” said Heinrich Kumar.
Duffin graduated from the Baking and Pastry Arts Management program in 2025. She won gold at Skills Ontario 2025 in the Baking category, the first time Conestoga competed in that division. Huynh is in her final term of the program. “Emilie was like my mentor. I didn’t know much about chocolate at first, and she taught me a lot. I’m so grateful to Chef Sabine and Chef Tim for giving me this opportunity and recognizing my hard work,” said Huynh.
They practiced weekly for a year leading up to the competition. When it came time to travel to Italy, the team’s suitcases were filled with baking equipment and ingredients. “The competition supplies ingredients, if needed,” explained Huynh. “But the flour in Europe is different from the flour in Canada. We practiced with local flour, so we had to bring the same flour to get the same results.”
While Conestoga supplied the ingredients for practice and the competition, the exhibitor SIGEP and their sponsors funded the team’s journey to and stay in Europe.
Conestoga was the first Canadian participant. The team came ninth out of thirteen entries and received an award recognizing their passion and dedication. The Scintilla Creativa Award is presented to teams by food and beverage publishing house Chiriotti Editori and pastry magazine Pasticceria Internazionale to celebrate professionalism, a commitment to improvement and a love of pastry-making.
“Seeing our students shine on an international stage makes me incredibly proud,” said Heinrich‑Kumar. “This award is a testament to the many hours they invested and the dedication they showed throughout the entire journey.”
Conestoga's two-year Baking and Pastry Arts Management diploma program teaches students everything from basic to advanced patisserie training and the management skills needed to operate a successful business.
Conestoga’s School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts is a leader in culinary and hospitality programming that prepares students for successful careers in Canada’s tourism industry. The Waterloo campus is home to its state-of-the-art culinary skills labs and student-run Bloom restaurant.