Sugar High

Pastry chefs Benjamin Goh and Carina Tan shine on the world stage

- Charlene Chow

Ben Goh, pastry chef at InterContinental Singapore, and Carina Tan, commis pastry chef at Fairmont Singapore, vividly recall their Mondial des Arts Sucrés (International Confectionery Art Competition) experience. It was the height of a wintry February in Paris; the stage was Europain, a leading pastry-bakery show on the international circuit. Their mission: To produce three showpieces, a plated restaurant dessert, an individual small glazed cake, an entremet and two confectioneries, based on the theme ‘French luxury’. The duo had 19 hours to prepare all the pastries, and despite being faced with some challenges along the way, they did well to achieve second runner-up out of 16 teams.

Although Goh and Tan come from very different backgrounds, the pair work very well together. For Goh, pastry had him at kueh lapis. He dreamt of being a pastry chef from a young age, since the first time he helped his grandmother make the multi-layered kueh. Tan, on the other hand, had an interest in baking but dabbled in engineering before she set her heart on a pastry career. And while Tan had snagged some local awards—such as Best Chocolate Showpiece & Plated Dessert at Singapore Pastry Cup 2017—she had never competed internationally. In contrast, Goh had major titles under his belt, including being part of the overall championship team at the 2013 Dubai World Hospitality Championship, and first runner-up at the 2016 Japan Cake Show Tokyo. No matter. After training together for eight months, Goh and Tan became a team that worked together like clockwork.