Cedric Grolet, at age 11, was already clutching the whip in his hand. He worked in the kitchen of his grandparents’ hotel in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, in the Loire Valley. At 13, he officially became a kitchen apprentice and at 14, he entered the pastry school. From the age of 15 he began to collect a number of awards – including the National Trophy for Sugar Art.
Also passionate about drawing, Cedric took art classes until he was 18 years old.
After graduating, at age 21, Cedric Grolet went to work at the renowned Fauchon, where some of the great pastry chefs from all over the world have already passed.
Hard-working and obsessed with perfection, chef Grolet is also a virtuoso technician and likes to outgrow his own limits with his original creations.
In front of a brigade of 20 people, Cédric is responsible for the whole pâtisserie of the hotel Le Meurice (restaurant, tea room, breakfast, brunch, etc.). Pencil in hand, he spends hours drawing and adjusting his creations.
His signature desserts have a common characteristic, the trompe l’œil, an artistic technique used mainly in painting and architecture where the artist guides the view of the observer making him imagine that what he sees is a real image. The works seem so real that only with a more careful and time-consuming look can one perceive that it is a painting.
They are lemons, hazelnuts, pears, apricots, avocados, oranges, apples, reproduced perfectly. The skin is made of chocolate, the filling of a mousse of surprising lightness and a refreshing jelly made with the fruits themselves.
“When I was a child, instead of eating sweets, I ate fruit, it’s the nature that always inspired me. Some fruits are very good if tasted naturally but still better when you concentrate the flavor. I’m only satisfied when my dessert is better than the fruit that inspired it!
I am a man who likes simplicity and my work is dictated by the seasons. ”
His masterpiece, “the hazelnut,” is a large reconstituted hazelnut, covered with a foam scented with an infusion of roasted sicilian hazelnuts, salted butter caramel, praline and a shortbread biscuit.
In 2017, chef Cedric Grolet toured the world to present his work in schools and discover other cultures through his kitchens: Moscow, Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Chicago and Mexico were the chosen countries. His Instagram account has plus 700,000 subscribers around the world, some of whom book their five-day courses months in advance and travel miles to get to know you.
In the last 4 years Cedric Grolet has won the most prestigious prizes of the world confectionery:
– Best Chef Confeiteiro of France of the year 2015 by Magazine Le Chef
– Relais Desserts Award for the Best Confectioner of 2016
– Omnivore 2017 Pastry Award
– Best Pâtisserie chef in the world for “Les Grandes Tables du Monde” 2017
– Best chef of Pâtisserie 2018 according to the guide Gault & Millau.
His first book “Fruits” was published in October 2017 by the publisher Ducasse.
And find out more about Chef in this excellent video (in French):
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