Figtree chef takes the cake: Brooke Silk places third in World Food Championships with well-balanced dessert

Figtree private chef Brooke Silk not only took home third place in the dessert category at the 2024 World Food Championships in Indianapolis this month, but has earned herself an automatic “golden ticket” for the international competition next year.

After winning the qualifiers in Sydney in October for the second year in a row, Brooke earned a golden ticket to the international finals, where her desserts wowed judges.

Brooke said the food sport event involved competing against the world’s best chefs and cooks for the ultimate title of World Food Champion and a $US150,000 grand prize.

Going into the competition, she was hoping to better last year’s performance in Dallas, where she received 93.5 out of 100 for her dessert, which wasn’t enough for her to progress to the next round.

So she was thrilled to not only make the final but take out third spot on 12 November in Indianapolis.

“It was an incredible experience to represent Australia on the global stage and I couldn’t be prouder of the results,” Brooke said.

“Because I finished in the top three, I get an automatic entry into next year’s competition.”

Brooke said with three other Australians also earning automatic entry for next year, it potentially meant a bigger national representation at the next international competition.

She said there were two rounds this year in Indianapolis, where she was supported by her accountant partner as sous chef to make a hazelnut cake with a lemon curd, an Italian meringue and a white-chocolate soil, and raspberry jellies.

“How it works is the top five people, based on the scores, get through the first round, and then you get two people through judges’ choice,” she said.

“There’s a bunch of chefs who walk around and judge how you’re working, the techniques you’re using, and how your kitchen is.

“We got the first judges’ choice.

“That was probably better than getting a higher score, because they’re actually monitoring you and making sure you’re doing the process properly.”

Brooke said for the final, participants had to use buttermilk or whipping cream, so she chose to make a buttermilk cheesecake with brulee top, Chantilly cream with poached apple and almond crumble and caramel sauce.

“The judges said it was very well balanced but where I could have done better was I didn’t explain the dish quite as well as what I should,” she said.

“What you have to do is get up in front of the five judges sitting at the table and you have to explain your dish.

“I explained the dish, but I forgot to mention I put freeze-dried raspberries on it.

“You lose points if you’re not explaining everything that’s on there.”

Brooke said her strong overall score was based on execution, taste and appearance, with each category contributing a different weighted percentage to the final result.

“I think we were only one point away from pretty much winning the whole thing with the execution,” she said.

With a quick turnaround from competing in the national event in September to going to the global contest in November, it meant little time to research and source produce in America.

However, she said she learned from the previous year to look for what was in season and ask chefs while out to dinner where they sourced their products.

Brooke runs home chef service and catering business Dine In.