Originally from Sydney, Australia, Richard Hawke discovered his love for pastry during an apprenticeship with a French pastry chef in his home city. Inspired by this experience, he traveled to Lyon, where he landed a job with Jérôme Langillier (Champion du Monde de Pâtisserie, 2009). Hawke continued to hone his pastry skills at various pâtisseries in the region, then took a position teaching at l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Pâtisserie, the school founded by Yves Thuries and Alain Ducasse, where he deepened his knowledge in all aspects of his profession.

Today, Richard teaches master classes at the finest pastry schools around the globe and works as a consultant for international clients. He specializes in allergen-free baking, and has just released his first book, ADAPT: A Unique Pastry Concept (ICEP Publishing, 2021), which features a collection of Hawke’s recipes, each presented in three different versions: gluten-free, vegan and lactose-free. Ingredients include both gram amounts and percentages to enable readers to understand and adapt the recipes easier. The book is written in English and French, and includes beautiful photographs of his elegant desserts. For more info, visit www.richardhawkepastry.com.

In this episode we discuss:

• How Richard went from delivering pastry to making it
• Landing a job in Lyon with a World Pastry Champion
• Teaching at L’Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie
• How he came to specialize in vegan and allergen-free pastry
• The concept of his new book, Adapt: A Unique Pastry Concept
• Basic rules for converting recipes to gluten-free
• Can vegan dessert recipes be as good as classic ones?
• And much more!

Plus, find out more about the Pastry Arts Virtual Summit at www.pastrysummit.com.