Prue Leith Chefs Academy was incredibly proud this week when former Executive Chef and friend of the Academy, Lorraine Meaney, challenged the pastry skills of Masterchef South Africa contestants.

Meaney was a guest chef on episode 12 of the popular show Masterchef South Africa. She made a divine looking Passion Hazelnut Gateau - a complex chocolate mousse cake with a biscuit base, meringue layer and a passion fruit panna cotta middle, all covered in a shiny chocolate glaze. Contestants Deena, Thys and Jade went into this epic Pressure Test, and needed to recreate the same dessert in three hours! The challenge was set.

Meaney was Prue Leith's Head Pastry Chef for eight years and for the last 3 of those years also the Academy’s Executive Chef before joining the Cape Grace in January last year. Meaney's passion for pastry and precision resulted in a strong foundation for the Academy's pastry department, and she also designed the Academy's Professional Patisserie course after Prue Leith identified the need for a dedicated full-time Professional Pastry course and sent her to France to further study for two months at the world renowned Chef Alain Ducasse’s Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie in mid-2009.

Find out more about the Prue Leith Chefs Academy’s highly respectedDiploma in Patisserie by following this link
http://www.prueleith.co.za/course/diploma-in-patisserie
Video link: http://masterchefsa.dstv.com/Video/Play.aspx?vid=207231