This year the five finalists of the annual Classic Fine Foods Christmas Entremet Contest 2016 were selected  via a professional rating from the judges and a webpage vote. We speak to finalist François-Xavier Cocherel, from Rhubarb at the Royal Albert Hall.

This year the participant's overall score was based on two different ratings, 60% of the total was from a rating by the professional judging panel and 40% was based on a blind vote where readers were directed to a voting page and encouraged to pick their favourite entremet based on their image alone. The five with the most votes were then chosen to go through to the final. This year participants were asked to create a Christmas Entremet for 10 people weighing no less than 1.250kg. They were also asked to use at least one Valrhona chocolate, Capfruit fruit puree and one PCB item of their choice.

Over the next five days The Staff Canteen will be finding out more about each finalist, we caught up with contestant François-Xavier Cocherel to find out more about the inspiration behind his dish and how he’s feeling about the competition.

Full name: François-Xavier Cocherel

Place of work: Rhubarb (at the Royal Albert Hall)

Job title: Pastry Demi Chef de Partie

Why did you enter the competition:

I entered the competition last year and had a lot of fun creating a Christmas log. So this year I wanted to try again and see how my style and skills had evolved in the past 12 months.

What is the inspiration behind your dish:

When I was a child our Christmas table was always decorated with a Christmas crown that my grandmother used to make from scratch. I tried and reinterpreted