French World pastry champion Nina Metayer, poses during a photo session at her workshop in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, on November 6, 2023. Image: JOEL SAGET / AFPNina Metayer, the first woman to win one of the world's top pastry chef awards, doesn't believe in cutting back on the butter.
Metayer's cakes have just won her the coveted "World Confectioner" award from the International Union of Bakers and Pastry Chefs.
This is the first time the award has gone to a woman in its 92-year history.
"I'm not thinking up unbelievable recipes that no one has done before," she said.
"It's about having an instinct but also being precise down to the millimetre—everything is weighed, calculated... we have micro-scales so that we can reproduce them down to the last piece of zest."
'No glass ceiling'
Trained as a baker, Metayer found it tough to break into the male-dominated world of French boulangeries when she started out 15 years ago.
Switching to cakes "was not much easier," she said, but with perseverance Metayer landed gigs in the Michelin-starred kitchens of top chefs like Yannick Alleno and Amandine Chaignot, eventually earning her top awards from French guides.
"Nina represents all that is best in modern confectionary. She is really moving the profession forward," said Marc Esquerre of the Gault et Millau food guide. Also read: Gastronomic gems of Michelin-starred Indian chefs
Metayer moved into the large industrial space three years ago to build her own business. Â
It's a system that allows her to avoid waste and cater directly to customers' desires, she says.
Often posting videos online of her making cakes with her two young daughters, Metayer says she wants to show it is possible to be "a female chef, entrepreneur, and have a happy family".
Around her, the sous-chefs are adding touches to mango and passion fruit pavlovas and tarte tatins.
"This atmosphere, with a close team under a female chef, is reassuring for young women starting in pastry work, because it's not like this everywhere," said 30-year-old Lucie Martin-Pierrat.
The team has grown rapidly from three to 30. But while orders are pouring in after last month's award, Metayer's husband, Mathieu Salome, who helps run the business, said they do not want to turn into a production line.