Ed Loftus, executive pastry chef of Jamie Oliver Ltd scooped the top prize in the ‘over 22’s’ category and will be joining Thomas Leatherbarrow, pastry chef at Pollen Street Social - who was victorious in the ‘under 22’s’ group, on a trip to visit a cocoa plantation in Ghana.

To enter the competition, chefs, chocolatiers and pâtissiers were invited put a creative twist on one of the nation’s top five chocolate desserts – brownie, cheesecake, cake, pudding and ice cream.

Ed’s successful entry - The Ultimate Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich – features two layers of chocolate chip cookie tuille, sandwiching layers of white chocolate parfait, roasted cocoa nib jelly, arriba chocolate, burnt caramel parfait and a molten gianduja centre. This is then half dipped in chocolate before rolling the edges in toasted nibbed hazelnuts.

He said: “I love nostalgic desserts that remind us of growing up and reinventing these childhood favourites is a big passion of mine. The ice cream sandwich is perfect for this and, best of all, is completely accessible to everyone. There are so many different ways to use chocolate so it’s great to see Callebaut inspiring chefs to think differently. I’m chuffed to have won – I’ve never been to a cocoa plantation before and I’m sure it will be an amazing experience!”

Thomas incorporated Callebaut Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa) and Callebaut White Chocolate (28% cocoa) with smoked sea salt and whole pistachios for his innovative twist on a chocolate brownie, before serving it with vanilla cream and candied kumquats.

Thomas said: “Winning Callebaut’s For The Love Of Chocolate Challenge is a huge honour for me and the trip will be an amazing experience. I have used Callebaut’s range of chocolate for a few years now to create many different dishes – entering this challenge has given me the opportunity to showcase my style and passion for creating desserts!”

The Challenge forms part of Callebaut’s “For The Love Of Chocolate” campaign which has been developed to guide caterers through their chocolate choices and ensure dessert menus remain profitable by giving customers exactly what they want.