Baker Bjarke rises to the top of competition

TasTAFE Bakery Apprentice Bjarke Svendsgaard recently took out first prize at the LA Judge Award in Sydney.

The LA Judge Award recognises the best young baking apprentices in Australia and New Zealand. The competition takes place over three days and assesses all aspects of baking, from practical skills to theory and presentation.

Bjarke, who plies his trade at Oliver’s Latrobe Café Bakery, won himself an all-expenses paid trip to Belgium to go along with the title of Baking Apprentice of the Year.

He said he owes a lot of his success in the competition and his career to his experience at TasTAFE.

“TasTAFE has done a really good job teaching me the practical skills. It’s shown me a lot of different sides of baking.”

“Both Ben (Benoit Marchand) and Scotty (Scott Townsend) (Drysdale Devonport teachers) have been really awesome in supporting me and teaching me through the programs.”

Currently also studying mathematics part-time at Deakin University, Bjarke has found the combination of his practical skills and smarts in the theory side have made him a natural baker.

“I really enjoy the theory side of baking... The theory is about how the different ingredients affect each other and work together. You need certain ratios of flour and yeast and water for the loaf to come out correctly.”

Bjarke said he leaned on his theory knowledge in the lead-up to the competition.

“You can’t do much to prepare. You find out how the competition works once you get there but I did a lot of theory research. We also had to do a presentation on ourselves, so I did that too but for the practical stuff, you’re thrown into the deep end when you get there.”

As part of the competition, competitors were required to make a bread plaque in the shape of an Australian landmark. Bjarke made one in the shape of the Richmond Bridge, but joked that it came out looking more like a six-legged horse.

He overcame the horse plaque and will soon be jetting off to Belgium to study at Puratos, one of the world’s leading baking companies.

It’s been quite the journey in the baking world for Bjarke, who started in the industry working every Sunday while in school just to earn some money.

He was still working there once he finished year twelve and was offered an apprenticeship. He hasn’t looked back since.

“The more I’ve worked in the industry and the more effort I put in, the more I liked it. Then I just totally fell in love with baking a year and a half ago.”

In addition to his trip to Belgium, Bjarke will soon be representing Tasmania in the Retail Baking competition at WorldSkills Australia National Championships in Melbourne.