South Australian bakeries, apprentices and trainees have been recognised across professional baking categories at the 2026 Royal Adelaide Show, with Prove Patisserie claiming two of the competition’s major awards.
Held on September 3rd, the competition featured sweet and savoury products spanning pastries, desserts, pasties and traditional bakery goods.
Recognising Baking Excellence
Prove Patisserie took home two of the competition’s major awards, namely the Baking Association of Australia Prize and the Tecnoeka Prize Champion Product of the Show for its chocolate hazelnut Danish.
The Danish was created by Ella Knightley, who also received the Moi International Prize Champion Apprentice/Trainee/TAFE Student Champion Award. Judges said the quality of the winning product was immediately apparent.
“It had excellent texture variation, from the laminated pastry through to the filling, with really deep, developed flavour” chief baking judge and Allied Pinnacle baker Michael Prowse said.
Banana Boogie won the Standard Pastries category, with Prowse praising its flavour and pastry.
“They use a good size diced vegetable with ample meat with a beautiful puff pastry that was flaky with great lamination” he said.
Uraidla Bakery won The Laucke Flour Mills Prize for Best Croissant. Prowse described the entry as “perfect with great lamination and honeycomb crumb structure that we would expect from a gold medal croissant, but along with that was the outstanding flavour of the butter used in the croissant”.
Supporting Emerging Talent
Apprentices and trainees also performed strongly among this year’s entries, competing alongside established professionals and receiving recognition for their technical skills.
Prowse said the judges were particularly impressed by the standard demonstrated in the apprentice and trainee categories. “Overall the judges were extremely pleased with the standard of the entries, particularly the quality coming through from the apprentice and trainee categories”.
The results highlight the technical breadth of professional baking and the strength of talent emerging through the industry’s apprentice and trainee pathways.
