Spain's Lluc Crusellas earned first place in the World Chocolate Masters final, held Oct. 29-31 in Paris. 

The judges were impressed by his attention to detail, creativity and knowledge of flavor. On Day 2, he impressed them with his bonbon and #TASTE assignments. During the Super Final, the judges noticed that he replaced 100% of the sugar in his brioche and still got a fluffy and moist dessert.

The top three in the competition included:

1. Lluc Crusellas - Spain
2. Antoine Carréric - France
3. Nicolas Nikolakopoulos - Greece

In five assignments, 18 chefs showcased their chocolate talent with creativity. All of this was made possible by months of training in their atelier and in the Chocolate Academy, together with their "chocolate godparent" — a Chocolate Academy chef assigned to each finalist to support and advise during their preparation for the competition.

Invited to express their vision of how tomorrow may taste, the competing chefs faced a series of challenges designed to evoke all the senses and put their expertise to the test:

• #SHARE is all about sharing moments of chocolate, with chefs tasked to create a chocolate gift for six people or more. 
• Storytelling with chocolate: what #WOW is all about, where chefs are challenged to craft a window shop display that takes pride of place in any chocolate dream.
• #TASTE challenges chefs to make a fresh chocolate patisserie from scratch, where their vision of tomorrow takes on a local flavor with the inclusion of an ingredient sourced close to home.
• The finalists were tasked with creating an innovative #BONBON with at least two different textures — one that shows their vision of tomorrow and has a shelf life of at least two weeks.