TV “To our princes I am not just a number. Queen Mathilde recently came to chat with me about chocolate.” ‘Bake Off Flanders’ jury member Herman Van Dender (65) has been a purveyor to the royal family for fifteen years and was recently named best chocolatier of the year by Gault-Millau. “Twenty years ago I was allowed to make the wedding cake of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire.”
Just like his fellow jury member, baking expert and culinary author Regula Ysewijn, Herman has been there from the first season. “After six seasons, I secretly expected that they would ask me again this year,” he says. “Moreover, I have been asked again for an eighth season, which may come next year.” Herman is a pastry chef-chocolatier by training, but professionally his focus is on chocolate. “I have completed the pastry section. Our new chocolate shop recently opened its doors in Boterstraat on Brussels’ Grote Markt, an ideal location because many tourists come and they like to take home a box of artisanal Belgian pralines.”
Can you easily plan such a recording season for ‘Bake Off’ in your agenda?
Yes, because recording takes place during the weekends and I am usually free then. I have my own chocolate company with a number of employees and the business will continue to run for a while even without me. This may be a little more difficult for presenter Wim Opbrouck, because he is much busier during the weekends with engagements in the theater and with his music. I look forward to those recordings every year. Being able to work again with Wim and Regula and that fantastic team: great!
(Read more below the photo)
Wim Opbrouck, Regula Ysewijn and Herman Van Dender in ‘Bake Off Flanders’. © Play Media
Ideal school
Do you think you have gotten a better handle on judging after all these years?
Remember, I come from a professional environment. I have participated in Belgian championships and world championships myself. I have appeared as a Belgian jury member at the World Pastry Championships four times, after having participated twice myself. And then you are judging at a very high level. Peter Goossens would like me to be on the jury of the Bocuse d’Or cooking competition every year, but I do not judge desserts, only the starters or main courses.
For an amateur competition like ‘Bake Off Flanders’ you have to turn a switch, right?
I should not lose sight of the fact that I am judging people who are not professionally involved in baking. These candidates want honest feedback because they can learn something from it. But their professional future usually does not depend on it. They especially want to get better at their hobby and passion. That’s quite a difference.
I encountered myself several times at pastry competitions
Herman Van Dender
You yourself were awarded this year by Gault-Millau as the best chocolatier of the year. Does such a prize still stroke your ego?
Certainly, also because it is an award that you can only win once in your life. That was still something on my wish list. Every year I was invited to the awards ceremony. And every year I dreamed that maybe one day I would win myself. This year I succeeded. I will no longer participate in regular competitions. I don’t think anyone in Belgium has done as many pastry competitions as me.
Do you learn anything from such a competition?
Yes, both from your fellow candidates and from the jury. The bar is high and you encounter yourself during a competition. While when you bake at home for Aunt Sidonie and Uncle Filemon, you have a very grateful but less demanding audience. They quickly find something tasty. In a competition you have to make five to ten different bakes that you can compare with what your fellow candidates conjure up from the oven. You can then see how far you are and whether you have mastered the techniques. Then you also know where your mistakes lie and what still needs to be worked on. Then you can only get better. It is an ideal school.
(Read more below the photo)
Herman Van Dender and Regula Ysewijn. © Play Media
An informal chat
You have also been a purveyor to the Royal Household for fifteen years now. What is the most recent order you received from the Palace?
Oh, I don’t always know, because the palace employees sometimes come to collect something incognito, especially when it comes to daily products. But for the larger banquets I am asked in time to provide the desserts, most recently during the state visit of the Dutch royal couple to our country. The table area inside the Laeken Palace is usually limited to one hour. Afterwards there is a walking buffet and then our monarchs will drink coffee with their guests in the royal greenhouses. This way they can talk to as many guests as possible in a more casual way, while they have to limit themselves to their neighbor at the table.
I was recently invited to the tenth anniversary of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde
Herman Van Dender
Do you stand behind a pillar beaming and keeping an eye on what appeals most?
(laughs) Sometimes I get invited myself. Just two weeks ago, during a gala evening in the Royal Munt Theater in honor of the tenth anniversary of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. After the opera there was a reception in the foyer of the theater. There were also a number of certified purveyors present, and our royal couple took the opportunity to have a brief informal chat with everyone.
Do they immediately know who they are dealing with?
It is not the case that King Philippe stands in traffic every Sunday to come and buy rolls from us and have a chat, but Queen Mathilde came to me at that reception and she started talking about chocolate. I certainly shouldn’t introduce myself and tell people that I make chocolate. She knows that. That gives some kind of satisfaction. You are not just a number to them. They are always extremely knowledgeable and interested. And in this way we also get to know our top customers better.
(Read more below the photo)
Herman Van Dender on the tenth anniversary of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. © RV
Not too sweet
After all these years, Herman, do you know what preferences our monarchs have when it comes to pastry and chocolate?
They love dark chocolate with little sugar. But that is precisely my trump card. I make everything with very little added sugar, because sugar dulls the taste. The less you use, the more the natural flavors come to the fore. You have to taste the pure flavors of the ingredients. Filip and Mathilde also prefer Belgian chocolate, as did King Albert II at the time. I was often given carte blanche by the Palace, including when I was allowed to make the wedding cake of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire twenty years ago. There were only two conditions: not too sweet and with Belgian chocolate.
Finally: you are gradually entering the busiest period of the year, with Sinterklaas and the holidays. Then pralines are sometimes given as gifts. Are there any new trends in that area this year?
Yes, we are working a lot with nuts this season. Almonds and hazelnuts are grateful products. We select them in the region of origin. This is how you make a difference and deliver top quality.
LOOK. 10 moments from 10 years of King Philippe
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Herman Van Dender elected ‘Chocolatier of the Year’ 2023 by Gault & Millau
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2023-11-11 13:00:54
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