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Darren Purchese (born 3 February 1975) is a British pastry chef, author and television personality. He is the creator of the popular cake and dessert business, Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, in Melbourne, Australia. Darren is a regular guest chef on Network 10's Masterchef Australia.

A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (August 2019)

Darren Purchese
Born	(1975-02-03) 3 February 1975 (age 47) Guildford, Surrey, England, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Pastry chef business owner television personality
Years active	1995 – present
Spouse	Cath Claringbold
Website	www.darrenpurchese.com

Career

Pastry chef

In 1997, Purchese joined the pastry department at the Savoy Hotel and worked under pastry chef William Curley in the main pastry department, the bakery and in the River Restaurant. He worked his way to the position of senior pastry chef before moving to the Goring Hotel in 2000 as head pastry chef. In 2002, he moved to Raffles Brown's Hotel in Mayfair as pastry chef of '1837' restaurant where he stayed until 2003. He then moved to the Bentley Hotel in Knightsbridge as executive pastry chef. It was during his time at the Bentley Hotel that he received an Acorn Award from the magazine, Caterer and Hotelkeeper[1] awarded to the most promising persons under the age of 30 in the UK hospitality industry.

In 2004 while working in London, Purchese was invited to present as a guest chef at The Brisbane Masterclass Weekend in Queensland, Australia. It was here that Purchese met his future wife Cath Claringbold, a Melbourne chef and restaurateur. Purchese returned to Australia, this time to Melbourne, in 2005 and began working for Shannon Bennett at his Vue de monde restaurant as head pastry chef. During Purchese's time at Vue de monde, the restaurant received '3 Chef's Hats' in The Age Good Food Guide and Best Restaurant in the Gourmet Traveller Magazine. Purchese also oversaw the pastry department in the newly opened Cafe Vue [2] and Bistro Vue businesses.[3]

Since being in Australia Purchese has also worked as pastry chef for Gary Mehigan at his then restaurant Fenix,[4] as pastry chef at Bennelong Restaurant situated in the iconic Sydney Opera House.[5] Purchese has also acted as pastry chef consultant to many high end restaurants and food businesses most notably for George Calombaris at his The Press Club restaurant.

Purchese regularly appears as a guest chef at many Australian food events and festivals, he has presented two Masterclasses at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2010 and 2012.[6] Purchese presented a Masterclass at the World Chef Showcase at the 2012 Crave Sydney food festival alongside illustrious chefs such as Antonio Carluccio, Jordi Roca, Christina Tosi, Massimo Bottura and Jason Atherton.[7]

Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio

In April 2011 Purchese opened his first business, Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio on Melbourne's shopping, dining and entertainment precinct Chapel Street. Sweet Studio is primarily a retail space producing cakes and desserts of various flavours and sizes.

B&P also serves coffee and has outdoor seating, on Chapel Street. The business is owned and operated solely by Darren and his wife Cath. Cooking demonstrations, dining and tastings have also taken place in the studio.

Television

Darren regularly appears on Australian television most notably on Network Ten's Masterchef Australia[8] where he has presented a Masterclass in series 2,[9] participated in an immunity challenge against eventual winner Kate Bracks in series 3, as a guest judge on an episode in season 4 and as guest chef on a Pressure Test episode in series 5.[10] Purchese has also appeared in episodes of MasterChef Australia All-Stars and Masterchef Australia: The Professionals. Recently he has set a pressure test in series 7, where the contestants had to make his Passion flower. Series 9 saw him set a huge off site challenge where the two teams had to create edible art inspired by Darren's work.

Darren was also a regular chef presenter on Network Ten's The Circle and Scope. He has appeared on numerous travel and lifestyle programs on SBS, Nine Network[11] Seven and the ABC.[12] Darren also appeared in a cameo role in the television series Neighbours in 2015.[13]

Masterchef Australia Appearances

Date	Season	Episode	Notes	Total viewers (5 Metro Cities)	Nightly Ranking
Friday 11 June 2010	2	Masterclass 8	Darren demonstrated his 'Fruit Carnival' dessert.	1,208,000	2nd
Sunday 25 July 2010	2	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	5,743,000	1st
Tuesday 14 June 2011	3	Immunity Challenge 6	Darren beat eventual winner Kate Bracks (26-24).	1,559,000	2nd
Sunday 7 August 2011	3	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	2,740,000	1st
Wednesday 18 July 2012	4	Offsite Challenge 9	Guest judge at the 'Careme' Challenge at Sydney's Curzon House.	1,426,000	1st
Wednesday 25 July 2012	4	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	2,911,000	1st
Sunday 5 August 2012	All Stars	Immunity Challenge	Rematch of Darren vs Kate from season 3 - Kate won and Darren donated $1000 to her chosen charity.	787,000	7th
Sunday 19 August 2012	All Stars	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement	1,050,000	7th
Wednesday 21 August 2013	5	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Chocolate, Rhubarb & Ginger' elimination challenge.	807,000	9th
Sunday 1 September 2013	5	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	1,057,000	5th
Wednesday 28 May 2014	6	Offsite Challenge 3	Four Course Dessert Degustation Challenge.	779,000	11th
Thursday 5 June 2014	6	Masterclass	Darren's Tarte Tatin at Staples Apples Orchard & Farm, Victoria.	688,000	17th
Sunday 20 July 2014	6	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Banana Split' elimination challenge.	1,076,000	7th
Monday 28 July 2014	6	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	1,654,000	2nd
Wednesday 24 June 2015	7	Offsite Challenge 7	Guest judge in the afternoon tea challenge at the Hotel Windsor in Melbourne, Victoria.	1,221,000	1st
Monday 6 July 2015	7	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Passion Flower' elimination challenge.	1,012,000	4th
Monday 27 July 2015	7	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	1,840,000	2nd
Wednesday 24 May 2017	9	Offsite Challenge	Edible dessert 'Greenhouse' challenge as part of Sweet Week.	845,000	7th
Monday 24 July 2017	9	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	1,303,000	2nd
Monday 4 June 2018	10	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Peach Melba' elimination challenge.	850,000	6th
Tuesday 31 July 2018	10	Finale	Appearance at the winner announcement.	1,309,000	1st
Monday 6 May 2019	11	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Bombe Alaska' elimination challenge.	607,000	13th
Tuesday 23 July 2019	11	Finale	Guest diner at the service challenge and appearance at the winner announcement.	997,000	3rd
Tuesday, 12 May 2020	12	Pressure Test	Darren's 'Mango Passionfruit Pavlova' elimination challenge.	999,000	5th
Sunday, 12 July 2020	12	All In Elimination Challenge	Guest diner at the service elimination challenge	957,000	4th
Sunday 1 November 2020	Junior 3	All In Elimination Challenge	Darren's 'Snow' elimination challenge.	528,000	8th

Author

Darren Purchese has written five cook books:

• Sweet Studio - The Art of Divine Desserts Murdoch Books (2012) ISBN 978-1-742663-37-1
• Lamingtons & Lemon Tart Hardie Grant Books (2016) ISBN 978-1-743791-86-8
• Chefs Eat Toasties Too - A Pro's Guide To Reinventing Your Sandwich Game Hardie Grant Books (2017) ISBN 978-1-743793-05-3
• Chefs Host Christmas Too - A Cook's Guide To Blitzing The Holiday Season Hardie Grant Books (2018) ISBN 978-1-743794-78-4
• Chefs Eat Breakfast Too - An Expert's Guide To Starting The Day Right Hardie Grant Books (2019) ISBN 978-1-743794-85-2

Chefs Eat Toasties Too has been translated and distributed internationally under the following publishers:

• Tasty Tosti's Luitingh-Sijthoff (2018) ISBN 978-90-245-81-19-1
• Sefkuchari Take Miluji Tousty Metafora (2018) ISBN 978-80-7359-561-6
• Chefs Eat Melts Too Hardie Grant Books (2018) ISBN 978-1-74379-459-3

Darren has contributed recipes to a number of cook books as a guest contributor, some of the books include:

• The Broadsheet Melbourne Cookbook (2015) ISBN 978-1-743537-84-8
• Forage - A Culinary Journey Through Victoria (2015)

Brand relationships

Darren Purchese is an ambassador for the AFL Club Sydney Swans.

Purchese is actively involved in charity work and is an ambassador for the Cancer Council Australia and My Room Children's Cancer Charity.

In 2012 Purchese collaborated with Connoisseur, an Australian ice cream producer, to design a new flavour to promote their "Uniquely Australian" range. Murray River Salted Caramel Swirl with Chocolate Coated Toasted Hazelnuts was offered on the Australian market in 2012/2013.[14]

References

External links

Official website

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