A celebrity French pastry chef has provoked ridicule after charging £70 for a tart crudely topped with whole strawberries still attached to their leaves and stalks.

Cédric Grolet, who was named the World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2018, is best known for his trompe l’oeil desserts, with delicate cherry and raspberry shapes made of white chocolate which cut open to reveal a jam filling made from the real fruits.

The 37-year-old has a patisserie in Knightsbridge’s five-star Berkeley Hotel while his Cédric Grolet Opéra in the centre of Paris still attracts three-hour queues four years after it opened.

Before winning the illustrious title, Mr Grolet was deemed best head patissier in France in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The Telegraph had called Mr Grolet “the greatest pastry chef on Earth” while another critic hailed his desserts as almost too beautiful to eat.

But the star baker, who has millions of followers on social media, has seen his reputation start to crumble following a less than glowing review from a TikTok influencer.