School of Chocolate pastry chef Amaury Guichon interview

School of Chocolate fans and anyone who follows food on Instagram or TikTok likely knows and loves pastry chef Amaury Guichon and his extraordinary chocolate and dessert creations. He has made everything from a chess set to a dragon out of chocolate.

While we don’t know if or when there will be another season of School of Chocolate, we do know that chef Guichon will be one of the judges at the 2022 Cacao-Barry’s World Chocolate Masters in Paris.

The 2022 Cacao-Barry’s World Chocolate Masters will be live-streamed starting on Saturday, Oct 29 and go through Monday, Oct 31. You can watch it on the competition’s website. If you pre-register, you can also receive recipes, the jury’s insights, and behind-the-scenes stories.

I was lucky enough to get to talk to chef Amaury Guichon about the upcoming competition, what he will look for when judging, and the chocolate creations he shares on social media.

Our Interview with School of Chocolate’s pastry chef Amaury Guichon

Guilty Eats: Where do you find the time to make the chocolate creations you post on Instagram?

Amaury Guichon: “Originally, posting my work on social media started as a fun way to share what I was doing with others. I was able to make these creations in my free time and show people the wonders of chocolate.

One of my favorite aspects of social media is being able to connect with all my fans, which is something I never believed would happen when I started as a pastry chef.  Being able to show the world this distinctive type of art and see all the positive reactions really helps motivate me to keep working on bigger, better, and more challenging projects.”

GE: Where do you get your ideas for those chocolate creations?
AG: “Most of my chocolate creations are spontaneous. I can create animals, objects, and more…any item or idea that intrigues me is usually my next chocolate creation challenge.”

GE: This may be like choosing which child you like more but of the chocolate creations you’ve made, which was your favorite to work on?
AG: “One of my favorite was father nature from episode 2 of School of Chocolate, sometimes creating a showpiece can be very tiring but end up being a very pleasing result, for this particular one I had as much fun making it as looking at the final result.”

GE: What do you think the next trend in chocolate will be? What will we be seeing a lot of? Any specific flavors?
AG: “Right now the chocolate and pastry industries are booming, I believe we are going to see more and more refined work and extravagant designs.”

GE: What are you looking forward to seeing at the 2022 World Chocolate Masters competition in Paris?
AG: “I am looking forward to viewing all the new talent this year. The aim of the competition is to advance creative chocolate artisanship and showcase new talent and opportunities for aspiring pastry chefs. I am looking for a twist on creativeness, outside-the-box thinking and making the impossible possible.”

GE: What do you look for when you are judging a chocolate competition?
AG: “One key component I look for when judging a chocolate competition is to seek who are the proactive risk takers. Being able to showcase your work on this platform is something that can propel your career, so do not be afraid to take risks but stay true to yourself. An opportunity like this does not come around often, so it is vital to take full advantage of the moment while you can.”

GE: For people who are looking to make chocolate creations like yours at home, do you have any tips? Could someone really make a giant chocolate dragon at home?
AG: “Nothing is impossible however it would take an amateur a very long term to accomplish such design, but anyone at home can have a little bit of fun transforming chocolate into small pieces of art. My advice before starting using the chocolate is you should always temper it.”