Australian cuisine has made a big impression on Amaury Guichon: “Almost every morning I start my day with avocado toast – avo toast – so yeah, I feel partially Australian,” he tells TV WEEK with a laugh.
The French-Swiss pastry chef and chocolatier returned to Australia recently to judge the second season of Dessert Masters. Contestants include The Great Australian Bake Off judge Darren Purchese and MasterChef Australia: Back To Win winner Emelia Jackson.
“Obviously, the bigger the reputation, the more the stakes are high,” Amaury, 33, says. “But I think everybody is really a bit nervous and frightened to show what they’re capable of.
Amaury is judging alongside Melissa Leong, who he says welcomed him in the first season “with open arms”.
“I actually love my time here,” he adds, “and it’s so different from my day-to-day job in America.”
As well as running his Pastry Academy in Las Vegas, Amaury is famous for making incredibly realistic sculptures out of chocolate. He has 16 million followers on Instagram and 25 million on TikTok.
“There’s a high pressure of keeping my followers entertained,” he says. “So I make a special mission to post something new weekly.”
His sculptures have included a velociraptor, a giraffe, a kangaroo – and a skateboard, which attracted the attention of legendary US skateboarder Tony Hawk.
“He told me his daughter was a big fan and she loved pastry and eventually maybe wanted to pursue a career in the sweet field,” Amaury explains. “I invited him to come visit the school if he was ever in Vegas and he took up the offer.”
Another of Amaury’s sculptures was a chocolate dumbbell made for Hollywood actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“His wife contacted me to do something for his birthday, so it was more like a surprise to him,” he says.
For Amaury, having such a high profile on social media means he can do what he loves every day.
“When someone recognises me and tells me that they watch my videos with their kids before going to bed as a little tradition… it’s nice to feel that you bring people happiness with what you do.”
