Amaury Guichon (born 15 March 1991)[2] is a French-Swiss pastry chef and chocolatier. He is known for his pastry designs and chocolate sculptures.
Early life and training
Guichon was born to a Swiss mother and a French father and grew up on the Haute-Savoie–Romandy border near Geneva, Switzerland. He has one older brother and one younger brother.[3] In 2005 at the age of 14, he began his culinary training at the École Hôtelière Savoie Leman in Thonon-les-Bains, France and participating in local competitions. He perfected his pastry-making skills working at the Wolfisberg bakery in Geneva.[1][4]
He took up an apprenticeship at the Maison Lenôtre in Paris. In 2010, he was awarded the title of Best Apprentice in France, by the council of the MOF association.[5]
Career
After completing his training, Guichon was hired to run the Lenôtre boutique and school in Cannes on the French Riviera. He later returned to Paris to work as an executive pastry chef at the Hugo & Victor patisserie and chocolate shop; he reached the level of executive chef by the age of 21.[6]
In 2013, Guichon was a contestant on the France 2 reality cooking series Who will be the next great pastry chef? (French: Qui sera le prochain grand pâtissier?). He was third in the competition.[7]
In 2014, French pastry chef Jean-Philippe Maury invited Guichon to work at the Las Vegas branch of his Patisserie, with shops in the Aria Resort and Casino and Bellagio. He worked as a private consultant and conducted masterclasses. In 2019, Guichon co-found the Pastry Academy with Belgian chef Michel Ernots in Las Vegas.[8][4]
In 2016, Guichon began posting his desserts and chocolate creations on social media. He has over 18.7 million subscribers on YouTube, 15.5 million followers on Instagram and 24 million followers on TikTok.[9][10]
Guichon's debut dessert cooking book The Art of Flavor was published on 13 December 2018.[11]
Guichon hosted the 2021 eight-episode reality series School of Chocolate on Netflix, a competition where contestants construct chocolate sculptures. Guichon guides the contestants and judges the final result.[12][13]
In 2022, Guichon's TikTok video of him constructing a giraffe out of chocolate became the most viewed TikTok video of the same year.[14]
