If you’re into pastry, chances are, you’ve already followed him on social media. Amaury Guichon is arguably one of the most in uential pastry chef on Instagram, but one thing for sure, currently, he’s the most followed pastry chef in the world (over 1 million followers and shows no sign of slowing down!). When we heard the news that he’s coming to Jakarta to teach in Heavenly Sweet Academy, of course we were eager to meet and interview the man to nd out about his background, the effect of social media for pastry chefs, his approach in developing a product, and his perspective on the future of pastry.

How old were you when you started?

I was 14. So I started the professional school where they teach you all the manners of the table, you know, service, cooking, and a little bit of pastry. I did that for 2 years and graduated, I started to like the fact that I was actually doing things with my hands. Cooking was good but I knew it wasn’t made for me. I wanted to pursue into the culinary eld, so I drifted away and tried pastry.

Who inspired you the most?

I think when I was very young, Christophe Michalak is the one that inspired me. He’s still a reference for me until now, because of the way he took classical pastry and make it trendy and glamorous. He started the process of taking the chef out of the shadow because he wasn’t very popular pastry chef, like 10-12 years ago.

How do you describe your style?

My style is de nitely very intricate. I try to get a “wow effect”, it’s not just making a pastry, it’s making a concept. I don’t just put things together to make a cake, instead, I work on the design.

How do you measure “the wow effect”?

Social media can help especially Instagram, it’s a good way to do it, you can see the reactions of people through views/likes etc. But also during masterclasses and the level of satisfaction of my students .

How does social media help you in your job?
Because of social media, I got a lot of attention. I was able to have schools from all around the world calling me to start teaching my own style of pastry. So, yes it helped me a lot with that. Now that I managed my own schedule, I don’t work for anyone anymore, I have my own business, I’m able to create things and push them one step further because I know that’s what my followers expect from me. I used to create things because I had to, so I was always in a rush, I need to do things real quick. Now I can take my time to create quality contents for my followers.

I heard you are the most followed pastry chefs in Instagram, how long did it take to get there?
2,5 years. It went really fast, I mean, being followed is one thing, being the best is another thing. I don’t pretend to be the best, but I make quality products and I love and passionate about what I do. There are tons other great chefs all around the world that do the exact things that I do with their own style, but I nd a way to approach people on social media, they like and so I kept doing it.

One thing about social media, is that it’s quite easy for anyone to copy the work of others.
It is, it’s the downside, but I see it as attering if people give you credit. Sometimes people claim that they created things that they copy from you, but at the same time I have so much followers now that people know where the original comes from. I’m glad that my design can help inspire other chefs, because that’s why I do this in the rst place.

Judging from your popularity, I nd it interesting that you aren’t involved in any brand sponsorhips.
For now, not having any sponsorships give you freedom. I worked with Silikomart, for example, which I use their products. I have some kind of gentleman agreement that if I promote something, I want it to be the best, and Silikomart, they are really amazing products. I don’t want to be tied with a company if I don’t like the way they think. I’m not against having sponsorship, it’s just I haven’t look too much at it right now, so far.

Pastry chefs are notorious for being a perfectionist, does it have to be that way?
If you want to be a good one, yes. I mean it depends what kind of level....but in any level, even when you do rustic products that aren’t that intricate, just to get the taste right, you have to follow very precise procedures. So, yeah, I think you have to be very detail-oriented and very perfectionist.

How much is too much? What is your de nition of “too perfectionist”?
I don’t know if you can do “too perfectionist” (laugh). It’s a good question. You know, the hardest thing when you design your pastry or cake is knowing when to stop. You start with a design idea and then you push it further and further. At some point, if it started to be too intricate or you put too much feature, it will become too crowded, it’s actually not nice. The perfect balance is when you have a dessert that you can understand the avor, the look, and it’s not overcrowded. The same thing with showpiece, you can add more and more, but at some point, it’s gonna look “busy”. I know it doesn’t answer really your question exactly, but as far as being perfectionist, you have to know when to stop.

I assume you prefer to work with chocolate, compared to any other things in pastry?
I love chocolate, I use it as a platform to express myself artistically with showpiece. I don’t know, it’s just a very precious material, I think. It acts like natural thickening agent from the cocoa butter, it’s the avor that I and most people love.

There are some issues regarding the future of chocolate, how do you see it in the next 10 years?
I believe so. The way I do pastry at least, you don’t need to eat pastry, right? It’s kind of luxury product. You need to eat because you need nutrients to stay alive, pastry is just an extra. I believe the high end pastry and nice quality of chocolate in the next 10 years will be reserved to a very thin part of population who can afford it, it will be considered as real high end luxury product.

What’s your current activities?

My main job now is to travel the world to teach, I also wrote my own book that has been released this month (pre order online), I also do consulting. What do you consider as your biggest challenge in what you are doing right now?
The biggest one is accommodating to each destination I’m going to, dealing with jetlag (laugh)! Everywhere I go, back and forth Asia, Europe, America, huge jetlag each time! I manage it pretty well because the classes are pretty intense so it kept me awake, but dealing with local things, such as our, cream, equipments, and new assistants every time is a challenge. To keep the quality as high as you can see on Instagram, I really need to have all the knowledge possible in order to make the product in each destination, and that would be the hardest thing.