Chocolate. Need I say more? What an incredible ingredient. The things that can be created with chocolate are endless. A sculpture made entirely out of chocolate is mesmerizing.

I was first inspired to learn more about chocolate sculptures when I set eyes on an interpretation of the Aztec God Quetzalcoatl made from chocolate. It was awesome to see someone’s imagination and how they brought the serpent god to life using chocolate. I wanted to learn more.

My first mentor, Chef Luis Amado, is amazingly talented and creative. His joy and love for chocolate are refreshing and that fueled my love of chocolate. I spent many long days in the chocolate lab with him just to learn everything I could about building and creating with chocolate. To this day, I still carry this knowledge and guidance and in turn, I hope to be as inspiring to my students.

I had the experience of a lifetime getting to learn from the Earthbound chocolatier god himself, Chef Amaury Guichon. The biggest takeaway I have from my experience of being one of Chef Amaury’s students on Netflix’s School of Chocolate was trusting in the strength of chocolate.

When chocolate wizards build a sculpture out of chocolate, the ingredient does half the work by being strong enough to hold its weight. During the sculpture hanging episode, we walked into the kitchen to see a chocolate chandelier hanging from the rafters. Wait, what!? Who hangs chocolate from the ceiling? Chef Amaury does, that’s who, and the eight of us on the show can now say that we too have hung a chocolate sculpture from the rafters.

While going through the challenge, we were all nervous our sculptures would not hold and would break from the weight. We worried they would crash to the ground and shatter. By the challenge’s end, we were relieved our two hands built a chocolate sculpture that could freely hang. It was an incredible feeling and sense of relief when we hung our showpieces. I gained a newfound respect and love for chocolate that day.

I titled this article, “My world according to chocolate,” because I am inspired by the world around me. Nature, art, sports, architecture, tv/movies, and more can be a source of inspiration. I can also be walking around Target and be inspired by something I see in the store. If you ask my family, my famous last words will be, “I can make that out of chocolate.”

As a chef instructor, I take all the lessons I learned from my chocolate mentors and pass them on to my students. I look for experiences for them to hone their skills and I always try to push them out of their comfort zones. I want them to see the world differently - like I do according to chocolate.

Competitions are one way I encourage them to put themselves out there. Through ACF-sanctioned competitions, they have an opportunity to compete in the chocolate sculpture category. It is amazing to see what they come up with when given creative freedom. I mentor them through the whole competition process giving them the tools they need to be successful. I help them through the stressful process of building a chocolate sculpture, but I also show them what they are capable of. Students are more empowered and confident in their abilities when all is said and done. Overall, their experiences are positive and rewarding. I have the best job as a chocolate mentor.

It is said that Quetzalcoatl was condemned by the other gods for sharing chocolate with humans. In the serpent god’s honor, chocolate as an ingredient should be respected as it was a gift bestowed onto the world. Cacao farmers put much blood, sweat and tears into the work they do to share chocolate with the world.

I am often asked the question, “What happens to the sculpture when you are done with it?” There are a few different answers. Firstly, when properly constructed, maintained and displayed/stored, chocolate sculptures last indefinitely. Secondly, I respect chocolate very much and whenever I can, I recycle the sculpture and turn it into a new sculpture. Thirdly, the sculpture is technically completely edible.

Here is a funny story and I can’t make this stuff up. My students and I were getting ready for an upcoming chocolate competition. Our competitor’s sculpture was sitting in one of the labs at the Culinary Institute. A group of kids wandered the building giving themselves a self-guided tour. They stumbled upon the chocolate sculpture and in all their wonder, one student took a bite from the sculpture. Fortunately, there was no other damage to the sculpture and the bite was an easy fix. Long story short, chocolate sculptures are fully edible if one desires to eat that much chocolate.

Currently, I am looking for my next big chocolate sculpture inspiration. I think I found a spark of inspiration the other day when I was teaching a student the structural concepts behind building a chocolate skeleton. Often, I am inspired by students and their excitement about building something out of chocolate. Their passion can be infectious and I am always grateful for their youthful curiosity. Here is the spark, what do you see? What can I turn these chocolate legs into?

Amanda N. Miller, CC, CPC, is a culinary arts/baking & pastry arts Instructor at the Culinary Institute of Michigan – Muskegon, which is a Division of Baker College. She is also the winner of the 2020 Postsecondary Educator of the Year award sponsored by CAFÉ and the Sysco Corporation.