Chef Alain Roby of west suburban Geneva's All Chocolate Kitchen has created something special for Valentine's Day this year, a 948-pound life-sized sculpture of Eros, the Greek god of love, made completely out of white chocolate. Chef Roby is no stranger to chocolate challenges; in past years he's set world records by carving things like life sized recreations of Neil Armstrong and former Blackhawks player Eddie Olczyk as well as a 23-foot tall enchanted chocolate tree and the world's longest candy cane. Recently, Chef Roby took a few minutes to sit down and chat about Eros, his most complicated sculpture yet, which took a week to design and day to sculpt and will be featured in an upcoming Food Network special on extreme chocolate creations.
Your works are so intricate and detailed. Have you ever thought about making your sculptures out of more permanent stuff?
While my wife encourages me to start sculpting out of other material, chocolate is my thing. It’s what I do.
Are your sculptures meant to be eaten?
My sculptures are works of art. Very few people ask to eat them. Most of our guests enjoy seeing the craftsmanship and effort that went into the making of the sculptures and truly appreciate it. I would say one percent of guests ask to eat or touch it, and only out of curiosity to see if it’s really chocolate.
Is there anything or anyone else you’ve been itching to create out of chocolate?
I would like to create a life-size, chocolate mother and baby elephant pair, made out of chocolate with coco powder. I’m guessing both of them combined would weigh a total of 8,000 pounds. But I need a location for them and a whole lot of chocolate.