Totally! I just happened across an old episode of Baking with Julia with Marcel and the two of them were clearly having a ball together.
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I remember watching his show, which was all about chocolate desserts, in the early '90s. I believe it was shown on TLC, back in its original, pre-schlocky reality show incarnation (The Learning Channel, you may recall), when it had a number of cooking shows.
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I think you should enlist a buddy to help you make this!!
I have everyone of his books and first made his Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Damnation cake; which is as challenging as his Death by Chocolate cake but his instructions are very detailed and delivered with a great deal of humor. He said the Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Damnation cake was given its name becuase “it was so much damn work” but worth every minute. I have made both cakes several times along with numerous of his other desserts all attainable thanks to his great instructions. He also has a hamburger book, salad book and of course The Trellis (his restaurant) cook book. All are amazing. His dessert cookbooks are ones you will find yourself going back to numerous times. His Granny Twichel cup cakes are to die for. Even though they are not that big when I’ve brought them to parties people have shared them due to their incredible chocolate flavor. One thing I would recommend is using really good chocolate; if you can (its a large expenditure at first but is less expensive with better flavor and consistency) purchase an 11lb slab of Callebaut couverture chocolate, it stays fresher longer than buying the callets, pistoles or wafers that the good chocolate is sold in. There is a site on ebay that has some reasonable prices also restaurant depot on line is often cheaper than some sites. Unfortunately the tariffs have raised the price by almost double on some sites in the last 7-8 months. Just make sure you store it properly. To break it up use what is sold as a chocolate chipper but is actually an ice chipper; multi tonged with a wood handle use along with a rubber mallet to break into chunks then use a serrated knife to shave the pieces smaller for either using in baking or tempering to use in molds. Its a lot of fun (although unlike Jacques Torres who makes chocolate sculptors wearing a white shirt; not a drop on him) messy but a lot of fun.
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