Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Grace Murtagh, 6, helps her father, chef Brian Murtagh, prepare his triple chocolate madness dessert during Chocolate Sunday at Holiday Inn Valley View in Roanoke. The Sunday afternoon event raised funds to help send aspiring chefs to a regional competition.

Chocolate facts

• Chocolate is America’s favorite flavor. A National Confectioner’s Association survey showed 52 percent of U.S. adults said they like chocolate best.
• Chocolate manufacturers use 40 percent of almonds produced in the U.S., and 25 percent of domestic peanuts.
• U.S. chocolate manufacturers use about 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make chocolate.
• The melting point of cocoa butter is just below human body temperature (98.6 degrees) — which is why chocolate melts in the mouth.
• The largest box of chocolates ever made was a Frango mint chocolates box weighing 3,226 pounds. It was created by Marshall Field’s in Chicago on Nov. 14, 2002. The box contained 90,090 individual chocolates.

Source: National Confectioner’s Association

At 6 years old, little Grace Murtagh was the lowest-paid sous chef in town as she lifted slices of her dad's triple chocolate madness dessert from pie pans to plates, smashing each sliver into a puddle of cocoa sauce.

But her job at the Chocolate Sunday fundraiser did come with perks -- mainly all the dipped strawberries she could eat. As evidenced by chocolate smudges on her forehead and cheeks, Grace devoured her share.

She was not alone. A ballroom at Holiday Inn Valley View was filled Sunday with the non-calorie-conscious who ate for a good cause.

For $20 a head, people sampled chocolate concoctions prepared by eight Southwest Virginia chefs. Proceeds from the American Culinary Federation-sponsored event will send six of the group's junior members to a regional competition in April.

And as patrons soon learned, this was not rabbit food.

Grace's dad, Roanoke Country Club executive chef Brian Murtagh, prepared a dessert that was a combination of desserts -- french silk and Kentucky Derby pies. His layered creation included chocolate silk, a chocolate chip blondie, chocolate peanut butter fudge and chocolate ganache piled on an Oreo crust.

"I actually wanted to do a couple more layers, but I don't think it would all fit," Murtagh said.

The dessert got good reviews, especially from Murtagh's mom, who traveled from Richmond for the event.

"There's nothing better than chocolate layered on chocolate layered on chocolate," Donna Murtagh said, scraping remnants of the dessert from her plate. "This stuff is awesome."

Indeed, Sunday's menu may have put Hershey's Kisses to shame. There were baby chocolate eclairs, s'mores brownies topped by bundles of toasted marshmallows, chocolate-covered meringue, peanut butter-banana globs dipped in cocoa and strawberry milk shake bark with embedded bits of berries and malt.

The only other fruits to be found were cherries and bananas -- naked for dipping in a vat of pina colada fondue.

And to wash it all down, there was Mexican hot chocolate.

Because he expected many of the desserts to be heavy, Derrick Beverly, Chatmoss Country Club's executive chef, brought a creation that was light. His chocolate concord was the size of a sheet cake and surrounded by a fortress of crispy, chocolate meringue. But inside, there was a fluffy mixture of strawberries and mousse.

"Negative two calories," he joked as a pair of women dug into his raspberry-sauce-draped dessert.

Charles Chang, president of Roanoke's culinary federation chapter, said the event was timed around chocolate-themed Valentine's Day.

The holiday was the reason 34-year-old Felicia White and two friends came to eat away the afternoon.

"It is a good girlfriend thing to do for Valentine's Day," the Roanoke resident said.

The only thing that could have improved the event, White joked, was "a milk fountain."

While there was no such creation in sight, chef Ronnie Blankenship brought a "100 percent" edible castle made of white chocolate. The foot-tall palace drew the attention of kids and kids at heart.

"Chocolate appeals to the kid in everyone," he said. "When you first tasted chocolate, you thought, 'This is great.' ... Something in the back of your mind reminds you of that when you eat chocolate."

Blankenship was unsure what to do with his cocoa castle after the event.

Palaces he made in the past were donated to kids at Roanoke's Rescue Mission. Once again, he would like to give the creation to kids.

After all, it was unlikely anyone was left hungry when Chocolate Sunday came to an end.

Midway through the four-hour event, Lori Ratliff, a 28-year-old from Franklin County, cleaned her plate for the final time.

"I'm finished," she announced, polishing off the last of her chocolate concord.