Chocolatey goodness

Friday, June 18, 2010

Last night, I headed out to Blackburn on the east side of town, to my Chocolate Making Workshop. It was SO much fun. It delivered everything it promised, and then some. Our teacher, Sylvia, was fabulous - so knowledgeable and a lot of fun. It really was a jam-packed 4 hours, and I'm SO glad she gave us a booklet at the end with all the info we had learnt. And of course, now I want to be a chocolatier. You know, like Juliette Binoche in Chocolat (hubba hubba). Sorry. Getting side-tracked.

We started out with Sylvia explaining the history of chocolate and the cocoa bean and its composition. Then we learnt about "confectionery" as opposed to chocolate and how chocolate has to contain a certain % of cocoa bean to be classified as chocolate (i.e. Nestle White Melts are actually a confectionery as they contain 0% cocoa bean) so I'll be keeping my eye out for the "good stuff". I controlled myself and didn't purchase any equipment there and then, but you can be sure that I'll be looking into it once we move to Wang! Here are some photos from the night:


The little chocolate cups we made using oranges and the chocolate leaves (so going to try these again)



These were our little chocolates in the process. We made ones with hazelnut praline, Cointreau liqueur, caramel, lemon lime genache, and another one that I can't remember! We also filled some truffles which were scrumptious!



This was our little work area, and the other 3 participants with Sylvia (2nd from left) our expert



The attention to detail was lovely!


And oh so very delicious! Hubs had one when I got home and loved it! I really would like to buy some basic equipment and give this a go - just for fun! I'll add it to my wish list for when we move to Wang. Who knows? You might benefit from it one day!

Thanks for the prezzie guys - it was just brilliant   x x x x x x

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