Linton Farmers Market 5th May

On Saturday 5^th May I had my third Farmers Market, which was held in Linton, Cambridgeshire. I was up quite late last night finishing off my salted caramels. So, I was a little tired but excited about the prospect of selling new improved flavours to the public. The raspberry and plain chocolate truffles were the same recipes as previous. But, I was eager to improve the banoffee, praline and salted caramels. For the banoffee truffles I added more fresh bananas, vanilla paste and a generous amount of salt. This tweak in the recipe helped bring out the banana flavour more and enabled the general public to distinguish the flavours more easily. The salted caramel heart, which I now call the ‘treacle tart heart’, has encountered some slight changes to the recipe. I add more pink Himalayan salt, vanilla paste and lemon zest which gives the chocolate a fuller bolder taste. The praline has seen some remarkable improvement in the flavour and texture. Firstly, I roast the nuts for a longer period of time to bring out the hazelnut flavour; and I ground up the nuts in a food blender to improve the smoothness and texture.

Overall the market went well and I received good feedback from the general public about the flavours. The next stage is to improve my packaging, which I’m excited about as this will enable me to sell more chocolates.

Great Shelford Farmers Market

On Saturday 24th March I went to my first Farmers Market in Great Shelford, Cambs. It was an exciting, yet daunting morning as I had no idea how the general public would react to my chocolates. The first hour was a little quiet but then it became busier and people became interested in my product. This was helped by my boyfriend as he gave out free samples and received positive feedback from the public. The big winner had to be the dark chocolate raspberry ganache coated with white chocolate. A large percentage of people loved this flavour and were particularly surprised with how fruity and fresh the raspberry flavour tasted. The other flavours went down really well and I managed to sell more than I ever expected. However, the only drawback was lent as some people were abstaining from chocolate. However, my boyfriend managed to break a few promises and lure people into trying my different flavours. Overall the morning went really well and I am looking forward to selling more at Linton Farmers market on 7th April. Hopefully, see you there :)

Update on New Chocolate selection

Over the weekend I was experimenting with different moulds and chocolate to perfect the look of my chocolates. The photo shows my five core flavours which include salted caramel hearts, banoffee truffle, milk chocolate truffles, raspberry truffles coated in white chocolate, and praline cups.

Choccynoir New Chocolate Selection

As you can see from my pictures I have started on my new chocolate selection. I have 5 core flavours which I intend to sell in the next couple of months. These  include  salted caramels, raspberry truffles coated in white chocolate, banoffee  truffles, milk (65%) chocolate truffle and chocolate pralines. Over the last month I have experimented with different moulds, various types of chocolate and different methods of making fresh hand handmade chocolates. Through trial and error I feel I have become more confident with the taste and appearance of my products.  I will keep you posted on where you can my products, which will be soon!

Christmas Chocolate festival in London 11/12/11

On 11^th December I went to the annual Christmas Chocolate festival in London at Southwark. It was a chance for small chocolate companies to promote and sell their own creations to the public. I am hoping I will have the opportunity to sell my own products on a market stall in London next year.

There were a variety of stalls selling fresh hot chocolate, pastries, hand-made chocolates and truffles. Again, I was in my element surrounded by sweet tasty foods and I was intending to try and test as much chocolates as I could. I managed to find a new chocolatier called ‘Damian Allsop’ who used to be a pastry chef for 25 years and head pastry chef at Gordon Ramsey’s. He specialises in making luxury handmade chocolates, using English spring water, which gives his chocolates a purer, fresher taste. Another chocolate company I highly recommend is ‘Simply Handmade Chocolates’ who use fresh ingredients with no additives, so you can really appreciate the true flavours. I’m glad I visited the fair as it has given me more confidence in my own products and I’m now aware of the areas I need to improve on, which are the aesthetics and texture.

William Curley - Sea Salt Caramel Making course 19/11/11

I apologise for not writing on my blog for a while! I had a horrible full blown cold over the past week, so I have been too ill to keep my blog updated. Thankfully, I have fully recovered so I’m back on track with my chocolate adventure. Last weekend, I went on another chocolate course at William Curley’s patisserie shop in Belgravia. This time, I was making sea salted caramels which I was really looking forward to make, as it’s one of my favourite flavours.

In the class, there were 8 people participating and we were given a talk about the history of chocolate and the chocolate making process from cocoa bean to chocolate bar. We were also given the chance to try William Curley’s awarding winning chocolates such as rosemary and olive oil and chocolates from different regions around the world. Annoyingly, I had a cold so I couldn’t taste the flavours and the only pleasure I could get from the chocolates was the texture. All I can say, is that the texture was excellent as the chocolates melted cleanly in your mouth, which indicates high quality chocolate.

In the second stage of the course, we were taught how to temper chocolate by one of the highly experienced chocolatiers. To make approximately 60 Sea Salted Caramels you will need the following ingredients:

125g Whipping cream

Half Vanilla pod

200g Sea Salted Butter

40g Glucose

250g Caster Sugar

250g Tempered Chocolate

1. Boil the cream and the vanilla pod together and leave on the side to cool.

2. Place one third of the sugar and the glucose in a pan and start to heat. When it begins to melt, gradually add the remaining sugar. Cook to an amber caramel.

3. Take caramel off the heat, gradually add the cream, stirring simultaneously.

4. Once the caramel has cooled, add butter and stir in. Leave to cool before using.

5. Temper the chocolate and cast the moulds. Then leave in a cool place.

6. Pipe in the cooled caramel until two thirds full

7. Place a thin layer of tempered chocolate over the caramel and leave to set in a cool place

8. Turn out the chocolates from the moulds.

This course has to be my absolute favourite. The two chocolatiers were very professional and clearly explained the different techniques of making chocolate. In my opinion, William Curley makes the best and tastiest chocolates. I highly recommend anyone to visit his shop and check out his website as you won’t be disappointed.

 

Making hand made chocolates at home

On 13^th November I made more handmade raspberry truffles coated with different textures which included crushed hazelnuts, cocoa powder and milk chocolate. I used Wille’s 70% Venezuelan black and Valrhona’s 40% milk chocolate for the chocolate ganache, as the brands are known for using high quality beans from South America. This week, I have been practicing making chocolates most days to perfect and improve my skills in chocolate making and I feel I am improving with trial and error. It’s been difficult when I return from work as I feel absolutely exhausted, but I know the only way to succeed is to practice and practice as I really want my business to grow.

This week I bought some packaging to experiment making aesthetically looking products which I am hoping to sell in the next few months. The packaging is very basic and looks very generic, but I am planning to visit Portobello Market in London next weekend to buy some fancy ribbons and fabrics.

The chocolates I made over the weekend turned out better than I expected as I believe I used better quality chocolate. I incorporated fresh raspberry coulis again as the sharpness of the raspberries work really well with bitterness of the dark chocolate. I coated the truffles with hazelnuts, cocoa powder and milk chocolate to experiment with different flavours and textures. It was really exciting to see my finished product in a box as I feel I am making steady progress, and it’s given more confidence to test different flavours so I can sell my products very shortly.

I am truly passionate about chocolate and I am really happy I travelled to the Amazon rainforest last year and experienced working on a cocoa farm, in Ecuador. My travel and work experience in the industry has confirmed to me the chocolate making business is the path I want to pursue.