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!