Here I will take you through how I take the gorgeous couverture and after several steps tempering it and combining it with other super ingredients turn it into sublime, sumptous chocolates ready for you to enjoy. Because they are hand made I can inspect every single chocolate to ensure it meets my high standards. Any that are not quite right just aren't good enough, so you can be assured that each chocolate you eat has passed the test.
I melt down the Belgian couverture to the correct temperature. This process is called tempering and is particularly difficult to do properly. Correct tempering ensures the finished chocolate has the perfect ‘snap’ when it’s broken, together with the glossy, silky shine.
I make all my chocolates by hand.
There are generally 3 types of chocolate. No one type is easier or quicker to make that the other and all of them require a great deal of patience and a steady hand.
This is where a mould is used to create perfect, more uniform chocolates. The mould is lined with chocolate and filled with the gorgeous filling. A layer of chocolate is put on the top, forming the base of the chocolate. The moulds are turned out upside down and the individual chocolates empty out and you have a set of fantastic moulded chocolates.
This is where a filling is made and piped onto something, such as a walnut, or onto a piece of chocolate. It’s left to set to the right consistency. When the couverture has been tempered correctly each chocolate is individually dipped in the smooth chocolate. I use a dipping fork to do this.
This is the fun one where you get really hands on with the chocolate. Again you create a filling, and let it set to the correct consistency in a bowl. When it’s ready, it is rolled into balls and rolled in the chocolate. The truffle can be finished with a decoration on top – a piece of dried chilli, a chocolate drizzle or a piece of nut
As all the chocolates are hand made, the chocolates will be slightly different to each other. For example due to the way the truffles are rolled they may vary in shape and size slightly. The moulded chocolates may have slightly different amounts of filling and the dipped chocolates may have slightly different thicknesses of chocolate coating. For these reasons, please enjoy that the chocolates will vary slightly in taste and appearance and no two will be exactly the same. This will enhance your experience of eating these hand made luxurious chocolates, whilst knowing that the taste will always be sublime.
