What better way to celebrate Easter than outside in the glimpse of sun at Kew Garden’s for their Chocolate Quest – including an Easter Egg hunt! OK, there were no real children in our group (just adults who like to pretend sometimes) so we left the Easter Egg hunt to the kids.  My friends bought me a Paul A Young Easter Egg so I was definitely happy to leave the Crème Eggs to the little ones.  We did, however, take up our little stools on the workbenches in the first chocolate making class of the day.  Sure, it was targeted at children, but it was a really enjoyable and thorough session and we got a chocolate heart, made with freshly conched cocoa and palm sugar each to take away (or eat then and there, which I did).

 The Cocoa Jungle made by the class participants.  Cute!

The Chocolate Quest is at Kew Gardens until April 14^th.  As well as the chocolate making workshops there are little skits and educational areas across the garden, including stops to make rubbings of various cocoa-related items.  It’s a great outing for the whole family, you can take it at your own pace and follow the whole map diligently, or just enjoy the gardens.  Even though Spring still seems reluctant to appear, the gardens do have several enclosed buildings to view the plants which means your visit doesn’t have to be chilly from beginning to end.  In fact, the upper level of the Tropical Rainforest exhibition is positively steamy and will almost (almost) make you relieved to go back outside.

Here are the other activities you can get involved in:

• Float your own origami boat on the Waterlily Pond to add to our flotilla installation.
• Challenge your family to a game of giant chess.
• Get your hands on some real cacao beans in our fascinating hands-on sessions.
• Make a magnificent rainforest headdress in craft workshops.
• Have your face painted with an Easter design.
• Take a special tour on the Kew Explorer land train to learn all about the history of chocolate.

My Paul A Young egg at the gardens

In the foothills of these volcanoes is where the Guatemala Antigua coffee grows

Last night I was invited to the launch of Starbucks’ new origin espresso, Guatemala Antigua.  It’s the first time Starbucks have launched a single origin espresso across the whole of the UK and Ireland.  I was curious for several reasons.  One because the blend is from Guatemala, which also has a rich chocolate history that I was fortunate to explore years ago and still haven’t blogged properly about; two, it was held in the British Museum and I love interesting venues; and finally, because their attempts at filter coffee in some flagship stores have left me somewhat underwhelmed so I wanted to sample their foray into origin blends.

Coffee tasting cues

This is a medium roast bean and, interestingly, despite being promoted as an “origin espresso” it was given to us to taste as a latte (in espresso cups) and recommended as the perfect espresso for a milky drink.  Because the vast majority of Starbucks drinks are sold milk-based, it makes sense they should optimise their blend for this.  I am an espresso or filter coffee drinker and I have heard many times that the beans used for great black coffee are different to the ones for milky versions.  The latte was actually very impressive.  No burnt notes that I could detect, a faint hint of cocoa and an ever-so-mild tint of fruitcake spices.  If I drank lattes I would be pleased to know that in the absence of one of the wonderful independent coffee shops, I would be able to step in to Starbucks and pick up a decent shot of caffeine.  I’ll hold back on my verdict of the new blend drunk black as there wasn’t any readily available to try.  The launch is an intelligent move for Starbucks with the growth of independent coffee shops almost stellar and more and more people becoming choosy in their coffee formats and origins, which might tempt people away from the green goddess, as better quality coffee becomes more readily available.  It looks like coffee is following the path of wine in Britain some twenty-odd years ago.

StaRUMbucks Cocktail

My favourite part of the evening was the Coffee Rum Cocktail.  According to the Starbucks representative, it needs a name.  I think it should be StaRUMbucks.  Good, no? One shot of white rum, one shot of the Antigua espresso, a dribble of sugar syrup, milk and lime juice, it was fantastic.  I know, milk and lime juice together sounds wrong but it really works (in fact, it’s pretty common in ceviche, too).  If I ever have a party where I want the guests to stay all night then I’ll serve these.  I had to force myself not to go back for more.  My body goes into hypermode with caffeine, great at the beginning of the day, not so helpful in the evening (except if you want to write a blog post right after…).

On my visit to Guatemala in late 2008 I visited these coffee plantations and processing facilities.  At the time for me it was an eye opening experience; watching these red cherries be peeled, washed, fermented, washed again and dried in the sun to leave a pale green-beige nugget that only becomes the coffee bean we recognise upon roasting.  It’s actually very similar to the processing of cocoa pods towards chocolate, which largely-speaking undergo all of the same processes minus the washing, and the cocoa bean is brown before roasting, as well as after.  Oh, and cocoa pods are enormous compared to coffee cherries, hosting between twenty and forty seeds, to the cocoa cherry’s duo (and they are “pits” rather than “beans”, despite their appearance and their common term).

Tasting the fruit of the cocoa tree in Guatemala – the cocoa seed that becomes the bean is inside.  The fruit is refreshing, sweet enough to enjoy.  It’s a little like a lychee, but less perfumed.

Cocoa tree in Guatemala

 My memory of Antigua is a beautiful old colonial town – it was the Spanish capital whilst they ruled Guatemala – and you could easily feel you were walking along the streets of a slightly dilapidated Seville.  Many shops sold coffee and coffee souvenirs as well as locally made chocolate.  These were “cocoa sticks”, cigar-sized compressions of ground cocoa beans and sugar, usually flavoured with other spices – vanilla, cinnamon, chilli, etc. – and wrapped in brightly coloured paper.  Much grittier than chocolate as we know it, the sticks could be nibbled on as is, or crumbled into hot water or milk for a hot chocolate.

Back in Guatemala City I had the good fortune to be shown around by the head of the International Cocoa Cooperation of Guatemala. Jorge took me to visit areas of the city I would never have ventured on my own, and introduced me to the chocolate maker widely-regarded as the best in town.  In many buildings across the city there are rudimentary grinding machines that look decades, if not centuries, old and locals bring their maize or their cocoa beans and they are ground into cocoa powder or cornmeal.  Many of the “shops” also process the beans further into slabs or cakes of the traditional chocolate.  The US company, Taza, produces something that approximates this.  Even though it lacks the smooth melt that can make you melt yourself with pleasure, the crunch of the sugar in these rustic versions actually becomes rather addictive.  The little bodegas will also process the maize further into tortillas.  The machines are also available to rent, so rather than leave the ingredients with the managers, you settle in with your helpers (usually children) to work the machines to make the core of your dinner and dessert.

Sadly the rest of my pictures from Guatemala relating to chocolate and coffee are on a computer that I no longer have the cable for.  It was a stunning country to visit.  My strongest recommendation would be to not pack too much in, allow yourself the opportunity to linger in every area you visit, or else go with a tour group where you can relax in their organised plans.  In the meantime, you could always get yourself to Starbucks from April 3^rd and see if their new espresso might escort you on a mini mind-vacation.  One can hope.

Isabelle Alaya and I first met in 2005 at a Seventy Percent chocolate tasting where we had both come to learn about chocolate as we planned our businesses.  I never connected the dots between Melange Chocolaterie in Peckham and the lovely French woman who talked of starting her own chocolate company at the chocolate tasting that evening long ago.  It wasn’t until she re-introduced herself to me at the Academy of Chocolate conference in 2010 that it clicked.

It was so lovely then to hear she had got her business off the ground, and more wonderful last week to receive her invite for the grand opening of her mini-museum of chocolate in Brixton this Saturday.  From now on upstairs will be the café and workshop space for the Brixton branch of her business and downstairs is the exhibit, which will take care of any overflow in busy periods as well.

It’s only a short walk from Brixton tube and overground and she plans to hold monthly events similar to what we experienced on Saturday, with pairings of wines, cheeses or other foods, with her chocolate.  The space is available for private functions as well.

Alongside her own flavoured chocolate bars (including lavender & lemon in milk chocolate, dark with bergamot & cinnamon and coconut & vanilla in white chocolate), Isabelle is also selling Duffy’s wonderful chocolate bars and Willie’s Cacao – two fantastic, English bean-to-bar chocolate makers.   In the café she will be starting to sell savoury chocolate options.  At the launch party were some of the tartines with a variety of cheese and chocolate combinations.  I’ve always been a fan of chocolate and cheese together so whatever preconceptions you might have, I urge you to have a try.   I really enjoyed the Brie with truffles and the drizzle of bergamot infused dark chocolate.

The exhibit downstairs is only small but it is a fabulous collection of old posters and ad campaigns, chocolate jugs for serving hot chocolate and old chocolate tins and chocolate moulds that were found in an attic in France from the previous tenant of a friend of Isabelle’s sister.  What a wonderful coincidence.  There are also some chairs and a television to watch a chocolate making video.  It’s a great place for a chocolate education or just a cup of wonderful hot chocolate.  The Melange hot chocolate can also be enjoyed with water or coconut milk which should be refreshing news for any dairy-avoiders.

Britain has a wonderful history of chocolate, including the invention of the first chocolate bar as we know it today (by Fry’s of Bristol in 1847) and this is a fantastic place to get a little insight into that past, whilst enjoying a chocolate fix as well.

Last Summer I reached out to Geert to see if his offer was still open.  Dom and I had been invited to Pierre Marcolini‘s factory in Brussel’s so I thought I might go a day or two earlier as it was only an hour’s train ride from Brussels.  I was welcomed and so I arrived on Saturday evening and was picked up at the station by the younger of Geert’s two daughters who is studying at university nearby.  His other daughter was on holiday abroad so I was to have her bed for the next two nights.  Geert and his wife were incredibly hosts and it was such a treat to spend some of Saturday evening and all of Sunday with Geert in his kitchen, making truffles and a chocolate dessert and baking off the viennoiserie.  Even getting up at 5am to do so!

Geert in his chocolate-filled basement

I took a lot more pictures and if Geert will allow me to have the recipe I’ll do a post of the chocolate dessert we made too.  It was incredible.

Dom let me take his camera out with me and I had my tripod too so I shot some of the making of the Marou chocolate truffles (more on Marou chocolate in a post to come).  I handed the very long video back to Dom on Monday and he turned around this very fun edit.  What a talent.

Making chocolate truffles with Geert Vercruysse…

The only place you can get Geert’s fresh chocolates outside of his shop is in a single chocolate shop in Amsterdam.  I highly recommend a detour to the town if you are in Brussels.  What makes his chocolates so special is he uses couveture that no other chocolatier would consider using as they are sold in bars that retail at around £6 for a 50g bar.  More than 2.5 times the price of Valrhona which is more expensive than Barry Callebaut that many chocolate shops use to make their confections.  This is the blessing of having been in business for more than 20 years in the same place that you now own outright.  Low overheads and a loyal following.  If you are visiting, Friday through Sunday is when you can taste the viennoiserie that Geert makes from scratch as well.  Mondays are closed.  Every other day you can see into his kitchen from the shop and watch him at work. It’s amazing that most of his equipment is over 20 years old.  As the only one using it (Geert has no staff in the kitchen though his family help out from time to time) it shows how well things last if they are treated with care.  There’s definitely a lot of care taken here.  This is absolutely a man who loves his work.  Or, as Geert puts it, “I haven’t worked a day in the last 23 years”.

Here we have our first attempt at a filming a recipe. It’s an insight into my baking, where I tend to make up the recipe as I go. Apologies in advance for the confusion this causes – you can use the written recipe below for clarification!

The benefit of an entire life with baking as my major pastime is that making up the recipe usually works out pretty well.   I shared this particular brownie at two events and people kept coming back for more and raving about it, so I think it’s not just me that likes it!

But please give it a go for yourself! They are fudgy but also a little bit cakey, exactly the way I think brownies should be.  I am aware the debate rages on this!

The recipe is obviously for an enormous quantity, but you can divide it to make it to go into a tin smaller than my giant roasting tin. If you’re using good, readily available chocolate, like Green & Blacks, the chocolate alone for this quantity (1.1kg) could cost £22. Keep an eye out for multibuy deals on the chocolate bars to help (right now Waitrose has 2 for £3 on Green & Blacks and Sainsbury’s has 1/3 off), but remember this quantity makes enough for more than 20 decent sized pieces of brownie that would cost more than £2 each from most London bakeries and coffee shops. If you’re cutting them up it would make a sizeable little package of brownies for between 4 and 6 people which works out around £5 each for a homemade gift that should take you more than an hour to make and clean up after.

Ingredients

• 800g dark chocolate (buttons or chopped) – approx. 70% cocoa content
• 600g unsalted butter (sorry about the confusion in the video!)
• 10 medium eggs
• 300g white granulated or caster sugar
• 300g brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100g plain flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• 300g White chocolate chunks or buttons

A few notes on the ingredients:

• Only use dark chocolate that has no more ingredients than: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and soy/sunflower lecithin. If it has fewer, that’s fine.
• Rock salt will be ok, but table salt will taint the flavour of the brownie
• The same goes for vanilla essence, if that’s what you have in the cupboard, I recommend next time you’re at the shops replacing it with vanilla extract.
• The white chocolate should only have cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla and milk (powder or crumb).

Method

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan. Put the butter in first to avoid risk of burning the chocolate. It will take a little while (at least five minutes) to melt, don’t try and rush it because you don’t want it to burn! Remove from the heat before all the lumps are gone.

Separate the eggs (I do it one at a time) and mix with the sugars.  If you don’t have a stand alone mixer you can use a hand mixer. If you’re feeling like burning some calories, just a handbeater or spoon.  It’s best if they are really well mixed.

Whilst the eggs are beating and the chocolate is melting, grease the tin and line it with baking paper (cutting slits in the four corners helps to avoid folds that the brownie can get caught in).

Add the salt and vanilla extract.

Add the melted chocolate and butter to the egg and sugar mixture and beat for a further minute. It’s best to do half at a time if you’re making a large quantity.

Add the flour and cocoa powder and stir gently by hand to combine.

Tip in the white chocolate (or substitute for milk or dark chunks or raisins or cranberries if preffered) and stir by hand just enough to mix through.

Pour the whole mixture into the lined tin.

This quantity took 35 minutes to bake at 160C in a fan oven (not the 25 minutes I guessed!), half the mixture would take between 18 and 25 minutes and even less of the mixture will take less again. It will always take at least 15 minutes to bake.  It’s done when it starts cracking around the edges and it isn’t wobbling if you gently nudge the tin. If you’re not watching the whole video, just fast forward to the very end to see the tin coming out of the oven.

The longer you can leave it in the tin after it’s cooked, the better. Overnight is best.

Once cooled, cut into pieces and serve, or wrap to give as gifts.  The brownies get better with time, for at least 7 days, provided they are kept in an airtight container.

Hotel Chocolate’s Mission Statement is at each entrance

The morning of our big adventure, the littlest one, upon being woken up to go, bounced out of bed shouting “Chocolate Factory!”. Sadly it didn’t take long into our visit for the early morning wake up to take effect.  “Chocolate factories are tiring” was the verdict as she hung from my neck whilst we were guided between machines, about an hour into our tour.  Then we came across another flow of chocolate items and she perked up again.  I think her lasting memory will undoubtedly be of the gorgeous pink-ribboned goody bag that she received (we each got one – thank you, Hotel Chocolat!). Her little face lit up as she examined the contents and showed off her chocolate fairy and declared how she was going to share her treats with mum and dad and EVERYONE. Bless.

My gorgeous nieces in their factory kit – whoever knew anyone could look cute in a green hairnet?

I’ve been inside quite a few factories in my life and Hotel Chocolat is one of the cleanest and most attractive I’ve ever been in.  It is spacious and well-decorated and looks very efficient, yet has real people doing specialist tasks and I’ve honestly never seen factory workers who seemed as happy in their job. I’m sure the product they are working with makes a difference, but I think there’s something in the way that Hotel Chocolat care for their people, something I see in their shops as well.  I’m a big believer that the culture of a business is driven by the leader and knowing Angus, it is no surprise that the workers are considerate and passionate people.

Some of the Hotel Chocolate factory team

We got to see chocolates being made and packed and I had to be dragged away from the pipes of flowing chocolate.  The coolest room is absolutely the development kitchen, which overlooks the factory and has gorgeous big kitchen tables and a product display and ingredients to tinker with. As well as a variety of equipment and some computers too, which contrary to popular belief (and probably the wishes of my fellow developers as well) are equally important tools in developing products that will launch successfully and sell well.

The Hotel Chocolat development kitchen in the middle of a meeting

This is the 4th Godiva cafe in the world and, according to the Godiva representative, the best. It is actually quite gorgeous inside. Expensive materials that are high quality rather than flashy; comfortable suede-cushioned benches, dark wood panelling, flowers in vases, plus a funky neon silhouette of a lady on a horse against a chocolate brown-painted brick wall, as you enter. It would be easy to sit here for hours. Apparently people do. I have been warned the queue from late afternoon is long and it stays full until closing.

Last December they poached the talented and ever-smiling Raquel Lowery (pictured above, of the amazing Melt Chocolates mud pie) to head up the kitchen. All of the pastries are made downstairs in the kitchens shared with other Harrods restaurants. The pastries are most definitely unique to Godiva. I had a long chat with “Global Chef Chocolatier”, David Funaro, who has been with Godiva for five years, creating the range of pastries and travelling the world ensuring all the cafés open well. Before Godiva he served his time with one of the best US chocolatiers and a great US bakery too. He also had his own business for a time, too. When I asked him about the Godiva range and he told me how, for him, the perfect pastry is a marriage of smooth, crunchy, soft and chewy, as well as a perfect balance of contrasting flavours, I almost started to swoon. That is exactly what a good pastry is to me, too.

The cafe was full of “it” people and I wasn’t in uber-keen to hang around, conscious that’d come far on a train, from work in the heat and my hair really needed washing. Greed overcame pride and I decided to linger long enough to taste the bite size morsels of two of the desserts that I could see being prepared behind the counter.  It was worth it. The Hazelnut Delice is, truly, delice. The marriage of flavours and textures just as David described: smooth milk chocolate ganache, crunchy, whole caramelised hazelnuts and a thin, chewy sponge base, topped with a thin square of crisp dark chocolate. It was like a dessert version of a Ferrero Rocher, only delicious and not greasy.  I did wonder if it was an intentional nod to the presence of the ambassador. I may have eaten four (they were small!) before deciding I would leave Mischa Barton and co. to the cafe and come back another day to see Raquel again and check out whether any of the other pastries also lived up to David’s promise (or maybe just get the Delice again…).

You can also buy the full range of Godiva truffles in the cafe and there are vats of hot chocolate in milk, dark and white, plus taps of running chocolate (how do I get one of these in my flat?). I do quite enjoy their frozen Chocolixir drink but I would definitely make the dessert my priority if you make it there.  If you do, let me know what you think!

Last weekend, two separate chocolate festivals took place, one up in Ramsbottom, and another here in London. From what I hear, both festivals had record numbers of visitors, which is great for the industry and all of us who love real chocolate.

We visited Yael Rose’s festival in London, and shot some video to give you a flavour of what goes on.

Yael managed to get six of the country’s top chocolatiers and a myriad of smaller producers in the same place at the same time, which I don’t think anyone has managed before.

Stalls were packed with a good mix of familiar faces and people we hadn’t hear of before. The baked bean chocolates (below) by Aneesh “The Chocolatier” Popat proved to be particularly controversial!

They weren’t my cup of tea, but I love the fact that people are willing to experiment with weird and wacky flavours.

On Saturday, I attended Paul A. Young’s demonstration, where experimentation was the theme. Paul demonstrated making two of his more unusual chocolates, a roquefort ganache, and a cigar leaf caramel. Every chocolate demonstration should start with frying tobacco leaves!

The main message of Paul’s talk was that everyone should have a go at making chocolates, and never to be afraid of experimenting with flavours. “Use whatever you have in the cupboard”, as Paul says. And if it doesn’t work, just give it to your friends and try something new!

Of course Easter was the main theme for most of the chocolatiers exhibiting at The Chocolate Festival, but this year Jubilee-themed chocolate was in evidence as well. Bill McCarrick of Sir Hans Sloane told us about his patriotic line-up when we caught up with him.

I love Yael’s Chocolate Festivals, and she’s growing them every year, expanding to more and more cities and spreading the word about real chocolate. If you’re in Bristol area over the Easter weekend, the festival continues there, spreading the word – and the chocolate.

On Monday evening, with the master help from Westminster Kingsway College, the Cavendish Hotel converted Room 1212 into a chocolate lover’s dream boudior.

We were invited in for a sneak peek before the lucky winner – chosen that day! – got to enter and spend the night in this chocolate wonderland.  It was all I could do not to be dragged out. The candles were made of chocolate, the tea cups, the toothbrushes…. And it was all overseen by a rather scary looking chocolate bunny lording over the room atop a giant Easter Egg.

There is an ingredient in chocolate that can actually help prevent tooth decay.  I’m not sure this is quite what they had in mind: 

I would just like to confirm that I didn’t touch anything apart from the chocolate items in the bathroom, the tea set and, er, that one chocolate heart that I ate from the bed. It was very difficult to restrain myself! Then I ran back downstairs (ok, I took the lift, it was 12 floors up!) to enjoy my chocolate cocktail in the bar. If I had been allowed to eat everything then I would have needed to run up and down those stairs MANY times – at least the view is spectacular, across the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Shard and the Gherkin.

I left taunted with envy for someone spending the night here, yet knowing my addiction and capacity for chocolate, it was probably a good thing. I’m pretty sure I can’t eat 100kg of chocolate in one night, but it’s probably best for everyone that I wasn’t given the opportunity to try.

I’m just sorry we didn’t get invited back for an “after” shot as well.

Photo Gallery

I stopped in the day it opened and posted a few pictures to Facebook. Now here’s a little video I took on the same day:

Upstairs, in the “shop” part, the beans get roasted in a clear tube (not normally how it happens but much more interesting to watch), then they travel downstairs to the cafe, where they are winnowed, ground and conched.  Winnowing is the process of separating the pieces of cocoa beans (nibs) from their shell. On a grand scale this is usually done by oscillating the nibs on a wire mesh conveyer belt above a set-strength vacuum. The shell is lighter than the nibs, meaning they go in different directions. Simples.

Grinding and then conching is all part of making the chocolate silky smooth and also removing some of the acidity. Conching is continuous beating of the molten chocolate inside a metal drum. This process causes the particles to refine as well as most of the acidic notes (leftover from the fermentation) to evaporate, leaving a delicious, rounded, chocolatey flavour.

At Roast + Conch you can taste the difference between bars conched for 60 hours, 90 hours and 120 hours. And you can taste the difference.  I think it helps to highlight how much every stage of the cocoa (& chocolate) production process can affect the final product.  To me it helps justify why the best tasting chocolate also costs more.

Instead of a shot of espresso you can get your energy drink fix with lattes and “cappuccinos”  made with a shot of freshly conched chocolate instead.  Have it alongside one of the freshly baked chocolate treats or a savoury crepe made with, of course, chocolate.