Chocolate Unwrapped 2009

Some pictures from Chocolate Unwrapped 2009 - to inspire you to go while it's still got one day left! Unfortunately I uploaded the pictures I took, only to discover most of them didn't come out very well, if I hadn't been so distracted by all the delicious chocolate I might have noticed this when I was at the fair. Oops.

Details of the event (finishing today) are at www.chocolate-week.co.uk. Tickets are £12.50 online or £15 at the door.

That's the fabulous Paul A Young in the picture above, giving a talk (there's lots of talks going on today too). He's a born entertainer and you can see for yourself this Wednesday when he's on This Morning televison show!

Chocolate Unwrapped is like walking into heaven for any chocolate lover (even though, ironically, you descend into the sumptuous room below the Mayfair Hotel in Berkeley Street, W1). The sight of tables and tables burgeoning with some of the finest chocolate creations made by England's skilled chocolatiers... it filled me with indescribable happiness that has overflowed into this Sunday morning (probably also still feeling the buzzing effect of all the chocolate I consumed, which would explain why I'm awake (again) after less than 7 hours sleep!).

It's almost impossible to even sample just one chocolate each from all of the stands at the fair without going into chocolate overdose (even for me). So I stuck (mostly) to the chocolatiers that don't have London shops.

Some personal highlights...



Chococo's White Chocolate with Berries was positively scrumptious. Like strawberries and cream, sweet, creamy chocolate offset by the sharp tang of dehydrated fruit. Moreish, and I'm not even a white chocolate fan unless it's baked into cookies, muffins or cakes.


Lauden Chocolate Particularly their Rose & Lychee and their Passionfruit (superbly made, French-style chocolates).


Askinosie Chocolate

Auberge du Chocolat new range

The Ecuadorian chocolate from Askinosie has strong liquoricey notes, a very unique chocolate, deliciously complex in its flavour. This chocolatier, Shawn Askinosie (read his story, it's very sweet), from Springfield (Missouri, USA), also makes a white chocolate with goat's milk. The goat's milk made it a little too reminiscent of farmyard for me. I had a similar challenge with Auberge du Chocolat's goat's milk caramel although it was a really interesting chocolate and very well made. Especially impressive when I learnt it was created by the 18yo son of this family business. They've just won some Gold Great Taste Awards too, but I didn't get to try those ones on this occasion. I'm sorry, a terrible failure on my part.


Trish Deseine's chocolate cake (and she's giving away the recipe! AND you can buy the chocolate in bulk from her at the show!)


Paul Wayne-Gregory and his merry band (that's Stephen on the right) are delightfully entertaining and force-feeding people who come by their stand. Including another great passionfruit chocolate and a popping-rock praline.


Gorvett & Stone from Henley also do a popping candy chocolate, amongst other delicious truffles, my personal favourite still being the raspberry & black pepper (both in truffles and in bar format). It helps that they use fabulous quality couverture!


Another interesting find, a newcomer to the chocolate fair scene is DeAngelis. Made in Italy, but based in Hartfordshire and run by an Italian-Australian, this chocolate - like Askinosie - has only cacao beans and sugar but it hasn't been conched and refined to get the smooth chocolate that we know, it's crunchy with sugar crystals. Reminds me of the chocolate I bought in Guatemala last November (I really should post the pictures from that!). It was made with very good quality beans, though it is harder to identify this because the sugar doesn't merge into the cocoa in the same way.

Finally, Ooh La La Chocolaterie with her very pretty chocolates. Try the whisky with raisins or the blackcurrant (or any, really).




I'm tempted to return but I must stay home and finalise preparations for next Saturday's sold out Full Day Chocolate Tour! I hope you can make to Chocolate Unwrapped today, and tell them I sent you (it might get you an extra chocolate)!

Happy Chocolating!

Chocolate Bars made by me (and friends)

When we visited friends 10 days ago they had left over Manjari from a chocolate fountain they had at Christmas so we decided to experiment. We melted some and drizzled it on Booja Booja "ice cream". Sooo good. It went hard like a posh, grown-up version of Ice Magic.



While we were eating this we discussed how much we like Paul Young's dark almond rochers and then decided (on a chocolate high) that we should experiment and make our own. There was no almonds in the house so we made a version with hazelnuts (toasted and sprinkled with pink himalaya salt). We made a version with goji berries and brazil nuts too. Not pretty, but delicious. Though if you're using Manjari it's hard to go wrong...

Chocolate Open Evening at Paul A Young

I have a camera I haven't used much and I really should use it more because I am not taking great pictures with it so unfortunately have no clear pictures of truffles from last night :-(. I went by Paul's shop in Bank for his open evening. We have a private audience with him on Saturday morning with the full day tour though. Not sure if I will take any pictures then but there are still a few places on the tour if you want to sign up! www.chocolateecstasytours.com/fulldaytour.htm

a summary of the last few weeks

I’m not sure what happened to Sunday either, or the rest of the week for that matter. Except for returning Wednesday night (after Yo Sushi with friends) to a sparkling kitchen. Best £34 I have ever spent.

Where to start? Although I might protest otherwise I do enjoy being busy. Last minute madness at work adds to the excitement and I am obviously thrilled to be doing so many chocolate tours. Even more thrilled to have my second guide in full swing now. I love getting emails back with rave reviews. I may actually have accomplished what every business book tells you to do and hired people better than myself. I guess we all have different personalities but I know I have two truly excellent chocolate guides which is very nice indeed.

We are already planning the next trip to Paris. Not just because it took less than a week to demolish the bounty, but because there was still so much more to see. Next time we will organise a proper restaurant for Saturday night because although we read a sample menu for the one we did go to we were falsely seduced by oyster icecream and other molecular gastronomy-sounding dishes (really, who thought up that word, does that really sound appetising?) it was mostly a lot of fluff. Expensive fluff too. Delicious sounding dishes that just didn’t deliver, especially not at the cost. The maitre’d was excellent but the waitresses looked like they were lost. Cest la vie.

There has been a chocolate event at least one evening a week for the last few weeks and then tours on the weekends. I attended another Seventypercent tasting with special guest Alex Rast explaining the matrix by which all fine chocolate will fall into – in the four corners: earthy, spicy, fruity and creamy (if I remember correctly? Please remind me if I’ve got it wrong!).

Paul Young hosted an Ecuadorian chocolate and jewellery event at his store in Camden Passage. When we arrived he poured us glasses of his special chocolate brew, informing us “you only need two”. One and a half was where I stopped! Delicious, rich and managing to be both refreshing and – because of the alcohol – warming. I want the recipe.

Last Friday Beth Dunn hosted a chocolate party in St Paul’s. Truffles, biscuits, cakes, shortbread and chunks of chocolate brought in by her and Chrstine (who runs cooking classes). Somehow I was still there when they turned the lights on. It was a fun evening catching up with friends from a variety of areas in my life and introducing them all to each other.

Then earlier this week I got myself along to the first open Academy of Chocolate event. Chantal Coady who is celebrating 25 years of Rococo Chocolates gave a talk and offered us a variety of chocolate to sample. Bill McCarrick (Sir Hans Sloane Chocolates), William Curley, Paul Young and Sevetypercent where all there with chocolates to taste too. It’s definitely worth getting yourself along to the next one (I’ll give you notice, I promise!). I have heard Chantal talk at least once before but most of what she said tonight was new to me, a new insight into chocolate production and also into her business history. From everyone I speak to, and my own limited experience, having your own business is both one of the most rewarding experiences and the most stressful. Especially when everything is on the line for it. I like how my business supports these other chocolate businesses – by bringing chocolate lovers for their best chocolate experience.

In other news, my mum arrives from Australia tonight. I will be sharing her with the rest of her family after tonight but I am so excited to see her!

Apologies that this has fallen into the blog curse of listing events but there was so many chocolate things to share with you all!

Tomorrow I'm off to Taste of London. I will be saying hi to Paul Young and Cocoa Loco brownie and truffle makers! And, no doubt, eating and drinking myself silly. I'll be the one accompanied by the motherly-looking identical twins, on their induction to fine food. It should be entertaining.

and the Chocolate Awards go to...

What a great night. Champagne, chocolate, what more could a girl ask for?

It was a really well-run evening and the award-giving part of the evening ran smoothly, there was the opportunity for it to drag a bit but the presenter kept it moving along swiftly. Perhaps he wanted to get back to the chocolate himself?

It was almost a clean sweep for William Curley who took home a swathe of well-deserved certificates and a mounted, spray-painted cacao pod as further recognition. I had the opportunity to try some of his, and the other award-winning chocolates, during the evening. I was in total chocolate ecstasy upon trying his juniper berry and cassis truffle. This gold winner was a jelly layered on ganache, enrobed in dark Amedei chocolate - bliss. His very lovely staff gave me some to take home too which I was delighted about because with all the different varieties around that evening even I couldn't have tried them all. Because of this I got to try his raspberry truffle which I had eschewed for the more adventurous flavours on offer that evening. It was similarly wondrous.

A few other highlights included Bill McCarrick's white chocolate with passionfruit and drambuie. I don't even like white chocolate especially so this is saying something. Paul Young had a refreshing goats cheese and citrus filled chocolate and Theo (of USA) brought along his award-winning fig and fennel truffles - delicious.

I was still on a chocolate high at 10am yesterday, having woken - eyes wide - at 5am, even at 10am my eyes were gleaming and limbs moving just a little too quickly and erratically as I gestured excitedly telling people about the chocolate. What a great way to perk up the day. I love chocolate.

Soon, so soon, there will be more. Off on the very first Chelsea Chocolate Ecstasy Tour today!

chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate

So much chocolate news to report. Walking near Oxford Street today I passed near an outlet of Paul’s (bakery and patisserie) and the sign on the pavement was all about chocolate, and their obsession with it. So I decided to see just how well they did chocolate. Now, with several chocolate options on the menu it would not be fair to make a blanket judgement about quality based on one item, but I decided to restrict myself to one, just the same. I chose a piece of their chocolate cake. By the height of it I am guessing it is made with very little flour. It was nice. Great adjective, isn’t it? “Nice.” It was not particularly dense, and not overly chocolatey. Not particularly more-ish, or even a texture that felt like it would placate any chocolate cravings. Just: "nice". [I didn't eat the whole piece.]

I went from there to a meeting with Steve and Martin from Seventypercent. Martin offered me two new chocolate bars to try. Made by an American who buys in cocoa liquor and processes it into chocolate himself. A practice rarely done by small scale chocolatiers, or even by larger ones. The first had the most amazing, fruity smell, but its taste didn’t quite live up to this. Reminiscent of an American candy bar, clearly dark and of higher quality, but lacking something. Martin called it “control” and suggested the conching length needs a little refining. I never knew it took Amedei (the award winning chocolatier) eight years to get a great chocolate bar. The second bar barely had any smell at all, but the taste was far superior to the other. Fruity and notes of caramel, too. While a great chocolate it is not yet one I would hurry to buy again. (I'll find out the name and get back to you!)

After leaving the men I went to Yuatcha, to finally try their chocolates. Their display has expanded since I was last there, and sadly it seems they don’t seem to sell madeleines anymore. Shame, they were good. I asked the women behind the counter where the chocolates were made: “behind the glass screen there”.

“Do you know what chocolate it is made from?”

“The chef buys it in and makes them in there.”

“But do you know what chocolate it is made from?”

A sweet smile and a shake of the head. With titles like “apricot wasabi truffle” I decided I might as well try them anyway. A hefty £8 per 100g. I’m disappointed. While the ganache of the apricot wasabi (noticeably lacking in wasabi) and the raspberry rose) were quite nice, and the chocolates were well constructed and of a nice texture, I feel certain that they did not use chocolate that the other chocolatiers in that prie bracket use. They used a popular brand that, when mixed with good ingredients, make quite good chocolates, but on its own fails to shine. Unfortunately because truffles still often need to be encased in chocolate you still have to bite through chocolate on its own to get to the truffle.

Later that day I stopped in to L’Artisan du Chocolat in Sloane Square. Their Easter display is fabulous and they have created a whole range of mini eggs especially for Easter. These can be bought on their own or inside larger eggs, decorated as boiled eggs or with a fried egg slapped on the side. (Not a real fried egg!) L’Artisan have also recently bought the machines to be able to buy chocolate liquor and process it into chocolate. They have always made their own blends, but now can do so right from the bean. Their first blend is impressive. It tastes strong, but strong of fruit and a hint of smokiness or tobacco. It’s a really powerful chocolate that on its own is really satisfying. This is what their Easter eggs are being made from this year.

So, the weekend begins. I will be near Paul A Young’s today. I haven’t visited in a while, so I may have to pop in and see what he is up to... :-)