A Delicious Afternoon: A Chocolate Workshop with Chocoholly
So, I’ve been away for a while. Well two months – a relatively short hiatus, but still – as a writer, there’s no excuse. I haven’t been sitting idle sipping tea and mainlining Mad Men like there’s no tomorrow (well, I haven’t
just
been doing that…), there are some very exciting things in the pipeline. All of which will have dedicated posts, winging their way to you soon.
ANYWAY. Let’s catch up. How are you?
The first thing I wanted to tell you about was a perfectly delightful chocolate making workshop I attended way back in March (at the risk of sounding roughly 86 – where does the time go?). The venue was
in Guildford and it was beautifully hosted by
Holly Caulfield, AKA
,
a chocolatier from Brighton.
I’m a bit addicted to chocolate. I know that as far as addictions go, I should count my blessings, but I do take the piss a bit. Whether it’s Green and Blacks finest or Sainsbury’s basics, I’m all over it like Kanye West on an artist he perceives not to be worthy of a Grammy. So, the excuse to spend all afternoon guzzling chocolate treats, unjudged in the company of other sweet-toothed fiends? Count me in.
There were about 15 of us in total, and I dragged (gently led) the boyfriend along for company. We were provided with aprons and copious amounts of prosecco, before being sat down to learn a thing or two about what chocolate actually is, and where it comes from. We tasted chocolate of different percentages, from the 100% pure kind (bit like old shoe) to the cocoa-lite stuff you find in Cadburys (way too sweet once you’ve sampled the hard stuff). We learnt that, in the world of high-brow chocolatiers, “Cadbury’s” is a bit of swear word. Apparently it’s full of the bad stuff, with none of the good. Holly recommended we always buy organic, which ensures the chocolate is legit and also means the farmers who grew the beans got a good deal, too. Chocolate that not only tastes good, but makes you feel good, too? Yes please.
And this is where things really stepped up a gear. It might have been the tantalisingly tiny chocolate samples whetting my appetite, or just that third glass of prosecco, but when Holly proceeded to lift the lids of three enormous cauldrons of bubbling, molten chocolate – my spirit sang. She handed round slabs of ganache, and expertly demonstrated the correct technique for coating them and making truffles: throw a chunk in as hard as you can, then fish it out with a fondue fork. No, seriously. As well as ganache, we were presented with a pick and mix of different ingredients with which to make our truffles, from lavender and salt to orange peel and marshmallows.
Telling us to go ahead and start making our own truffles was like sounding the starting gun for the 100m race. We all scrabbled around for our tools, and before long were covered head to toe in chocolate, making weird and wonderful creations to take home. We were let loose for around half an hour, meaning we got so many truffles to take with us and enjoy later. I was surprised and thrilled at how many we got (although my healthy eating plan wasn’t), as I’ve been to events in the past where it’s much more tightly controlled.
After that, it was time to go. We stumbled out of Anthropologie in the best moods – not just because we’d had a brilliant time sipping prosecco and chomping on truffles and got some hands-on experience making chocolate – but because we’d learnt somet
hing too. I can see why Chocoholly is so popular with Hen parties and birthdays – I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.
Note Phil's "self-portrait" on the far right...
Like the sound of a chocolate workshop? Check out
website for more info!
