For my partner's birthday last month, I booked us a session of a chocolate-making workshop at Love18 Artisan Chocolatier, Puchong. They were offering a promotional price for the workshop. Normal price was RM150 per person, but I only paid RM60 for two.
The outlet was actually a cafe, where they served their homemade desserts and chocolate-infused drinks. They all looked very tempting, especially since we hadn't had lunch yet, but the workshop was about to start soon, so we had to rein ourselves in. There were three other couples joining us in the class. It was to take place in the same space as the dining area, next to the washroom.
Before beginning the workshop, the facilitator gave us a rundown on the company and their products. Apparently, all their products were made in-store and did not contain any preservatives. Because of that, it had a shorter shelf life than regular chocolates. I had tried one of their bonbons before, the one with ganache inside. They came in fours in a little square box, each box costing around RM25. I didn't buy it, of course (duh!)--I received it as a present. All I can say is that it was an orgasmic gastronomical experience. For this workshop, however, we were going to use their sweetest (read: cheapest) dark chocolate.
I was actually expecting to learn how to produce chocolate from cocoa beans. It turned out we were only going to melt ready-made chocolate pellets and pour them into molds. That was rather disappointing. But the workshop was cheap and we got to bring home designer chocolate, so I didn't complain.
First, the chocolate pellets had to be double-boiled to a certain temperature. The facilitator did all the cooking while we watched.
Then the chocolate was poured onto the marble countertop. I thought she was joking, but that was really the procedure. The cold marble surface would help cool the chocolate. I hope she had cleaned it before the workshop started.
The chocolate was spread thin on the marble surface using metal spatulas, and then it was scraped to the middle of the counter, and spread again and scraped again several times until we reached the desired temperature. "Why can't we just let it sit in the pot and wait for it to cool?" we asked. She said we could do that, but the end result wouldn't look as glossy. We took turns trying our hands at it.
I think I was a natural.
Next, the chocolate was poured into eight piping bags, one for each of us. Again, the facilitator did all the work. We seemed to do more watching than doing. Maybe this was to minimize mess and wastage. It was expensive chocolate after all.
We were given chocolate molds, which actually looked like ice trays with alphabets and other basic shapes. Each participant would be bringing home ten cubes of chocolate, so we were free to choose 10 alphabets. I chose 'HAPPY BDAY' and a heart shape. Using the piping bags, we squeezed the chocolate into the molds and gently tapped them on the table to make sure the chocolate settled nicely without air bubbles.
Halfway through, we put in seeds and nuts of our choice, before pouring in the remainder of the chocolate..
We must have made quite a racket banging the trays on the table, I don't know how the other customers could stand it.
Once we were done, the facilitator stored our work in the freezer and asked us to wait for 20 minutes. While waiting, she served us a plate of two different flavors of chocolate. One of the participants was fasting, so we ate his portion too, we evil monsters.
The area where we had the workshop was actually very cold (for me, at least). The air-cond was on full blast, probably to keep the chocolate from melting. Of course, what did I expect? That we would be making chocolate under the hot sun? I wish I had had the good sense to wear warm clothes.
Finally, our chocolate cubes were ready. We took them out of the molds and put them into special boxes. They didn't taste like the RM25 bonbons, but still made a good after-dinner snack.
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| The finished product |
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| My partner, with her birthday gift |
