Moments after arriving at the production facility of Cocoa Dolce for Chocolate Making 101 last month, I knew that I would be attending every chocolate class, ever, hosted by Beth Tully. To my delight, a second class (Chocolate Making 102) was announced shortly after class 101 and this past Wednesday, Heather Park and myself excitedly arrived once again at the production facility, ready for a full evening of wine and chocolate!
Chocolate Making 102 was significantly different than Chocolate Making 101. The goal of Chocolate 102 was not to learn how to make ganache and in fact, we didn’t receive any new recipes. The goal of Chocolate 102, rather, was to learn more experienced decorating and molding techniques – such as making filled easter eggs, using cocoa butter transfer paper to make designs, and how to create a pretty chocolate-covered truffle that is not coated in a topping (because toppings can hide your mistakes!)
Because we weren’t provided with additional recipes at Chocolate 102, I actually don’t have anything new to share with you – just fun photos! I’ve tried to include some helpful comments so that you, too, can decorate the yummy little treats that you can make using the recipe from Chocolate 101.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me for further details. And – I know you’re dying to know – yes there will be a Chocolate 103! Beth expects to release this class in January once her holiday season has chilled out.
Our place settings upon arriving at class – wine (!!), folder of information, and plenty of chocolate upon which to work our magic.
Heather Park and myself!
I discovered last year that the Pumpkin Spice truffle from Cocoa Dolce is, without a doubt, the best confection ever. Here is the inside: this ganache was made from organic pumpkins, roasted and pureed. It also has some sweet, delicious rum mixed in…and lots of nutmeg. Heaven.
Cocoa butter transfer paper is how the colorful images are made on the truffles. The images are, literally, very delicate strands of cocoa butter that adhere to warm chocolate. Place one on; put in fridge for 5 minutes; peel off.
A square of cooled ganache that was cut into cubes for our decorating-practice delight.
Beth demonstrating how we fill a mold with ganache – think of a stuffed easter bunny. You just coat the mold by filling it with tempered chocolate and dumping it out; then fill with ganache.
Smile!
The finished product!!
an open cookbook : 