"This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a fabulous chocolate workshop run by Frances Cooley of Clifton Cakes who is trained in the art of truffle making and chocolate sculpture. As well as her cake business Frances has been running chocolate courses since 2006…
We made the two hour drive down to Bristol and when we arrived at the Rodney Hotel we were shown in to a bright sunny room along with about 12 other people where Frances introduced herself to us. She started the class by talking to us a little about chocolate and its history and we got to taste premium quality chocolates from the best plantations round the world. She then talked us through what we were going to be doing over the next two hours.
Firstly we split in to small groups of 4 and followed Frances’s animated instruction to make a batch of delicious Belgian truffles. She had pre-tempered the chocolate (due to lack of time) but talked us through how it was done and explained the difference between tempered and non-tempered chocolate. We were also provided with some basic ganache (chocolate and cream) and a selection of flavourings to use in our creation! We then started off by mixing in our ganache filling with some finely chopped ginger (our flavour of choice) and Frances then showed us how to pipe these out on to our tray in to perfect little truffle sized balls. She made it look so easy but when it came to my go they ended up looking more like little puddles of mud, hehe. We placed the ganache drops in the fridge until cool and once they were firm we coated them in little chocolate flakes. Surprisingly, they actually looked like perfect truffles!
We then moved on to making filled tempered chocolates. We started by making our shells for our chocolates which consisted of us pouring delicious melted chocolate in to our tray of shell shaped moulds and then pouring it all out again leaving a thin layer behind in each shell. We popped these in the fridge to cool and then once chilled we piped in our yummy ganache filling and sealed the bottom with the same method of pouring over the melted chocolate, scraping away all the excess and then popping them in the fridge to solidify. When we retrieved them and banged them out of the tray and on to the table we were pleased to find perfect looking chocolate shells just like those you would expect to see on display in an expensive chocolate shop! Finally, Frances showed us the proper technique for dipping chocolates and we were given a chance to perfect this skill by coating plenty of rum and raisin chocolates that she had prepared earlier.
We finished off the class by wrapping and boxing our chocolates to give them a perfect finish!
The course was so much fun and it definitely gave me an appreciation for all the work that goes in to producing good quality chocolates not to mention it made me feel a little less begrudged at the price that usually comes with them! Best of all, you get to take all of your creations home with you to share with family and friends.
This course would be such a giggle for hen parties, or a girly afternoon with your bridesmaids. Alternatively, as I discovered, it is an original and fun thing to do with your partner. The two and a half hour courses are held in Bristol and London and cost £45 & £40 for 8 or more, which is a great price considering you get to take home between 30 to 50 of your own gift wrapped hand made chocolate creations.
You can find out when the next course is here: courses or here: contact to arrange a private course for your hen party (minimum 8 people)."
