Chocolate Boxes

This afternoon we had our first class with Chef Christian Faure. He makes chocolate tempering seem so easy. Just spread a few times and presto! C'est fini! Well, I guess it should be easy when you treat chocolate the way he does - you must treat chocolate like a lover.

Chef Christian whipped up two beautiful chocolate boxes in no time. Although seeing him having a bit of difficulty trying to get the square box's sides to stay up convinced me to make the easier round box. For the round box, he traced a picture of Bambi onto a sheet of acetate and then covered it in dark chocolate. For the rectangular box, he made his own tracer sheet with white chocolate and used a painting tool to create a wood grain design, then covered it in dark chocolate. The Chef also showed us how to make a quick and easy chocolate basket using a bowl.

With the two boxes done, we were only halfway through our three-hour demo so the Chef decided to make a chocolate flower. It really didn't look like much when he started assembling it, but it slowly transformed. He added a dusting of gold powder afterwards - in the camera it looked like it was raining gold!

Our practical was right after the demo and I was so nervous that I'd break the box at the very end or not temper it properly. That being said, it turned out to be one of the most relaxing practicals I've had. No recipe to follow or ingredients to weigh. Just grab your chocolate and get working!

I screwed up the tempering several times, but luckily caught it in time. It actually was a real confident-boosting practical because now I feel I can judge for myself the right temperatures. Fingers crossed I can retain this knowledge.

I finished a full half hour early and am somewhat satisfied with the results. I have to practise my chocolate piping skills some more and the top of the box is considerably larger than the actual box. More chocolate to eat, though, I say! I chose the Cheshire Cat for my transfer picture - he reminds me so much of the chubby little guy at home.