Chocolate Making Class in Toronto
Wondering what to do for date night or a night out with your bestie? Here’s an idea. Chocolate Tales offers a wonderful chocolate making class in Toronto for anyone who has a passion for chocolate. Whether you are hosting a corporate event, bridal shower or kids party, Chocolate Tales offers hands-on workshops across the GTA for chocoholics of all ages.
The class I took was the “Classic Chocolate Making Workshop’, which I found on Facebook. The event took place in a cute coffee shop on Eglinton called The Mad Bean Coffee House (519 Eglinton Ave W). Each table had a tray, apron, gloves, metal shape cutters and bottle of food colouring. For this class, we learned how to to make Belgian truffles. For years, there has been a debate on whether Swiss chocolates are better than Belgian chocolates. Having taken a chocolate making course in Interlaken, Switzerland, I’ve noticed a distinct difference between the two. Swiss chocolates tend to be smoother while Belgian chocolates tend to be more bitter thanks to their high cocoa count. Honestly, I love both Swiss and Belgian chocolates equally.
Chocolate Making Class in Toronto – History of Chocolate, Tempering & Molding Demonstration
Our chocolate connoisseur, Aviva started the 90 minute chocolate class with the history of chocolate. She explained that chocolate originated from Mexico since the Mayans and Aztecs enjoyed chocolate as a fermented beverage. The Mayans and Aztecs took the cocoa beans from the cocoa tree and scooped them out of their pods. They then fermented, dried and turned the beans into a paste. Water and corn were added to sweeten the mixture.
This chocolate making class in Toronto may be introductory but after seeing Aviva demonstrate how to temper and mold the chocolate, I was inspired to learn more about tempering. Chocolate Taste has a class on chocolate tempering that takes place in a studio if you are interested in something more hands-on. Chocolate that has been tempered is velvety smooth, with a nice sheen and satisfying snap. Aviva showed us how to temper chocolate by putting chilled chocolate on top of a cool surface. She then agitated the chocolate to re-establish the cocoa butter crystals to help the chocolate combine. After agitating the chocolate, she then started ribboning it and poured the mixture into another bowl with unstabilized chocolate. She then poured the mixture into a mold and demonstrated the chocolate rain technique, which I found really fun to watch.
Chocolate Tasting and Decorating
We were given three different chocolate ganaches to taste: cinnamon, ginger and cayenne. Out of the three, I really enjoyed the cinnamon ganache because the cinnamon brought a subtle hint of heat to the chocolate. The cayenne chocolate was too spicy for me. I could barely taste the ginger in the ginger ganache, which was surprising.
Finally, we got to make our own truffles and it was a lot of fun. Metal cutters were provided so we could cut out the truffles into different shapes. Now, the fun part and this can get really messy. Aviva showed us how to slide the edge of the fork under the truffle and gently drop the truffle into the melted chocolate. Afterwards, we got to decorate our chocolates with coconut shavings, nuts, marshmellows, cocoa powder, food colouring and chocolate transfer sheets. Since chocolate doesn’t mix well with liquid, food colouring was mixed in with white chocolate so the chocolate wouldn’t seize. We decorated the lava cakes and waited for them to bake in the oven.
At the end of the class, we were given a box with pretty bags and ribbons for our truffles and lava cake. I definitely want to give these out to my friends. These truffles make lovely personalized gifts. I really enjoyed taking this class and looked forward to taking my creations home. Thanks for inviting me, Chocolate Tales!!
Chocolate Tales is currently offering a 45% discount on all workshops!!!! Use Promo Code LoveCT. You can also purchase assorted chocolates as gifts for any occasion here.
I have attached the Lava Cake recipe below:
Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients
- 200g Semi-Sweet or bitter chocolate
- 200g Butter (unsalted)
- 200g Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 4 Egg yolks
- 90g Flour
- Pinch of salt
- 20z Brandy or Whiskey
Directions
- Step 1 Pre-heat oven to 350F. You will need 4-5 oz ramekins
- Step 2 Melt chocolate and butter using a double boiler. Once melted, slowly add in sugar
- Step 3 When all ingredients have completely melted take the batter off the heat and carefully add in the eggs slowly
- Step 4 When the eggs are fully incorporated, add the flour, salt, vanilla and alcohol
- Step 5 Gently mix the batter, but mix well until it is one consistent mass
- Step 6 Transfer into ramekins and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes
- Step 7 When the first cracks appear on the surface of the cakes, take them out
- Step 8 Decorate with cocoa powder, nuts or coconut flakes
- Step 9 Enjoy!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
