Hot Chocolate

Compared to the southern states in Australia, it does not get very cold in Queensland. That was until the Antarctica vortex appeared about a month back. Nothing better than a 'steaming '( I'll get to that shortly ) mug of hot chocolate.

Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start ... 

It was during a visit to Melbourne a few years ago, I came across a chocolate shop called Chokolait ( here.)   In my humble opinion I think they make the best hot chocolate, as well as friendly staff. Thus began my love affair with that delicious cup of velvet goodness.  A visit to Melbourne is not complete without a visit to Chokolait.

It was during our first visit to France in 2010 that we found it a little odd that hot chocolate was served at breakfast.  We loved it and as they say " When in Rome " or in this instance Paris.  

Our quest to find the perfect hot chocolate was born.  We did come home with what we thought was the next best thing, a hot chocolate mix from Angelina's  and another hot chocolate mix that we bought from Le Grande Epiceire de Paris ( an amazing food hall, peoples !)

It was after a visit to the Military Museum we came across a quaint bistro.  Hot chocolate seemed like a good idea. Oh my goodness it was amazing, as was the pain au chocolate.

                          

Back in Brisbane and on a high after visiting Paris we decided to visit a French Patisserie in Brisbane, so hot chocolate and croissants were eagerly order with the greatest anticipation of being wowed. Sadly it was a bitter disappointed a thought did cross my mind " Toto we are not in Kansas anymore."

Now the search was on for the perfect chocolate for this delicious cup of goodness. Mr T&T found out that a deli in the City was offering a  pop up class presented by Vahrhona Chocolate.  The lovely man that he is, surprised me by booking me into the class.  It was very interesting and there were many delicious desserts to try, as well as a sample bag of the various blends or country of origin chocolates to try. 

It was then that the love affair started with the Valrhona Manjari 64% chocolate started.  We enjoy it as a hot chocolate and Mr T&T has become a bit of a Valhrona snob.  As for myself I am still rather partial to a Toblerone, keeping it real peoples !

During our second visit to Paris in 2014  the search was now on for the perfect hot chocolate.  Armed with our trusty list we began our pilgrimage.  After what seemed like forever we found the little bistro that had  in served us that delicious hot chocolate 2010.  

What a disappointment, we were served a milky hot chocolate in a tall glass, gone was the theater of the steamed milk and most important where was that velvet goodness. Communicating through, what is honestly our non existence French and their broken English we learnt that the Bistro had changed hands.

A little downtrodden we made our way to Angelina's,( here ) famous for their hot chocolate. It was amazingly thick and velvet but a little too sweet for us. I think they use a milk chocolate,  by this time we had got used to the Valrona Majari 64%. We had to try the food as well, lunch was pretty amazing. The restaurant is beautiful I loved everything about it.  What was not to love, after all we were in Paris.

There was another restaurant that we found that supposed to serve the best hot chocolate, it sadly   failed to deliver.

As luck would have it we found the best hot chocolate the day before we were to fly back to Australia. It was a restaurant in the La Grande Epicerie de Paris ( here ) .  It was everything a hot chocolate should be rich, thick and utterly delicious.

What makes a dish or in this instance a hot chocolate marvelous?  Was it the ambiance in that Bistro the friendly owners, or was it just a great hot chocolate ?

There have many discussions at Casa T&T about the amount of chocolate to use.  Mr T&T always maintained that if the milk is allowed to boil it has a different taste. 

" Nonsense " I replied.  Sadly I have had to admit that I was wrong. 

" Surprised ?" 

" I know,  me too! "

It was while I was watching a TV program about coffee making. The barista explained the importance of the temperate of the milk, the following is what I have since learnt.

Steaming milk:

At 60 deg C ( 140 deg F ) milk proteins start to caramelize.

At 65 deg C ( 149 deg F ) the proteins are sweet.

At 70 deg C ( 158 deg F ) the proteins are cooking out.

At 75 deg C ( 167 deg F ) the proteins are gone.

Burnt milk tastes like water, that is because all the fat proteins have been cooked out.

Using the Valrhona Majari 64%

Mr T&T likes a strong chocolate flavour so 18 pieces of the chocolate ( 57 g or 1.95 oz )

My preference is for a slightly less rich chocolate flavour so 15 pieces ( 44 g or  1.40 oz )

The Callebaut 55% makes a really nice hot chocolate, it seems sweeter than the Valrhona Manjari 64% which could be a little bitter for some people.  When we offer the hot chocolate to our guests, first sip they find too bitter.  Our advice is to have a few sips before making a judgement, unless you really cannot stand dark chocolate.

The Lint Chocolate Excellence range a has great choice of  flavours such as Intense Mint.  These flavours may prove to make a delicious hot chocolate drink. 

Place in a saucepan and allow the chocolate to gently melt.

Rotate the saucepan gently to keep the chocolate from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  Using a heat resistant spatula stir the milk to make sure all the chocolate has melted.

Use an infra red digital thermometer or digital probe to measure the temperature of the milk.

Mr T&T heats the mug with boiling water, I cannot stand a lukewarm hot drink, this works really well.  Add froth to your hot chocolate by using a stick blender.

Scrumptious orange madeleines were served alongside the frothy hot chocolate

Do you have a favourite hot chocolate flavour or place you like to visit ?

Enjoy!

On finding inspiration, cakes and more.

Inspiration can be found in a variety of celebrations such as religious or cultural. Birthdays are fun and there are lots of ideas and information to draw on.  The seasons are also a great source of inspiration for example cherry blossoms for Spring cakes

A few years ago I attended a sugar paste workshop on Foliage (leaves), this has been one of the most exciting workshops I have ever done.   Green leaves are not all born equal, to coin a phrase.

Take the time to look at  leaves in your garden or when out on a walk.  Always try to work from a real leaf for the correct colour.  I have seen many beautiful competition cakes with amazing flowers, only for the cake to be let down by incorrectly coloured green leaves.  Just because the colour on the bottle is labeled as 'Leaf Green' does not necessary mean that it is the leaf green colour that you require.

The following two cakes were made for competitions that I entered.  Competition work allows more freedom to express your creativity and encourages one to think outside the square or cake, so as to speak.

The inspiration for the first cake began with my favourite colour combination. The pink, yellow and apricot roses was the colour combination of  my bridal bouquet. Adding the green gave the cake a light and fresh feel.

For the flowers I was drawn to creating a feminine feel. The flowers that made the cut ( funny ! ) were roses, lilies, the hellebore and last but not least the blushing bride ( my favorite flower ever! ) and ivy.

The  Australian Mud cake was used for all the cakes featured in this blog  It is a dense and  delicious cake, great for sculpturing as well as stacking. Make sure the layers are well supported with food grade dowels.

The inspiration behind this next cake was Paris, I wanted the cake to have a luxurious feel hence, the deep colours of the Roses.

Each layer have their own "story" the cake topper being the Eiffel Tower. 

Next was a nod to the Moulon Rouge representing a corset with a lace up back.( I know it is conservative. )

A hat box always seems to represent luxury,with gorgeous vintage luggage labels representing glamorous destinations.

The cake topper was a piped Eiffel Tower using royal icing.  The first and second level platforms were made using the flood work method.  

A French chef I was working with at the time pointed out , that as I had not added the antenna at the top it was not entirely a true representation.  Soon after making this cake the head pastry chef requested an Eiffel tower for a wedding cake he was asked to make.  This time I added the antenna, pleased to report back that we had a very happy French chef in the kitchen.  Thank you chef S, now it annoys me that there is no antenna :)

For the corset, a cake was made in  an hourglass shape representing the female form.  From previous experience baking this cake in a steam pudding tin, resulted in very little carving and a more structurally sound cake.  In the past I have sucessfully baked a mud cake using an oven proof Pyrex dish. When baking in a pudding shape bowl or steam pudding tin line the base with a disk of parchment paper. Your cake will release easily once cold,there is nothing worse than leaving some of the cake behind in your tin

View of the back of the cake with the lace up detail.  For the design on the corset I used a small calyx and blossom cutter.  The paste was rolled out using a textured rolling pin, adding interest to the corset design.

Close up of the roses which were made in various sizes.  Instead of making the roses on wire, I made them on food grade wooden toothpicks.

For the bottom layer I wanted it to have the feel of a vintage hat box.  Edible imaging was used for the luggage labels.

The Paris inspired cake entailed hours of work and close to two hundred roses.  The Eiffel Tower was a challenge but in the end I was thrilled with the result.

Once judging was complete the general public were invited to view the entries. The greatest compliment I received was from a couple who were visiting from their" hometown' of Paris.  They seemed excited to see the cake and asked to take a picture of the it.

Art Deco inspired wedding cake.

During the consultation with the bride and groom, they revealed their interest in art deco.  The colour scheme for the wedding was red and white.  That colour combination is a bit of a tricky one for me. One needs to find the right balance as it can go from class to tacky really quickly.

My suggestion was a minimum use of red with a touch of black.  The colour of the red powder is called Poncho.  It is a beautiful red, ideal for Christmas.  The Poncho is a concentrated colour, once it has been mixed into your  sugar paste it does gradually darken.  

Art chalks or pastels may be non toxic but that does not necessary make them food grade.  It is always best to follow food guidelines set by your State or Country.  

Working with coloured fondant / pettinice, my good friend V once gave me a fabulous tip.  When I first tried to use the  coloured fondant  / pettinice, I was having trouble working with it as it crumbled really quickly and was difficult to roll out.  Work in  a little White fondant / pettince it binds it together and makes the fondant / pettinice more manageable to work with. ( colour is not compromised, unless that is what you want. )

The flat pieces on the cake needed to be strong, therefore they were made  from Mexican paste.  This paste dries really hard and I did not have to worry about the humidity making the pieces soft.

The decoration for the top tier was inspired by a mirror design.

The second was the ' fish scale ' design, this worked really well with the hint of red.

The bottom layer was inspired by a building facade.

Although in the style of Art deco , who would have thought that three images such as a mirror, wallpaper and a building facade would have resulted in a wedding cake.

Thank you to B and A for giving me the opportunity to make your cake.

The following images are where the inspiration came for the cake design.

www.decomirrors.com.au

Google, Art deco designs

Google, Century Hotel, Miami