Supplement with chocolate or just supplement....then eat chocolate?

I appreciate all kinds of chocolate and the chocolate makers who craft it. Which is why I tend to speak positively about most chocolates that I try. I feel like whoever made the chocolate had a passion for chocolate and the ingredients they put in it, such as: healthy ingredients, spices, gourmet foods, interesting flavours, organic ingredients. So if I do not like the chocolate, I simply do not write about it. 

But after purchasing a 'maca' infused chocolate bar yesterday, and tasting it, I started to wonder to myself, "do we really need chocolate with dietary supplements in it?  Or should we just eat great-tasting chocolate and then take a supplement - separately of our sweet treat?"  I get that people want to feel like they are doing something healthy for their bodies while eating a chocolate treat, but if the healthy ingredient negatively changes the taste and texture of the chocolate, what is the point?  Why not just take a pill with the health supplement in it? Then we can truly appreciate and enjoy fine chocolate on its own. Wouldn't that be the better option?

I will leave the answer up to you, the chocolate eater.  And I will tell you that although I initially did not like the flavour of the Vega Maca Chocolate bar that I purchased yesterday, it grew on me by the time I ate the second piece.  And today, I like it more than I did yesterday. And oddly, I feel like I have done something good for my body by eating it.  Funny how that happens.

Maca is a root that is very high in protein and has over 22 amino acids and minerals and has 'hormone-normalizing' effects. Apparently, clinical research also demonstrates it to be a powerful fertility and libido enhancer for both men and women.

If you want to learn more about Maca-infused chocolate, see the following articles:
http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2012/11/live-healthy-with-living-libations.html
http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2011/08/extra-dark-and-extra-minty-chocolate-to.html

Travel the World Through Craft Chocolate

New Canadian Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Maker Makes it Possible

 

Have you ever travelled the world through chocolate?  You can, you know. Simply try a range of single origin chocolates and you can experience the world through your taste buds. That's right, cacao (or 'cocoa') beans grown from specific regions take on the flavours of the place where they grow, so when you eat chocolate made from single-origin beans, you can essentially do a taste tour of different regions of the world.


If you are new to the chocolate-tasters scene, you might be wondering where to start. The best way to sample singe origin chocolate is to find a craft, bean-to-bar chocolate maker near you (or online) and check out their range of chocolate bars.  Usually craft chocolate makers focus on making single origin chocolate.  Most of them offer a range of about five chocolate bars made from beans grown in specific and different regions of the world. For instance, you could buy a chocolate bar made from beans grown in Madagascar and another made from beans grown in the Dominican Republic.

In fact, I just discovered a new Canadian chocolate maker a few weeks ago called Ambrosia Pastry Co.  They are making chocolate from 'bean to bar' in Waterloo, Ontario and offer more than four different chocolates made from beans grown in: Venezuela, Peru, Papua New Guinea and Ghana. They also make a wonderful spiced drinking chocolate from Peruvian Criollo Beans.  So you can take your chocolate addiction to a whole new international level just by trying Ambrosia's range of chocolate bars.


Although I am a dark chocolate lover, my favourite chocolate of Ambrosia's is their 55% Milk Origin Ghana bar.  It was quite possibly the best dark-milk chocolate that I have ever tasted. My husband, who only likes really sweet chocolate, also loved it and said "this might be the best chocolate that I have ever eaten". Of the dark chocolate bars, my favourite was the 63% Papua New Guinea bar.

Ambrosia is owned by Tim Simpson and Aura Hertzog, who met in cooking school in 1999. They have turned their years of experience in the food industry into a passion for chocolate.  You can learn more about them and where Ambrosia is located in Waterloo here.

You can order Ambrosia's bean-to-bar chocolate range online! Check it out: http://ambrosiapastry.com/online-ordering-for-bean-to-bar-chocolate/. They just released a 70% Venezuelan chocolate and they also rotate their origin chocolate, so be sure to check back frequently or contact them for information on chocolate made from other origin beans.

For other Canadian bean-to-bar chocolate makers who may be in your area, go to my "Canadian Chocolate Gift-Giving Guide" for a list. And an updated list is coming soon!

For a list of American bean-to-bar chocolate makers, Wikipedia has a great list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bean-to-bar_chocolate_manufacturers. The Chocolate Life also has a great list on a forum discussion - you will have to scroll through a few pages to hit the full list, but it is there: http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topic/show?id=1978963%3ATopic%3A7700.

The New Shades of Chocolate; Valrhona is Creating New Categories of Yumminess

The package clearly stated 'blond' chocolate, but I was still shocked when I opened the wrapping of Valrhona's Dulcey chocolate bar and found that it really was, well, blond.

Dulcey 'Chocolat Blond' is a new addition to the world of chocolate, with its interesting tan or oatmeal colour (i.e. 'blond') and creamy caramel-white chocolate flavour.  Recently introduced by France's superb fine chocolate maker, Valrhona, this chocolate is certainly making history by adding a new category to the traditional white, milk and dark types that chocolate lovers have become accustomed to.

Even more surprising than the colour was the taste.  It tasted like a creamy white chocolate combined with a smooth caramel flavour, and was, simply put, wonderful tasting.  I gave it to a few other people to try and they all instantly were surprised by how good it tasted and the smoothness of the texture. I believe that anyone would like this blond chocolate, even people who do not like white chocolate. I know it is a bold statement, but I am pretty sure it is true!

I purchased my first bar of Dulcey in Ottawa at a little international cheese shop, and it won't be the last one that I buy. Dulcey comes in both 85 gram (2.99 oz) bars for the average consumer to taste, and what's great is: it also comes in bags of couverture for professional chocolatiers.  This means that a whole new variety of delicious desserts can be made by chefs, bakers and chocolate shop owners who purchase this new category of chocolate.

The real eye opener is when you see this 'Blond' Chocolate next to a white chocolate.  For instance, check out the picture to the right.  The chips or 'callets' are Callebaut's brand of white chocolate couverture for professionals (high quality white chocolate, like Callebaut's, is naturally ivory in colour, not pure white).  The square is Valrhona's Dulcey with its distinct tan colour.  This contrast instantly shows how the 'blond' colour of the Dulcey chocolate differs from traditional white chocolate.


Valrhona is certainly taking strides towards becoming the most innovative chocolate company in the world.  Besides creating a new category of blond chocolate, they also recently introduced their Caramelia chocolate, which, in my opinion, is the milk chocolate version of Dulcey.  I say that because Dulcey is a caramel-tasting white chocolate, but Caramelia is a caramel-tasting milk chocolate. It is also just as fantastically smooth, creamy and wonderful tasting. I made the most amazing chocolate truffles from Caramelia and also provided the recipe here on the blog. Certainly Valrhona's innovative product brought my standard milk chocolate truffle recipe to a whole new level. I cannot wait to get my hands on some more!

Where to buy these products:
You can buy bags of the Dulcey couverture in the U.K. online at Chocolate Trading Company.
In Canada, you can find both Dulcey and Caramelia couverture chocolate for professionals (or really great home bakers and amateur chocolatiers) online at Vanilla Food Company.

You can also buy the chocolate bar in the United States on Valrhona's website for $7.99 per bar: http://www.valrhona-chocolate.com/dulcey-bar. Also, the Dulcey couverture is available on Valrhona's professional site at: http://www.valrhonaprofessionals.com/chocolate.html.

You can find Callebaut's white chocolate callets in Canada online at McCall's: and Vanilla Food Company, and a variety of other online retailers.

Piecaken Fest 2013: My Chocolate & Pear Creation with Sour Cream Milk Chocolate Ganache (recipe included)

It started a little over a year ago with a photo found on the Internet. A friend sent it to me and said: "Please can someone make a piecaken for my 40th birthday?" And so I did.  I made a giant piecaken for his birthday with two pies baked inside of two 14" round cakes, stacked and iced.  It was awesome.

For those who do not know, a piecaken is a whole pie baked inside of a cake. Yup, completely indulgent, but definitely satisfying for people who love pie and love cake, or for someone who loves pie but needs a cake to celebrate a birthday or event.




This was the original photo
found online here.
 

This year, we decided to invite more people and hold a piecaken bake-off contest. With five savoury piecakens and eight sweet piecakens entered, this was a decadent, delicious and super-fun evening! Check out all the pictures on this blog's facebook page here.

I had so many ideas that I did not know where to begin.  But I knew that my entry had to include chocolate!  In fact, I don't make pies unless I can include quality chocolate within them. So after throwing a bunch of ideas around, like a blueberry pie inside of a cheesecake, a raspberry pie inside of a flourless chocolate cake (I still want to try this one!) and a chocolate-peanut butter pie inside of a chocolate Rice Krispie cake, I decided to make my trusty chocolate-pear pie recipe (which is a favourite with my husband and his family members), bake it into a vanilla cake and top it with my Sour Cream Milk Chocolate Ganache and some toasted crumble-top bits.

First I made the 10" pie, which includes my melt-in-your mouth pie crust recipe, organic milk chocolate chunks, 6-10 sliced pears, cinnamon, brown sugar and a crumble-top mixture of flour, oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. The downside was that the pears were not as ripe as they should have been, which slightly changed the texture of the pie, and I had used Muscovado sugar from Mauritius instead of brown sugar, which gave the overall pie a less-sweet flavour. But it was still pretty good.

Then I made a sour cream-based vanilla cake (I would share the recipe, but it is my own 'from scratch' recipe and it is a business secret!).  I poured just a half inch of cake batter into the bottom of a 10.5" spring-form pan. After having made a few piecakens, I have learned two important things:

(1) use less batter to ensure the cake cooks all the way through, and

(2) it is easier to remove the pie if it is baked on parchment in the pie plate and if it is flipped upside down into the cake batter.  There is less chance of your pie breaking this way and you do not need an extra set of hands to remove the pie plate (don't worry about the pie being upside down, once baked, I just flip the whole cake back over onto the cake plate so the pie is right-side up again!)

Then I poured a thin coating of cake batter on top and filled in the sides. I baked it for around 40 minutes to an hour (a piecaken takes a long time to bake!).

Once cooled, I flipped the whole thing over onto a silver cake plate and made a milk chocolate sour cream ganache (see below for recipe). I iced the cake with the ganache and then toasted some of the leftover crumble-top and voila!  A beautiful piecaken was born. 

I also made two savoury piecakens (a Tourtiere inside of a Sour Cream Cornbread and a Chicken-Pot Pie inside of a yogurt cornbread - both were delicious!)

So now, as I plan for next year`s festival (oh yes, this might just be open to the public next year) and try to lose any weight I might have gained from eating 13 slices of piecaken at the party, I have an entire year to test out and think of the endless chocolaty combinations of piecaken that I can make for PiecakenFest 2014. If you have any ideas, feel free to add them to the comments below.


Below are the pictures of the first piecaken that I made last year (2012) for my friend's birthday party. It was 14" round, covered in real vanilla buttercream and organic milk chocolate chips and topped with an additional mini Crumble-Top Pie just for fun.  Inside: A Cherry-Dark Chocolate Pie baked inside of a Chocolate Cake. Stack on top was a Milk Chocolate Crumble-Top Pear Pie baked into a Vanilla Cake. The crumble-top pies made for messy slices but it was SO much tastier than a regular pie with a pie-crust top.

 

 

This is me
sampling Piecaken
at the party.
Such a fun night!

For more information on our Piecakens, check out my blog devoted entirely to piecaken recipes and ideas for putting pies inside of cakes at: http://piecaken.blogspot.ca/.  Also  my friend Christine also wrote a blog post about our little festival: http://lifeonmanitoulin.com/2013/08/piecaken-fest-2013.html. And check out this guy's website: www.piecaken.org. I think he came up with the idea for sweet piecakens and we fell in love with his idea and built on it! He calls himself the King of Piecaken and I think after last weekend, I should be called the Piecaken Princess.  It has a nice ring to it, am I right?
 

I think I will just stick to "Chocolate Connoisseur", I feel like I have a better chance of mastering the art of chocolate than the art of piecaken. After all, chocolate is my true passion!

 

Sour Cream Milk Chocolate Ganache Recipe

 

1. Melt 12 ounces of chopped milk chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes on HALF power or over a double boiler (take off heat when there are a few chunks left and stir until melted).

2. Warm up 1 cup of sour cream to room temperature (or slightly warmer) in the microwave.

 

3. Beat in 1 cup of room temperature sour cream - I used an 18% all natural sour cream that was similar to crème fraiche.

 

4. Ice cake immediately before the ganache stiffens.

 

This is also great as a filler in between layers of chocolate cake - it is rich, slightly sour and sweet all at the same time.  It takes the phrase 'sweet and sour' to a whole new level!

 

For the chocolate, be sure to use a high quality milk chocolate with at least 30% minimum cocoa solids for a full chocolate flavour.  I used Camino Fair Trade and Organic Chocolate with 38% cocoa solids. I have also used Cacao Barry's Organic milk chocolate (see www.vanillafoodcompany.ca for purchasing info) and sometimes a President's Choice 300 gram Milk Chocolate Bar which can be found at any Superstore, Loblaws or Valu-Mart in Ontario.  If you are not Canadian, check your local grocer for quality milk chocolate bars, like Green & Black's Organic/Fair Trade Milk Chocolate or other brands.

Hazelnut and Chocolate - A Perfect Pairing for your Delicious Creations

I spent a year in France nearly eight years ago and while there, I saw a world of hazelnut-and-chocolate that I never knew existed. Aside from seeing the wonders of Nutella in its full European glory, chocolate flavoured with hazelnuts could be found in commercial candy bars, fine chocolate bars and chocolate shops all over the country. Having grown up in Canada, where peanut butter is the king of all nut-butters and just hearing the phrase 'chocolate-peanut butter' makes people instantly salivate, I had no idea that hazelnut was the revered nut in other parts of the world.

I recall grocery shopping during my first week in France and being hard-pressed to find a jar of peanut butter. But Nutella lined the shelves of grocery stores like nobody's business (and at a great price too compared to the high price of a jar of Nutella in Canada at the time). Also, Bueno, a candy-bar with a hazelnut filling, was being advertised non-stop and all the packaged gift chocolates seemed to be focused on hazelnut and praline fillings.  There were no Reese Peanut Butter Cups and crunchy peanut fillings to be found!

The world of chocolate in North America has changed a lot since then; the market now has a greater focus on hazelnuts and more natural tasting hazelnut-chocolate combinations.  And since I started my chocolaty business a four years ago, I have been experimenting with hazelnuts and pure hazelnut butter in my chocolate creations.

The only problem has been access to reasonably priced hazelnuts. In the rural town where I now live, I could only find hazelnuts sold raw and in small bags. The roasting, shelling and grinding hardly seemed worth my time.

Then I found a brand of hazelnut butter that was sold in the health food section of a major grocery store chain. It was good, but the price was $12 per 500g jar - a little too steep for my budget! I've been searching for a website, or the manufacturer, to contact them and get a better wholesale price, but nothing has worked out.

Finally, I hit the jackpot when Cacao Barry sent me a sample of the nicest hazelnut butter (or 'meat' as the package stated) that I have ever come across. It is dark in colour, rich in flavour and ground until perfectly smooth.

So last month, I made chocolate-hazelnut truffles (or 'meltaways' as some call them because I included organic coconut oil in my truffle creation).  Then I made hazelnut TOFFLEs - my signature product which normally has a cream-based milk chocolate centre inside of a rich, dark chocolate toffee.  The hazelnut TOFFLE was delicious - as good as the original TOFFLE!

Finally, I dipped pieces of Cacao Barry's origin chocolate in it to see which one it best paired with. It turned out that the Cacao Barry's Madirofolo (Madagascar) 65% dark chocolate paired beautifully with it. And I also discovered that this was a great breakfast too (chocolate with hazelnut butter is much better than toast with hazelnut butter).

So if you are looking for hazelnut butter to add depth to your chocolate creations, check out Cacao Barry's pure hazelnut butter:  http://www.cacao-barry.ca this website will enable you to search by your country and find a supplier in your area. If you are in America, they can be found on Twitter: @CacaoBarryUSA and in Canada, their Canadian sale team can be reached at: @CacaoBarry_CA.

Organic Swiss chocolate that is a darker than your average dark chocolate....and delicious too!

Organic chocolate bars most often come in milk chocolate, 55% dark chocolate, 70% dark chocolate and sometimes in 85% dark...but a 75% organic dark chocolate is virtually unheard of.  Until now, that is.  On a recent trip to The International Cheese Shop in Ottawa's Byward Market, I picked up a Chocolat Stella Organic Nature 75% Dark Chocolate bar that was imported from Switzerland.  True Swiss chocolate that is bitter, but also somewhat sweet, rich and absolutely delicious. It is certified organic by bio.inspecta AG and is USDA Organic certified. It is also all-natural and only contains four ingredients (cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla).

Because this chocolate tasted so great, I have managed to slowly eat one piece at a time and savour the 100 gram chocolate bar since June...until today when I finally finished it.  This is truly an accomplishment for me!

You can learn more about this chocolate bar and other Chocolat Swiss products at: www.swisschocolate.ch. Interestingly, their website is promoting a new line of chocolate bars made with agave instead of sugar, for a low-glycemic chocolate experience. I need to get my hands on some of those!

There were a few other flavours on the shelf in The International Cheese Shop, so if you are in Canada's Capital I suggest you take a look at the selection as you walk in the door.

Maple Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake Recipe - Truly Canadian and Certainly Delicious

This cake is so Canadian that I can almost hear it say 'eh?' every time I take a bite. It is true northern decadence.

Flourless chocolate cake is my favourite kind of cake. Why? One reason: it is like a large chocolate truffle that is just pretending to be a slice of cake. So I make a lot of these decadent cakes for my Ultimately Chocolate clients, here on Manitoulin Island. And in a recent effort to localize some of my products, I have been experimenting with Canadian maple sugar and Canadian sea salt. So I thought I would share one of my most chocolaty recipes here on the blog.  Read on to achieve decadent dark chocolate bliss!

Recipe: Maple Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake with Maple Sugar, Sea Salt & Maple Ganache
(As a bonus: this is a flour-free and gluten-free cake with no refined cane sugar)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 8 ounces 70% dark chocolate (you can use any kind, but I used Camino, the Canadian brand of Organic and Fair Trade chocolate to be both local and environmentally and socially responsible, you need just under 3 100 gram bars)
• 1 cup of unsalted butter (1/2 pound), chopped into cubes
• 1 cup maple sugar crystals (In Canada, Costco sells the Quebec Decacer brand)
• 4 eggs (best at room temperature)
• 1 tsp Sea Salt (I used Vancouver Island Salt Company's 'Canadian Sea Salt')

For the ganache:

• 4 ounces 70% dark chocolate (you can go as low as 50%, but it will taste very sweet)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup

For the finishing touches:

• a pinch of chunky sea salt
• two tablespoons of maple syrup

Prep Time: Not much! 20 minutes at first, but only 10 minutes once you do it a few times. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a 9" round baking pan, preferable springform, with parchment paper. 

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter and 8 ounces of chocolate together in a medium sized stainless steel or glass bowl over a double boiler (if you don't like this method, you can melt on HALF power in the microwave for 1 minute in a glass or plastic bowl, take out, stir, then add 10 seconds at a time until fully melted and smooth, but I find the double boiler method easier).

2. Add the sugar, stir well and let the mixture rest for five minutes.

3. If you do not have a hand mixer, pour the mixer into a stand mixer bowl.  If you do have a hand mixer or immersion blender/mixer, keep your mixture in the same bowl and use the hand mixer to minimize the number of dirty dishes!

4. Add in four eggs, one at a time and mix between each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.  Mix just until it is completely blended. 

5. Add the teaspoon of sea salt.  Mix again for 30 seconds. Stir with spatula.

6.  Pour into a prepared 9" springform baking pan (you can use any baking pan, but reduce cooking time by five minutes if you are using a dark-coloured non-stick baking pan of any kind because the edges may burn).

7. Bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F.  When done, turn off oven and leave for 5 minutes (set timer) with door closed.  Take out and carefully rest on counter until the cake cools.  Once cooled, place in fridge until fully chilled (about 2 hours).

8. Once chilled, slice the edges off of the cake with a hot knife (run under hot water and dry it off before slicing) so that the cake has an even top.

9. Place your serving plate upside down on the cake, centre it, and invert the cake onto the pan. Remove the parchment paper and chill in the fridge while your prepare the ganache.

Prepare the Ganache and Top the Cake:

1. Melt together the 4 ounces of chocolate and maple syrup in the microwave for 1 minute and 20 seconds on HALF power (or melt over a double boiler). Stir until completely smooth. Add five second intervals in the microwave if not completely melted, stirring between each interval. Alternately you can melt this together in a bowl over a double boiler. Stir until melted and smooth.

2. Pour ganache over cake.  Using an offset spatula, you can just push the ganache to the edges so you have an even circle of ganache on the cake, or you can push it slightly over the edges so it drips down the side.  If you have a cake turntable for decorating, you can push it over the edges and use an offset spatula to smooth out the sides to get a full coverage (like I have done in the pictures).  You can also create a circular swirling pattern on top by placing your offset spatula in the centre of the cake and working it outwards while slowly turning the cake until you have a smooth circular swirl o top of the cake. Clean the edges of your serving plate with a dampened paper towel to get a clean-looking plate, if need be.

3. Let cool for a few minutes on the counter. Then sprinkle some chunky sea salt on top.

To Serve: slice and drizzle a tsp of maple syrup on top of each slice and on the plate.

To Slice:  For 12 or 16 slices, simply slice your cake in half, then in half again (turn your knife in the opposite direction), so you have four quarters.  For 12 slices, cut each quarter into three slices.  For 16 small-but-decadent slices, cut each quarter in half, then in half again to achieve 16 slices for the entire cake.
For 14 slices, cut the entire cake in half.  Then, starting at one end, carefully cut 7 slices per half of the cake.