Address: Varies
Website: http://www.chocolatetales.ca/
Chocolate
Tales offers chocolate making classes in many forms - at home, for private
events (corporate, showers) and to the public for all ages and occasions. Currently, their public classes are offered
at six locations (3 in Toronto, 1 in Vaughan, 1 in Hamilton and 1 in
Burlington) at varying times during the week.
Options include workshops providing you a general overview of chocolate
to the more advanced “academy” where you can learn about a specific technique
such as tempering, molding, decorating, etc.
My session
was held at Swansea Town Hall in the Bloor West Village area by High Park. I was happy with the downtown location as it
even had a small parking lot (18 spots) connected to the building that I was
able to score a spot. As a warning, if
you enter through the visitor parking lot, you end up in the basement and need
to go up to the first floor where the class is located. I was a bit confused as there was no signage,
but luckily there was a lovely lady who knew all about the classes that was
able to direct me.
The Saturday
class was fairly busy with approximately 50 people consisting of friends,
families, couples and mother/daughter groups of varying ages (from pre-teens to
grandmothers). As people were trickling in and finding spots, we were offered a
cup of Mayan hot chocolate to begin.
Before we
began making anything, we were given a 10 minute briefing about the history of
chocolate, countries of origin and health properties. The brief lecture was informative, but
perhaps a bit long for a 90 minute class.
I appreciate the thought of teaching us to allow us to appreciate
chocolate more, but 5 minutes should be sufficient.
Given the
short class, we didn’t actually melt and temper the chocolate (these would be learnt
in the academy classes) but we were given a demonstration on how to do it and
some tips. From the ganache, a lava cake
was made and each of us received a tin to decorate, which would then be baked
and ready at the end of class. This is a
thoughtful idea and allows you to have something to snack on at the end of
class – unfortunately, mine was more of a brownie than a lava cake but it still
delicious.
Next, we were
brought through the concept of flavouring chocolate with spices. Each table was given samples mixed with cinnamon,
ginger and chilli powder to taste.
Everyone seemed to like something different and appreciated finally
being able to taste what we came for – chocolate!
After about
45 minutes of everything we finally got to make chocolates … you could see the
excitement that we could finally dive in and get our hands dirty. To start, we were encouraged to dip some
marshmallows into chocolate to master the technique of covering them. It was fairly easy and a good start.
Next,
everyone was presented with a piece of chilled ganache and encouraged to use
cutters to make shapes or roll balls to cover with chocolate and decorate. This was definitely the best part of the
class and sadly the time seemed so short and it was over. Certainly, more time should be dedicated to
this activity as this is when everyone could laugh, talk and encourage each
other. Our section of the table was
quick at making multiple chocolates so much that ran out of tray space. It more trays could be given so that it’s one
tray per two people rather than sharing before four it would really help. Of course, I understand there may be fridge
limitations that are preventing this.
In the end,
we washed up and shortly thereafter got our cakes and chilled chocolates (along
with a box, paper bag, cellophane baggies and ribbon) to pack up and take home.
Overall, it was a productive 90 minutes and I left with my box filled with
approximately ten chocolates to taste and share. My husband benefited the most from my work
and enjoyed the chocolates, I tried one of the ganache covered chocolates and
it was a decent chocolate (not as luscious as Lindt but not your run of the
mill drug store one either).
As a warning,
you likely won’t become a master chocolate maker after taking this introductory
course, but gives you an appreciation of how it’s done and the steps. Of course, if you really enjoy it, that’s
when you should sign up for Chocolate Tale’s Academy series to really perfect
the techniques and master the craft.
I’ll admit there are many steps and it was more difficult than expected
(although fun to try), I think I’ll just stick to letting the experts make
these treats for me.
Disclaimer: Unlike most posts, I did
not pay for the experience. Chocolate
Tales provided the class experience for me and a friend.
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
