CHOCOLATE TALES

Chocolate Tales is a company based in Hamilton that brings chocolate making to you. From children’s birthday parties to corporate events, Chocolate Tales brings all the necessary tools and ingredients to the location and runs a great hands-on workshop on chocolate making. In addition to private events, Chocolate Tales also runs a calendar of open workshops throughout Hamilton and the GTA. I was recently invited to attend a workshop and it was an opportunity I couldn’t resist.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge by the restaurant. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Atmosphere: I signed up for the “Truffle Making” class on a Tuesday night, hosted at The Mad Bean cafe in Toronto. The cafe was small and our class was less than 20 people. Being in a small group was nice and we got to ask a lot of questions and get hands on help and advice from our instructor, Cocoa Kelly. Each seating was set with a tray, molds and all the chocolate making tools required.

Service: The class ran for 90 mins and it went by fast. Cocoa Kelly was friendly, super helpful when we struggled to pipe ganache into the chocolate molds and happy to repeatedly demonstrate steps. She also made jokes, was always smiling and really made the class fun and interactive. I loved how we also learned tidbits on the history of cocoa throughout the class. All of the chocolate we needed was already melted for us and the ganache filling pre-made. This allowed the class to run smoothly and gave us enough time to try our hand at making three kinds of truffles.

Food: Now onto the sweet details. First, the chocolate we used was couverture Belgian chocolate, which contains more cocoa butter than chocolate typically found in candy bars and has a creamier taste. Chocolate Tales offers couverture chocolate for sale in their online store.

We made three types of truffles that night, Belgian, French and American. In general, each type involved encasing the chocolate ganache, made of chocolate and cream, in melted chocolate and then decorating. The decorations included coloured white chocolate, glitter, transfer sheets, shredded coconut and cocoa powder. The class was 100% interactive, hands on (I managed to get chocolate on my elbows) and informative. At the end of class, we wrapped up our truffles and took home about two dozen chocolates each.

The truffle lesson that I took was one of the smaller workshops offered by Chocolate Tales and I loved the experience. Prices for workshops are on the pricier side but they are currently offering promo codes as well as a Group-on for a great deal. I highly recommend checking out a class yourself.