Decadent, delicious, delightful! On a recent trip to Switzerland I got to live out a Willie Wonka fantasy and learnt how to make molded chocolate candy in the famous kitchens of Lausanne's Durig Chocolatier side by side with the world famous chocolatier, Daniel Durig. Daniel, an artisinal chocolate-maker makes certified organic fair-trade chocolates. In his mini-lab, I got to see some of the best ingredients he insists on using, like the Criollos cocoa beans from South America. Daniel's large chocolate kitchen is side by side with his exquisitely pretty shop in Lausanne.
Step one was to choose the mold to use. I thought Max would appreciate the smiling crocodile, since reptiles are his favorite section of the Museum of Natural History back home.
Then using some liquified white chocolate, with a fine paint brush, I painted the inside details (claws, eyes) of a cheerful crocodile mold with white chocolate.
The pot of melted white chocolate with brushes I used.
Below: Criollos cocoa bean pods.
Next step, after we let the mold and white chocolate set in the fridge for a few minutes, was to fill the mold with chocolate. We had our choice of milk or dark. It was a heady extraordinary aroma of whirling warm chocolate coming from the two chocolate machines spinning side by side; milk on the left kept warmed to 27 degrees Celcius and dark chocolate on the right, which is maintained at 29 degrees.
Then we held the molds over a vibrating machine which helped to move the chocolate around in the mold and settle covering all the areas.
Close up of croc getting made.
We did two "fill up" of the milk chocolate into the molds, with chilling time in the fridge between each filling. Then it was time to pop the molds open to see our handiwork.
Voila, a "delicieux crocodile cadeaux" for Max!
Other chocolate molds of their best selling truffles in the chocolate factory, some empty, some with a coating of chocolate, waiting to be filled with delicious fillings of caramel or orange paste.
Below: some finished fish waiting to be packaged for the shop. They were so pretty, I bought one for my BF and another for BF hubby.
The pretty Durig Chocolatier shop, next to the candy making kitchens.
Here's a link to his website where anyone can order from!
Finally, below, Max enjoying his croc...immensely.
--Monica Forrestall
