Team building with Creative Direction! We could have had a day of golf; we could have gone raft building, but instead we learnt about the world of a chocolatier.
Earlier this month we visited local business Cocoa Amore and embarked on a workshop that taught us everything about chocolate. Cocoa Amore is a Leicestershire based business with stores in Leicester city centre and Grantham. Founded in 2013, their business is built upon a shared passion for flavour and a love for chocolatiering. Their stores are a chocoholics dream with a variety of product offering and educational chocolate workshops. What’s not to like?
The workshop
Our day began with taste testing, where we were taught how to really understand the flavour of chocolate and learn the origins of each one. We even got to try 100% dark chocolate. Did you know that different countries grow different cocoa beans which make different tasting chocolate? No, we didn’t either.
Then it got competitive. We were shown how to make our own individually flavoured bars following every step of the process from polishing our moulds to decorating our chocolate. What’s a day of team building without a little competition? Obviously we had to see who could make the best looking chocolate bar. Once poured into moulds we had an array of toppings to choose from. Nuts, chocolate nibs, caramel drops, honeycomb, you name it, Cocoa Amore had it all.
Once the chocolate bar fiasco was over it was time to make truffles. Now this is where we really got stuck in. Gloves on and hands in, rolling ganache into perfectly round balls. We then used melted chocolate to coat them ready to be covered in cocoa powder. After we’d made a mess it was just about time for a break. We went down to the shop floor to indulge in some beautiful hot chocolates. Again, an endless choice of flavours stood before us with complimentary chocolates to go with.
Once we had finished with our delightful drinks we headed back to the workshop to wrap our handmade goodies. We got to see our finished products in all their glory and all I can say is that we’ve all added professional chocolatiers to our CV.
A big thanks to Pete and his team for having us and hosting a wonderful afternoon. 10/10 – Highly Recommended! If you wish to book onto Cocoa Amores chocolate workshop and give it a go yourself, Christmas bookings are now available through their website.