Murrumbateman Chocolate Co uses locally sourced macadamia nuts. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
We have come out to the Murrumbateman Chocolate Co, overlooking soft rolling hills and a glass-smooth dam this Saturday morning, to create some Christmas presents. Well, that is the plan.
The Chocolate Bar workshop we are attending produces four unique chocolate bars at the end. This is a beginner’s class, so we will not be tempering chocolate ourselves.
The team has laid out our table with intricately patterned moulds, gloves, and tools for cutting toppings and spreading and smoothing the chocolate. Pristine white bowls hold an array of toppings, wispy tendrils of multi-coloured dried edible petals, pastel 100s and 1000s, miniature Maltesers, freeze-dried raspberries, Buderim ginger, glassy dehydrated orange slices, macadamia nuts, pretzels and mini marshmallows.
We highly recommend the Chocolate Bar workshop Photo: Kazuri Photography.
I am excited.
Owner Yasmin Coe’s original brand, Sweet Pea and Poppy, has always enchanted me with its beautiful chocolate bars embedded and studded with fruits, nuts, native flower petals and flavours.
Yasmin welcomes us and we begin.
“It’s all about flavour, fun and creativity,” she explains to us.
“We are not going in-depth; we aren’t testing your knowledge on tempering. It’s about getting together with your friends and family and having a bit of fun.”
As she takes us through the introduction, we each get a taste test of the chocolates we will be working with so that we make informed choices. Five chocolate samples. A sour smattering of Davidson plum tops the white chocolate because, as Yasmin says, white chocolate needs something to help excite the tastebuds.
We sample 35% milk chocolate from Ecuador and a second milk chocolate disc dusted with wattle seed that brings earthiness and highlights the natural nuttiness of the chocolate. The 56% dark chocolate from Ecuador is rich and not overly sweet.
We take the time to taste and let that inform our chocolate-making decisions.
I can’t choose just one, so I settle on creating one of each and making my fourth chocolate a hybrid of any leftover chocolate.
As a group, we decide to use milk chocolate first and then start cutting the ingredients to use in the first chocolate. Four biodegradable piping bags full of warm milk chocolate arrive. We snip the tips, then point and flow the chocolate into the first depression in the mould. We work quickly to mix in or sprinkle on the chosen inclusions.
The next 45 minutes is a flurry of piping, smoothing, banging the mould to help the chocolate settle down, and then assembling the toppings into aesthetically pleasing formations.
We have to work quickly. Photo: Kazuri Photography
I notice that the designs my friends, and in fact, the people at the tables around me, are creating are very Monet, while my attempts are very ‘first-week-at-kindy’. But that’s okay. The process is a lot of fun, and the booking comes with a complementary hot drink. Sip and create!
We don’t waste a drop, dousing any remaining toppings with leftover chocolate.
My finished chocolates. Who can go past ugly delicious? Photo: Kazuri Photography.
With Christmas approaching, this is such a fun and novel gift idea, whether you are creating Christmas presents or giving the gift of creativity to a loved one.
And you can enjoy it with a clear conscience … The business has recently been accredited as a Quality Tourism location for its sustainability efforts.
Naming your chocolates is lots of fun. Photo: Kazuri Photography
Yasmin has a wide and diverse range of hand-crafted chocolates and gift ideas in her beautiful store. She loves to celebrate other local creators, too.
Check out the website to see the different classes on offer at Murrumbateman Chocolate Co. Murrumbateman Chocolate Co is located at 1153 Nanima Rd in Murrumbateman. It is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Follow Murrumbateman Chocolate Co on Facebook and Instagram.
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