Saturday 21 March 2009




Firstly I would like to say a big congratulations to Emma and Chris who got married this afternoon. This is their cake which has rather a lot of marshmallows on it!







The front door is looking good. It now has handles and stops so it closes properly. The glass and woodwork needs completing, which should be done in the next week.






The shop is coming along well. Kev finished building the till counter and put the electrics in. We now have the till in place, the grinder for coffee beans and the credit card machine.




Yesterday saw the first chocolates made in the chocolate factory. Kev made some white chocolate and milk chocolate easter eggs. It was great to see this finally come together. I thought it might be interesting to show how the easter eggs are made. We use polycarbonate moulds which are cleaned and polished. Chocolate reflects the surface it sets on, so polished moulds make shiny chocolates.



The chocolate has to be tempered in order to set properly. This shows Kev filling the moulds with milk chocolate. Kev knocks out the air bubbles so the surface of the egg will be smooth.



The excess chocolate is then knocked out into the bowl. This leaves a layer of chocolate in the mould. The moulds are then left to set for about five minutes. The factory is a fairly constant 5 degrees (about the same as a fridge) which means chocolate sets quickly. The process is done again which makes for nice thick easter eggs.


We open in less than three weeks time!!!
I spent some time this afternoon putting stock on shelves. It made a real difference to the space, adding colour and really lifting the space.

We thought it might be a good idea to create a 'snag list'to make sure that all the little jobs get done. It's now a page and a half long!!! From Monday we plan to make in the morning and sort or build in the afternoon. In theory this means everything will get done on time. It's getting very exciting to walk through the spaces, still bouncing ideas around and developing new concepts. More changes next week....

3 comments:

  1. The marshmallow wedding cake looks wonderful. Have fun over the next few weeks, before the shop opens and you are run off your feet!!

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  2. Thanks for the comment - we look forward to it!

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  3. your chocolate is lovely its realy nice love your milk chocolate just hope i can get up to you for my wedding favours

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