Chocolates For Sweet Sixteen

Thanks to my co-worker Michelle who gave me the opportunity to create some Spring themed chocolates for her daughter's sweet sixteen party. The were my famous couveture chocolates piped with buttercream icing.
They were molded as Easter lilies, and butterflies and each one of them were hand painted. I packaged and labelled them. I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

Update: Michelle got back to me and said -
"oh the kids loved them ,,It big sell off ,THANK YOU .."

Ready - Send - Sample!

Yey! I have finally finished off the samples for my December 23, FaceBook Event. I created chocolate samples for the first set of people to join my FaceBook Group.

I made a white chocolate couveture bar, and painted hearts on it. I also added Merckens dark chocolate hearts, and painted those with red chocolate. My packaging looked a tad plain, so I added ribbon. I am liking the look now. I will have these in the mail, between tomorrow, and Friday.

Lindt Chocolate Outlet

Well my Christmas Chocolates were a hit. I made a tray of 75 treats, and they all disappeared! I am very excited.

I decided to look into purchasing some Couveture Chocolate. I visited the Lindt Chocolate Outlet in Scarborough, Ontario. I am not too sure when I will use the Couveture, but I bought it to keep it on hand when I am ready.

So what is so special about Couveture Chocolate?

Couverture chocolate is a special form of chocolate used by chocolate manufacturers and professional bakers. It is richer and creamier than basic bar or eating chocolate, with a very high cocoa butter content which makes it ideal for things like molding, coating, and dipping. and they also use it to cover truffles, chocolate garnishes, coat fruit, and perform a variety of other tasks. The higher percentage of cocoa butter, combined with the processing, gives the chocolate more sheen, firmer "snap" when broken, and a creamy mellow flavor.

The term "couverture chocolate" should not be confused with "confectionery chocolate", "compound chocolate" or "summer coating": These products have a lower percentage of solids (cacao), and they may also contain vegetable oil, hydrogenated fats ("trans fats"), coconut and/or palm oil, and sometimes artificial chocolate flavoring.

Couverture chocolate is generally not mixed in with an excess of other ingredients, because of the high price and quality; it is designed to stand alone as an ingredient. It can also be used to prepare chocolate shells, glossy coatings for cakes, and so forth.