Review: Chocolate Savvy at Bake with Maria

You know in talent shows where everyone has their long-term love for singing/sob stories. Yup, that's me and chocolate. I've been told that maybe my relationship with chocolate isn't healthy, I'd just call it passionate.

My earliest memories include hoarding multipack chocolate bars after Mum's weekly shop into hidden spots over the house. Heaven forbid someone could eat some and not save me any when I wasn't around. A 5 pack of crunchies in the garage, who would have thought?

Then there was the phase where my Grandad, a non-dessert eater, would order profiteroles on family meals just so that I could have an extra share of the chocolate on top. My hero.

Now I can 'pretend' that its all in the aid of research. I do like to stay on top of things you see. Forget front page Daily Mail scandals, I need to know what bonkers combinations Cadbury's are releasing next and how many Lindt truffles I can get away with eating for lunch.

Now of course I know my commercial chocolate very well, but to me, single origin, roasting and whatnot is a bit of a mindfield. And that's exactly where the lovely Bake with Maria team step in.

As an introduction to their school's chocolate classes a small group of like-chocolate-minded people were invited into their Baking Lab to get chocolate savvy.

We started off with introductions to chocolate from Annamarie. Who took us step by step through process of bean to bar.

To start, there are a few different types of cocoa bean, one of the best being Criollo. If you spot this in the ingredients of your fancy single origin bars then you know you're onto a winner. Other beans, along with their greatly varying manufacturing processes, can be found in more mass produced bars. For example, you're likely to find Kraft and similar brands using Forced Arrow beans.

Once the cocoa beans are picked from a cocoa pod, the beans are left out in the sun to ferment. This fermentation process takes place on large sheets of banana leaves and ideally in a sheltered greenhouse-type place for hygiene. The beans are gently churned over frequently to ensure that each bean dries out evenly. The process not only allows the beans to develop in flavour and character, but to rid themselves of any bacteria they may be carrying and essentially to stop growing.

After anything from one week to three, depending on humidity and climates, the beans are ready for the next stage, roasting. Better quality chocolate will now be roasted steadily at a low temperature to ensure that no smoke forms and depletes flavour. Larger mass produced brands may roast at higher temperatures to ensure a quick turnaround.

Next up, winnowing. Machinery is used to separate the bitter outer husk from the bean itself. Once separated, the cocoa beans are now coarsely ground down form cocoa nibs, which are in turn ground down again to form a cocoa paste known as cocoa liquor.

Now this is the point that we start recognising chocolate as we know it. From the cocoa liquor, cocoa butter is extracted. Through conching, cocoa butter is then added back to the cocoa liquor but the amount largely depends on quality and brands. The mix is then churned to form a nice smooth consistency, ideally the longer the smoother the final product will be.

At this stage, the cocoa mix will be tempered and poured into moulds and bars to pass onto chocolatiers to create their own final chocolate product. And, as you can guess, the whole length of manufacturing process and tools used varies greatly between brands and their suppliers. Some of the commercial chocolate giants are more likely to be able to go from bean to bar in just a week with giant industrial processing.

Stuart is West London's answer to all things chocolate. His shop, Cocoa Bijoux, can be found in West Hampstead and is filled with all sorts of traditionally made chocolate made from the finest of ingredients.

He bought along a selection of his most popular bars for us to have a try.

I'm not usually too keen on dark chocolate to eat on its own, but I was very surprised to find how different they all tasted. The different percentages really do taste different. Some coat your mouth, some are more smooth and some have that bitter taste I was more familiar with.

My favourite being the Blanxart 72% Republica Dominicana. Think of a deeply rich homemade chocolate mousse, this bar tastes of exactly that. Another favourite, from the milk selection was the Mazet salted caramel milk chocolate bar. The crunch of the salt and the golden flavour of the caramel pairs beautifully together in this bar.

Truly chocolate inspired, Annemarie went on to demonstrate how exactly chocolate truffles are made by making ganache.

Dark chocolate ganache truffles
(makes about 50 rolled truffles)

125ml double cream
75ml glucose
1 vanilla pod, split and beans scraped
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
75g 65-70% dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
pinch of salt
cocoa powder for dusting

optional: melted dark chocolate for coating

Stir the cream and glucose together in a medium saucepan. Scrape the vanilla beans into the pan along with the pod, and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil over a medium high heat, remove from the heat, and allow to sit for one minute. (For best results, allow to cool, transfer into a bowl, cover and infuse by refrigerating overnight).

Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking tin with cling film.

In a small/medium heatproof bowl, pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and stir together using a spatula in small concentric circles until the chocolate is incorporated fully and emulsifies into a homogenous mixture. Add the butter in small pieces and incorporate.

Pour ganache into lined tin and spread evenly into corners, smooth over the top. Cover with cling film and allow to set in the fridge, about one hour.

Place ganache onto work surface or chopping board, remove cling film and using a knife, cut ganache into 1 inch squares, dipping the knife into hot water and wiping between each cut. Wearing gloves, roll the ganache squares into balls, then roll and coat in cocoa powder.

Optional: melt down more dark chocolate until just melted, either over a bain marie or in the microwave. Dip ganaches into the chocolate using a dipping fork or using gloves and then roll into the cocoa powder.

The Bake with Maria school now offers two speciality chocolate classes: 'Introduction to chocolate making' and 'Chocolate desserts class'. In each class Annamarie, pastry chef and chocolatier, will take you through how to make ganache and to correctly temper chocolate. You'll have a chance to try some chocolate treats as well as making your own to take home.

For more information on Bake with Maria's classes, visit the website here. They also offer gift vouchers and can host private parties.

And seeing as chocolate comes from a plant, its healthy after all...so I made my own.

Thank you to Bella and Maria at the Baking Lab for having me. And to Annamarie and Stuart for imparting all your knowledge to me. 

I was invited to attend the chocolate class, but all views are my own.

Review: Disney's Into the Woods Afternoon Tea, Sketch

Mayfair's Sketch has teamed up with Disney to offer a magical woodland inspired afternoon tea to celebrate the release of Into the Woods on DVD and Blu-ray. For a limited time their classic afternoon tea menu will be recreated to include a selection of the Baker and his Wife's pastries. As you can see, Sketch's Pastry Chefs have really gone to town on retelling the tale with their fantasy treats.

Hidden behind an emerald green curtain, Sketch's Glade room is the perfect backdrop for this fairytale woodland treat. As soon as you step through the curtain you really do feel as if you've been transported into an enchanted forest. The eclectic mix of furniture helps to add to the outdoor feel including peacock chairs and rattan furniture. With songs playing straight from the film, you're sure to feel right at Disney home.

A selection of assorted finger sand-witches include: smoked salmon & Jacob's cream, cucumber & ricotta, Prince pesto panini with mozzarella and egg & mayonnaise with quail egg and caviar.

The toasted paninis come wrapped in a ribbon, just like you'd imagine Little Red Riding Hood's mum to pack into her basket ahead of her journey into the woods. The extra special finishing touches really do make the sand-witches magical.

Next up, plain and fruit scones served with clotted cream and a choice of homemade fig or strawberry jam. Quite possibly the best scones I've had in a long time. Beautifully light, fluffy and not too crumbly.

As expected, the enchantment continues onto the pastries. With Jack's beanstalk tart and Little Red Riding Hood choux buns. Almost too beautiful to eat! Other sweets include Earl Grey macarons, rhubarb & raspberry cheesecake, Cassis meringue, Malabar marshmallows, chocolate mint cake and pineapple, coriander & coconut sponges.

The afternoon tea comes with a large choice of Jing teas or Champagne if you fancy a few bubbles.

Well and truly in the fairytale mood, I considered leaving a trail of crumbs to follow my route back - except there just weren't any left!

And as for the film...with such a great cast, gorgeous costumes and a mix of all my favourite childhood fairytales, I think its safe to say this is my favourite Disney film in a long time. Forget 'Let it Go', the Into the Woods song will definitely get stuck in your head!

To coincide with the DVD release on 18th May, tea in the woods will be available between 18th May - 7th June. For reservations, visit their website here.




I was asked to review the afternoon tea by Premier Comms and was not paid for this review. All opinions are honest, and my own. 

Tech Review: Monster & The Power of Music in Running

No recipes today, I hope you don't mind. I thought I'd mix things up a little and include another hobby of mine, running. I'm hoping I can get away with it - 'Sophie has to love running, because she loves food'?

Like most, a lot of my days are spent desk-bound. My 'day' job involves shift-working and due to the unsocial hours I find it difficult to motivate myself to the idea of a gym membership I'll actually use. Combined with a healthy appetite and sweet tooth, my metabolism most definitely isn't what it used to be.

I'll skip the motivational running chat, but what I will say is if you need an excuse to get outside and take some time out for yourself then this could be it. Anything that can pull us away from checking for updates on social media feeds every 10 minutes or letting Netflix load episode after episode!

I'm currently working on pushing myself longer distances and was curious to see what I could learn from Curry's workshop on the power of music in running.

Throughout history, there's been a strong link between music and sport. Think National Anthems, the New Zealand rugby team's Haka and Nessun Dorma as the theme of Italia 90. 

In terms of psychological effects, sport psychologist Dr Costas Karageorghis claims the following benefits:

• increases mood and makes you feel energised/invigorated
• makes something more pleasurable
• lowers the perception of effort
• shifts attention
• regulates movement

And a benefit of these factors can mean up to 20% increased endurance!

Running synchronously to the beat of music is known to have the most positive effect. But it was also interesting to learn that its not just the beat of the music that can be used as a motivational tool, but the lyrics also.

For example, in order to stimulate and prepare for races during London 2012, Michael Phelps listened to Lil' Wayne's 'I am Me' before taking home 6 medals ("Ain't nobody f**king with me man...I know the game is crazy, its more crazy than its ever been.")

Sedative music is also used to beat pre-game anxiety and pressure for athletics. Audley Harrison prefers to listen to classical Japanese music before matches to promote relaxation and focus. Dame Kelly Holmes' beats her anxiety by listening to Alicia Keys.

Music is not only beneficial pre-workouts and during workouts, it has been found to reduce heart rate and stress post-workout.

Certainly information that may make you rethink your current playlists a little.

With this in mind, we were then introduced to Monster's range of sport specific headphones. 

Previously, I'd be running without realising that the uncomfortable sharp sensations I'd sometimes experience with my cheap headphones were in fact small electric shocks caused by sweat getting into them! Not only had they been shocking me as I ran, they also were pretty distracting each time they'd pop out an ear. 

Monster's iSport range claim to be entirely sweat proof, shock proof and to stay comfortably in your ears all whilst delivering good quality sound. The added bonus being that they're wireless and easily sync to any bluetooth device.

Curry's and Monster generously provided us all with a pair of the iSport SuperSlim headphones to take home and try for ourselves.

After a just a few runs, I've been well and truly converted. Never again will I get myself in a tangle over cables and have to fuss over ear buds flying out along the way.

I thought I'd run you through some of the pros and cons...

Pros

• super lightweight 
• 5 hours constant playback
• 50 foot wireless range
• sweat resistant ear clips that stay in your ears
• ControlTalk for switching between phone calls on iPhones and your music
• very good at blocking external noise

Cons

• a little fiddly at the start to get in your ears
• almost too good at blocking external noise, perhaps ensure volume is low when cycling or running near a road.

My music preferences tend to be limited to a few Spotify playlists for running shorter distances.

I tend to prefer a story to get lost in for longer distances as speed and pace isn't something I'm too worried about. Some of my favourite podcasts for this include Serial, Stuff Mom Never Told You and The Infinite Monkey Cage. If anyone has any other recommendations then please do let me know!

Fear not, I've not gone all health obsessive on you, I'm eating left over pizza whilst writing this...

Thanks so much to Joe Blogs & Curry's for inviting me, its encouraged me heaps.

You can read more about the Curry's workshop here.

Review: Arla Skyr Breakfast & Feed Your Adventure Tour

You all know by now, I'm pretty keen on yogurt. Whether its in baking, cooking or just for snacking. Its such a fridge staple for me that there's even a whole shelf dedicated to the stuff; tubs in all shapes and sizes.

Last week, Arla introduced their traditional Icelandic Skyr (pronounced 'skee-er') yogurt to the UK market and celebrated with a bloggers breakfast at Ham Yard Hotel. 

Our breakfast started with an introduction to the yogurt by expert nutritionist from Channel 4's Food Unwrapped, Charlotte Stirling-Reed. We learnt the importance of protein in a balanced diet and how it can make a big difference on satiety. That's the feeling that helps you to feel fuller for longer and to help curb snacking throughout the day.

Charlotte explained that the key to healthy eating is to concentrate on eating well around 80% of the time. Those 'superfood' goji berries aren't going to budge that McDonald's breakfast and even that wheatgrass shot won't be so 'super' if you've had takeaways the past 3 nights in a row. Everything in moderation is the key!

Skyr contains 10% more protein than other brands on the market. In their 150g snack pots, there's 14.1g protein and only 114kcal. Not only are these perfect for a desk snack, the high amount of protein means they also make a great post-workout recovery snack. 

The snack pots come in a selection of Nordic inspired flavours; Apple and Ligonberry, Nordic Sour Cherry, Strawberry, Mixed Nordic Berry and Simply Natural. Perfect as is, or to mix up with some chopped banana, nuts and berries. 

Almost unbelievably, the Simply Natural flavour yogurt is made with just one ingredient. Simply plain milk turned into yogurt using traditional Icelandic straining and filtering methods. No added sugar or preservatives, you can't really get better than that.

The Simply Natural flavour is a great foundation to any meal throughout the day. My favourite being to help make porridge creamy or served with a sprinkle of granola and fresh blueberries. For dinner, try a yogurt dip for Mexican or to cool down a curry. It also helps make chicken extra tender if you make a marinade with a few dollops of yogurt per teaspoon of spice paste.

Not only have Arla released the small snack sizes, there's a range of three 450g big pots including, Simply Natural, Strawberry and Honey. 

Filled with yogurt knowledge and a yogurt breakfast, we set off to stretch our legs and take in the natural beauty of Soho. Now, you may be laughing, but I certainly don't mean 'those' shops. Peter Berthoud from Londonist gave us a guided walking tour and encouraged us to look a little further into an area we were all familiar with.

For example, in Georgian London you could buy your milk from St James's Park. Up to 8,500 cows were kept in and around London delivering and selling milk over a 20 mile distance. Not bad considering today's food miles. Although, to some these 'urban' cows didn't quite cut the mustard, often with pints being topped up with water or milk even being blue due to pollution. The Oxford Express Dairy on Frith Street took delivery of their pure milk to sell from the early morning milk train all the way from the west coast of Wales. 

Next up, Phoenix Gardens. One of those spots you only dare to tell one other person of in the fear that it'll become even busier than Soho Square around the corner. The community gardens are managed by volunteers who use sustainable techniques ensuring that the plants can sustain themselves, look good all year round and attract wildlife. A brilliant spot to read in the sun or for your lunch break if you're a local. 

Did you know London had its own type of tree? Nope, neither did I! The London Plane tree counts for over half of the trees across the capital. First discovered at the start of the 17th Century, these trees not only are pollution resistant but can take up to 80% of pollution of the surrounding air. To do so, its camouflage patterned bark flakes off to cleanse itself of pollutants. Its roots can survive in pretty much any soil type. And, its sleek waxy leaves mean that grime just rinses away in the rain. 

In just two hours I learnt so much, not only about healthy eating but in Soho's natural hotspots. Since, I've been enjoying a quick pot of Skyr for breakfast before running out the door to work and after my runs in the afternoon to help tide me over until dinner time.

Thank you to Arla and Cow PR for a great morning!

Everyday Yogurt Lovers & Recent Favourites

When my alarm started sounding at 06:30am on a day off, I did doubt the table I'd booked a few weeks before. Yes, I had to book weeks in advance and yes, the only booking I could get was 08:15am. But, eating breakfast 230m in the clouds at Duck & Waffle sure is an experience. Check out my mini review on Urban Spoon here.

I spent Friday night in Brighton meeting some other food bloggers and we enjoyed some great Tapas in Solera. It was the perfect place to go for a larger group, the Sangria was great and I'm still surprised at how reasonable the bill was. 

Crumbs and Doilies has proved to me that cupcakes were definitely not a phase and I still love them. Not only have I enjoyed scrolling through their Instagram snaps, Jemma the owner's how-to's on YouTube, they also have the cutest packaging I've seen in a long time. 

Speaking of YouTube, I worked on a little recipe for Onken as part of their #OnkenTips campaign. Using yogurt in baking is a great alternative to fat and it ensures your bakes are light, moist and creamy.

In this video you'll see me and some fellow bloggers give a quick run through our #OnkenTips. If you fancy giving the lemon and blueberry loaf cake a go, the recipe can be found on their Facebook page.

And now, after all this cupcake and waffle eating, I'm off to prepare some 'healthy' work meals for the week ahead!

Recipe: Ideas for leftover Easter Chocolate

If you've got to this part of the Easter weekend and you actually have some eggs and chocolate going spare, then I salute you.

Now you can do one of three things:

a) squirrel it away for the next few months and enjoy it sparingly (if this is you, then I'm sorry to say you're reading the wrong blog)
b) make a very good effort of eating it all within a week. This includes playing swapsies with family members to get extra creme eggs in return for your big Mars egg.
c) use one of these recipes to turn them into something entirely new, and if you're feeling particularly festive, share them around.

3 ingredient chocolate fudge

50g unsalted butter, cubed
375g chocolate, chopped into chunks
375g sweetened condensed milk
a few handfuls of your choice of sprinkles, mini eggs and other toppings

In a large heatproof bowl, gently heat all ingredients in the microwave in short 20 second bursts until melted.  Mix together until smooth. Line a tray with foil or baking parchment and pour the mix in. Give the tray a few taps on the sides to knock out any air and smooth over the top. Scatter your toppings over and leave to cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Once fully firm, slice into small squares to serve.

Chocolate bark
(Makes one large 23 x 33 cm slab, alternatively melt what chocolate you have to make mini versions)

600g chocolate of your choice, chopped into small chunks
a few handfuls of your choice of sprinkles, mini eggs and other toppings


In a large heatproof bowl, heat 3/4 of the chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water. Whilst the chocolate is melting, line a large baking tray with baking parchment.

To temper the chocolate, melt only to 43C for white chocolate and 45C for milk and dark chocolate. Once the chocolate has reached this temperature, remove from the heat and add the remaining chocolate. Stir using a spatula until the rest of this chocolate has melted and the temperature cools to 28C for white and milk chocolate and 30C for dark chocolate.

Once the chocolate has reached this stage, pour into your prepared tray and give it a wiggle to cover all corners of the tray.

Scatter with your toppings and leave to set at room temperature. Once set, snap into shards.

Peanut butter cups
(Makes 10-20 cups depending on case size)

200g milk or dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
100g icing sugar
100g peanut butter, or any other nut butter of your choice

In a heatproof bowl, heat 3/4 of the chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water. Whilst the chocolate is melting, set out paper cupcake cases onto a plate or tray.

Temper the chocolate using the instructions above. Divide around half of the melted chocolate between the paper cases. Lift the tray up and gently drop on your work surface a few times to knock out any air bubbles. Use a small spoon to work the chocolate around the sides of the paper cases.

Pop in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to let the chocolate firm a little.

In a blender, mix together the peanut butter and icing sugar until a smooth paste forms.

Once the base layer of the cups has start to firm, spoon or pipe the peanut butter evenly between each. Pour over the remaining chocolate and smooth over the tops with the back of a spoon. (If this chocolate has started to firm, gently heat once again until it loosens).

Leave at room temperature for the peanut butter cups to full set before serving.

Amaretto cheesecake truffles
(Makes a dozen, feel free to use any biscuits you prefer like ginger nuts, oreos or cookies)

1 regular tub of cream cheese
1 pack of Amaretto biscuits
400g chocolate, melted

In a blender, pulse the biscuits until fine. Mix in a bowl with the cream cheese.

Using a small ice cream scoop, or two spoons, scoop balls of the mix and drop onto a tray covered with foil or baking parchment. Freeze for 10-20 minutes until firm.

Place the cheesecake balls onto a wire rack over a tray. Drizzle over the melted chocolate so all edges of the truffles are coated.

Top with more biscuit crumbs or sprinkles.



And if you needed more inspiration, here are some of my favourites...

Milli Taylor's chocolate bar cake, if for some reason unknown to most, you have a whole heap of chocolate bars leftover then this is the recipe for you. Think Munchies, Maltesars, Flakes, Bountys, Crunchies, the works!

Sarah from Taming Twins' recipe for Cadbury's caramel eggs croissants...this would also be great with creme eggs.

Larissa makes Choc-tails on Drop Dead Gorgeous if you're looking for something more boozy!

Review: Patisserie Valerie Afternoon Tea

There's always time for tea and cake, well in my book at least.

Hailing back to the 19th Century, Afternoon Tea was enjoyed by our foodie ancestor, Anna Duchess of Bedford. Deeming dinner time too late, and short of a green juice as a 3pm pick-me-up, Anna was known to nibble through tea and snacks in her room to tide her over till dinner. This developed into the Afternoon Tea we all know and love now.

I'd consider myself to be an almost direct descendant from Anna as I'm usually pretty good at the whole afternoon snack thing. My work locker and handbag are never void of a selection of snacks and tea.

To launch Patisserie Valerie's new Afternoon Tea Menu, their Soho venue hosted an Afternoon Tea Party.

Complete with finger sandwiches, mini quiches, scones, mini patisserie and a choice of tea or coffee for £25 for two, or £30 with a glass of Prosecco each. Possibly one of the most value for money Afternoon Teas I have come across - £25-30 for two people is pretty darn good.

My favourite parts include the chicken, pesto & sunblazed tomato sandwiches and mini tomato & mixed pepper quiches - I could have quite happily scoffed my way through a whole plate of those.

It goes without saying that the patisserie tier was also pretty special. Light and airy mousse slices of mixed berry and double chocolate. Perfectly formed mini Victoria sandwiches. Indulgent chocolate eclairs and fruit scones that Mary Berry would be proud of. 

I also did some window shopping on the way out and am looking forward to trying out their new custom cake creator tool when ordering celebration cakes (you can't make you're own birthday cake, can you now?!)

To see a full list of participating cafes, visit the Patisserie Valerie site. No reservation is needed for Afternoon Tea, but is advised for larger groups.

What's your favourite thing about Afternoon Tea?

Thank you to Patisserie Valerie for inviting me, all opinions are my own.