Sarah Dobson (@sarahschocolatestash) created this amazing recipe for mini chocolate mousse cakes, using the Beyond Good Salted Caramel 73% dark chocolate... Ingredients (makes 6)   Base - 40 g Super Wine biscuits (4 biscuits) - 20 g Beyond Good Salted Caramel chocolate - 20 g unsalted butter Mousse filling - 50 g Beyond Good Salted Caramel chocolate - 25 g unsalted butter - 3 tbsp cream (45 ml) - 1 egg, separated (at room temperature) Topping - Chocolate shavings (using remaining chocolate) - Small handful of chopped roasted peanuts - Softly whipped cream (~50 ml) Equipment needed - Fo ..read more

Something I hear quite often is people saying that they ‘can’t taste’ the tasting notes in chocolate. They love craft chocolate and can taste that what we sell is much higher quality, but when it comes to picking out notes of raspberry or hazelnut (for example), they feel they are missing something. I wanted to mention that this doesn’t matter at all, and in no way should you let this lessen your enjoyment of craft chocolate. I’m a huge music fan but I would never be able to tell you the specific notes or chords being played. It has no impact on how much I love a song. If you would like to dev ..read more

Sarah Dobson (@sarahschocolatestash) created this amazing recipe for mini chocolate mousse cakes, using the Beyond Good Salted Caramel 73% dark chocolate... Ingredients (makes 6)   Base - 40 g Super Wine biscuits (4 biscuits) - 20 g Beyond Good Salted Caramel chocolate - 20 g unsalted butter Mousse filling - 50 g Beyond Good Salted Caramel chocolate - 25 g unsalted butter - 3 tbsp cream (45 ml) - 1 egg, separated (at room temperature) Topping - Chocolate shavings (using remaining chocolate) - Small handful of chopped roasted peanuts - Softly whipped cream (~50 ml) Equipment needed - Fo ..read more

There’s never been a more exciting time to be a chocolate lover. Whether you’re a fan of confectionery like bonbons and truffles or more of a bar fanatic, there are more options on offer today than ever before, with new chocolate brands popping up every year, new trends and techniques, new cacao origins, and new flavour experiences that previous generations couldn’t even dream about. It’s truly a delicious time to be alive. One thing that’s been particularly exciting to see in recent years is the emergence of chocolatiers using bean-to-bar craft chocolate. I decided to take a deep dive into th ..read more

For my latest interview I caught up with Mike Renfree from Raglan Chocolate in Raglan, New Zealand. Mike and his partner Simone launched their company back in July 2017, and it's been great getting to know them over the past few years. Mike and Simone really epitomise the craft chocolate ethos - bringing together a perfect blend of art and science, a D.I.Y attitude and a strong passion for ethical and sustainable business practices. I'm so pleased to be stocking Raglan's beautiful bars in our online store, and to be featuring their exceptional Solomon Islands 70% bar in our September subscript ..read more

For my latest interview I caught up with Sharon Terenzi, aka The Chocolate Journalist. Over the past decade Sharon has become a well known figure in the craft chocolate industry and a leading voice for the bean-to-bar movement. Through her excellent blog and huge social media following, Sharon promotes high quality and ethical craft chocolate, educates producers and consumers alike, and generally helps to spread the word about fine flavour cacao, small-batch chocolate making and chocolate marketing. As she spends so much time promoting the work of other people, I thought it might be inter ..read more

This article was originally published by Good. It’s a very exciting time in the world of chocolate and the craft chocolate movement has opened people’s eyes to the vast possibilities held within the simple cacao bean. What most of us grew up eating was not real chocolate - it was confectionery. And chocolate doesn’t actually just taste like chocolate, it can taste like different fruits, nuts, flowers, grains, spices, herbs and more - all of these flavours just coming from the cacao. What a revelation! Tasting chocolate is just like tasting fine wine, craft beer or artisan cheese. There are man ..read more

For my latest interview I had a chat with my good friend Clayton McErlane, Chief Chocolate Disciple at Baron Hasselhoff's. We're featuring two of Clayton's chocolate bars in our March subscription boxes so I thought it would be a good idea to find out what's been happening behind the scenes ..read more

For my latest interview I caught up with Johnty Tatham, aka Lucid Chocolatier. Based in rural Wairarapa, Wellington, Johnty launched his business in December 2020, offering a stunning range of single origin bars made with the highest quality Peruvian beans available. Despite only being 23 years old, Johnty is making some of the best chocolate in New Zealand. I thought it would be a good idea to have a chat with him and learn more about what's been happening behind the scenes... What is your background and what led you to the world of chocolate? Arriving at the world of chocolate for ..read more

What is Craft Chocolate? There are a few different terms we use to describe the kind of chocolate we sell at The Chocolate Bar, but most commonly we use ‘craft chocolate’. If you’re a customer of ours and have been following what we do for a while, you’ve probably got a reasonably clear idea of what we mean when we use this term. But if you haven’t got a clue what craft chocolate means then don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Even within the industry, many chocolate professionals still debate what this term means, and there are no specific guidelines or rules around its use. Here are my thou ..read more