It was my lovely cousin’s wedding last weekend and as she was getting married to a Welshman, the wedding took place in Wales. Now this was not your average wedding but a rather grand affair lasting three days; due to work commitments, there was no time for a honeymoon. This gave the bride and groom a chance to spend time with their family and friends and likewise gave me an opportunity to have a proper catch up with my family. Day one was a spa day for some, with others such as myself, meeting the bride to be in the evening for a glass of champagne. I wanted to make her something as a pre-wedding soother – chocolate seemed the appropriate choice. I wasn’t sure what her preferences for chocolate were, but guessed she might be a milk chocolate sort of girl. I decided to make a bar of salted milk chocolate and also some plain milk chocolate spoons in case she didn’t like the salted option. Luckily, this turned out to be a favourite of hers. I also used a Good Luck label mould that I bought from Sew White just before Christmas along with the chocolate spoon moulds. So, it was time to put some of the tips I’d learnt from the chocolate course to good use and try my hand at chocolate tempering once again.
Milk Chocolate Spoons
This is how I made:
Salted Chocolate and Chocolate Spoons
Melted 150g milk chocolate (G&B 38%) in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
Removed from the heat and added a further 50g of chocolate, stirring until all of the chocolate had melted and the temperature had cooled to 29C.
Carefully spooned into six spoon moulds and one label mould.
Added a pinch of fleur de sel to the remaining chocolate, stirred then poured into my Golden Ticket mould, sent over from the chocolate queen herself Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.
Left to set then turned the chocolates out of the moulds, managing to break one of the spoons as I did so.
Congratulatory salted milk chocolate bar
The next day, the Golden Ticket looked beautiful, the spoons had bloomed and did not look beautiful at all. I suspect that my digital thermometer has not been calibrated correctly (mainly because I couldn’t figure out how to do it) and is showing a lower temperature than the actual one. I’m assuming that as the salted chocolate had been left longer and was stirred a second time, it had in fact cooled to the correct temperature, whilst the first batch was still too hot.
Caerphilly Castle
The Wedding Day itself dawned bright and fair, but there was still a decided nip in the air. Caerphilly Castle proved to be a rather impressive setting for the wedding. It was built in the 13th Century by an English baron at the time of Henry III in a successful bid to keep the Welsh at bay. Surrounded by a moat and lakes, this is the second biggest mediaeval castle in Britain, Windsor being the first. It is particularly famous now for its leaning tower, damaged during the Civil War, which, whilst not quite as tall as the leaning tower of Pisa, inclines at a steeper angle. We had plenty of opportunities to explore the castle thoroughly.
Leaning Tower of Caerphilly
Impressive the castle may have been, but warm it was not – there was many a goose pimple to be seen throughout the day and evening as we all shivered in our wedding finery. Stiletto heels were in abundance, how they coped with the terrain I do not know, but thankfully no injuries occurred. The bride looked absolutely stunning and the wedding breakfast (at 16:30) was impressive. The waiting staff were excellent – friendly, but professional, managing to serve the food so it arrived hot and more importantly was delivered to the right people. My vegetarian options were scrumptious. I had a saffron, pea and asparagus risotto to start with and a tomato polenta stack for my main course. The pudding was a chocolate fondant which was appreciated by all. We’d previously enjoyed canapés along with champagne up in one of the towers – how those stilettos made it up and down the ancient spiral staircase, I’ll never know. The canapés were also served warm and were particularly welcome. Speeches and dancing followed with the bride and groom doing an impressive first dance inspired by Dirty Dancing – they must have been practising for quite some time.
No stilettos here
White Hydrangeas everywhere
Nice Touches
Polenta Stack
Chocolate Fondant
Cupcake Tower
The Bride & Groom
Day three was another gathering of family and friends, this time for a hefty lunchtime meal in a nearby inn, with lashings of punch for those not driving. Many were staying the night, along with the bride and groom, but not us. With heavy stomachs but cheery hearts, CT, my mother and I wended our way back home to Cornwall.
Thanks Nat – I do find it rather frustrating, it’s definitely harder doing it at home than watching someone else do it in a special tempering machine! Thanks for the congrats too 🙂
I have only just seen this as I have been away in Portugal with limited Internet access. Nikki forwarded me the link. What a wonderful post. It brought back all the memories of that wonderful week-end. Yes, it was great to see all the family together once again and I am so glad you enjoyed it. I thought your chocolate gifts were superb and so lovely to have given them something hand-made and so-o-o time consuming. I didn’t get to taste them (more’s the pity) but I am sure they were enjoyed by Nikki and Brett. Oh and you have some great photos of the event too. By the way, you may have noticed that I changed into flat shoes for the evening. Yes, the stilettos were hard work, but so pretty. 🙂
Nicette the chocolate was superb and salted is my favourite. Mum didn’t get to taste them because Brett and I demolished them the moment we got back home from the wedding, they were delicious. Thanks for the lovely posting and all your lovely photos too. Nikki
Oh my goodness…what an incredible project and your finalappearance FANTASTIC! Well done 🙂 therefore glad to possess discovered your site!When meeting your cake decorator for the primary time, bring the maximum amount data as possible; theme of the marriage, color of your dress, woman dress and inspiration from the area and flowers. it’ll create the choice easier.
Hello, I’m Choclette. I’m a vegetarian recipe developer and writer from Cornwall. I have a sweet tooth and a passion for baking and chocolate. Welcome to my award winning blog. Here you will find nourishing home cooked food with a twist as well as foodie tales from my home county and beyond.
I had a #vegan turmeric latte today @olivecocafe, but my friend had this pretty 2 shot flat white.
☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️
#froothiebetterlife #turmericlatte #flatwhite #cornishcafe #meetingfriends #scrumptiouslife #fbcuk16 #fb (at Olive & Co.)
We’ve grown very little in the plot this year due to the deer and other critters, but I’ve been harvesting quite a bit of beetroot. The leaves of the last batch went into a smoothie, the stems into a chilli and the roots into my sandwiches.
💜💜💜💜💜💜
It’s #vegetable for #froothiebetterlife today and #grain (as in bread) for #foodiesfotos
#growyourownfood #beetroots #nofoodwaste #allotmentgarden #purple #fbcuk16 #fb #scrumptiouslife
hungryhinny.com
25th April 2013
Your Golden Ticket looks perfectly tempered to me! I still haven’t had a chance to try out Nicky and Tom’s tips but really must…
The wedding sounds like a fabulously grand affair – congrats to the bride and groom!
Choclette
25th April 2013
Thanks Nat – I do find it rather frustrating, it’s definitely harder doing it at home than watching someone else do it in a special tempering machine! Thanks for the congrats too 🙂
Kath
25th April 2013
How lovely, congratulations to your cousin and her husband. What a lovely gift. Chocolate tempering is a science beyond me.
Choclette
25th April 2013
Kath, I’m beginning to think it’s a science beyond me too – I’m not sure I have the patience.
Kath
27th April 2013
PS I missed the photo of the shoes the first time round. I have shoe envy, they are gorgeous.
Susan Lindquist
25th April 2013
Impressed on both fronts … chocolate tempering AND super wedding location … great place for a party! That golden ticket is so very cool!
Choclette
25th April 2013
Thanks Susan. to be honest I think the tempering is a bit hit and miss and I missed with some of it. But the wedding venue was very impressive.
Janice Pattie
25th April 2013
Sounds like a great time. I couldn’t have stood the cold though brrrrr!
Susan
25th April 2013
You do such lovely little gestures for folk…really touching. I love a good wedding don’t you and in a castle? Wow!
thelittleloaf
26th April 2013
Your spoons look ace! Hope people give me equally thoughtful prezzies for my wedding 🙂
Alida
29th April 2013
I love weddings and in a castle… 🙂
I love the chocolate spoons and the little cakes too. Congratulations to your cousin!
Charlotte Charlotte'sKitchenDiary
30th April 2013
How lovely Choclette. Such a lovely thought making a chocolate gift for the bride, too. Glad you had a nice trip : )
SewHappy.Me
29th May 2013
I have only just seen this as I have been away in Portugal with limited Internet access. Nikki forwarded me the link. What a wonderful post. It brought back all the memories of that wonderful week-end. Yes, it was great to see all the family together once again and I am so glad you enjoyed it. I thought your chocolate gifts were superb and so lovely to have given them something hand-made and so-o-o time consuming. I didn’t get to taste them (more’s the pity) but I am sure they were enjoyed by Nikki and Brett. Oh and you have some great photos of the event too. By the way, you may have noticed that I changed into flat shoes for the evening. Yes, the stilettos were hard work, but so pretty. 🙂
Anonymous
31st May 2013
Nicette the chocolate was superb and salted is my favourite. Mum didn’t get to taste them because Brett and I demolished them the moment we got back home from the wedding, they were delicious.
Thanks for the lovely posting and all your lovely photos too.
Nikki
sanam arzoo
14th February 2014
Oh my goodness…what an incredible project and your finalappearance FANTASTIC! Well done 🙂 therefore glad to possess discovered your site!When meeting your cake decorator for the primary time, bring the maximum amount data as possible; theme of the marriage, color of your dress, woman dress and inspiration from the area and flowers. it’ll create the choice easier.