Create your own homemade salted chocolate and wow friends and family alike. All you need for this recipe is some good quality milk chocolate, fleur de sel, chocolate moulds and a bit of time. It makes a fabulous homemade gift.
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, they had no time for a honeymoon.
The three days 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. CT and I took the opportunity to visit Shaheen at her vegan cafe in Newport.
Prior to the trip, I wanted to make my cousin something as a pre-wedding soother. And chocolate seemed the appropriate choice.
Salted Milk Chocolate
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 this chocolate course to good use and try my hand at chocolate tempering once again.
I used a Golden Ticket mould, sent over from the chocolate queen herself Celia of Fig Jam and Lime.
The next day, the Golden Ticket looked beautiful. Sadly, 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.
Salted Milk Chocolate Top Tip
Grease your moulds very lightly with a neutral oil such as sunflower oil. Use a piece of kitchen towel to do it. This makes it easier to release the chocolates from their moulds and helps to keep them shiny. I didn’t do it on this occasion.
The Wedding
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.
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. Not only did they manage to serve the food so it arrived hot but more importantly they delivered it 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 as they were excellent.
There were so many nice touches. We all had a thank you present laid on the wedding breakfast table and there were vases of white hydrangeas everywhere. The wedding cake was in fact a cupcake tower and looked very impressive.
Wedding Day Three
Day three of the wedding 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 stayed 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.
Other Homemade Chocolate Recipes You Might Like
- Gingerbread chocolate truffles (vegan)
- Lemon balm chocolate truffles
- Mint chocolates
- Passionfruit caramel chocolates
- Sesame truffles (vegan)
- Swirled chocolate bark (so easy)
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this salted chocolate, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for tempering chocolate?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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If you’d like more event stories, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All involving food, of course.
Choclette x
Salted Milk Chocolate. PIN IT.
Salted Milk Chocolate
Ingredients
- 200 g milk chocolate (I used Green & Blacks 38%)
- 1 pinch fleur de sel or other good quality salt
Instructions
- Melt 150g of the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water.
- Remove from the heat and add the remaining 50g of chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted and the temperature has cooled to 29C.
- If wanting some unsalted chocolate, carefully spoon into your chocolate moulds. Mine went into six spoon moulds and one label mould.
- Add the fleur de sel to the remaining chocolate, stir then pour into your chocolate moulds. I used a Golden Ticket mould.1 pinch fleur de sel
- Leave in a cool place to set, but not the fridge. They should be ready in thirty minutes. Carefully turn the chocolates out of the moulds and pack up as desired.
sanam arzoo says
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.
Anonymous says
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
SewHappy.Me says
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. 🙂
Charlotte Charlotte'sKitchenDiary says
How lovely Choclette. Such a lovely thought making a chocolate gift for the bride, too. Glad you had a nice trip : )
Alida says
I love weddings and in a castle… 🙂
I love the chocolate spoons and the little cakes too. Congratulations to your cousin!
thelittleloaf says
Your spoons look ace! Hope people give me equally thoughtful prezzies for my wedding 🙂
Susan says
You do such lovely little gestures for folk…really touching. I love a good wedding don’t you and in a castle? Wow!
Janice Pattie says
Sounds like a great time. I couldn’t have stood the cold though brrrrr!
Susan Lindquist says
Impressed on both fronts … chocolate tempering AND super wedding location … great place for a party! That golden ticket is so very cool!
Choclette says
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.
Kath says
How lovely, congratulations to your cousin and her husband. What a lovely gift. Chocolate tempering is a science beyond me.
Choclette says
Kath, I’m beginning to think it’s a science beyond me too – I’m not sure I have the patience.
Kath says
PS I missed the photo of the shoes the first time round. I have shoe envy, they are gorgeous.
hungryhinny.com says
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 says
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 🙂