Festive Chocolate Making at L’atelier des Chefs

A glimpse into the world of festive chocolate making at L’atelier des Chefs. They run chocolate courses amongst many others and I managed to attend one on my recent trip to London. Although it was just in time for Christmas, it’s a useful course to attend at any time of the year.

It’s a little back to front, but the chocolate course I did at L’atelier des Chefs on my recent London adventure was the first event I attended soon after arriving at Paddington station. You can read about the other two events here: Friends of Glass and Paddington Afternoon Tea.

L’atelier des Chefs

The venue is conveniently located just behind Oxford Circus, which meant I could take the tube on a direct line from Paddington – always a bonus. Luckily L’atelier des Chefs was easy to find. Oxford Street was busy with Christmas shoppers and I found the festive mood infectious.

L’atelier des Chefs started in France ten years ago where it now has 17 workshops around the country. It came to London five years ago with the Oxford Circus venue being the first, followed by one in St Pauls three years later. There is also now one in Dubai.

Classes cover all sorts of cuisines and range from quick thirty minute sessions to four hour masterclasses. I’d love to attend pretty much all of the classes on offer and am particularly tempted by the Christmas baking class and the one for afternoon tea. So much choice. In a more savoury mood it would probably be the Thai class or the vegetarian. If you’re stuck for a present for a food loving friend, I’m sure they’d appreciate a voucher for one of these courses. Or is that just me?

Not surprisingly, I was rather excited about getting stuck into chocolate making and was looking forward to the two hour course. There is always something new to learn and new people to meet on such occasions.

As I ended up arriving earlier than expected, the receptionist greeted me cordially and offered a drink whilst I waited for the other attendees to turn up. I couldn’t help but notice a plethora of lovely kitchen gadgets in the well stocked shop. How very tempting, especially as there was a 10% discount on the day. But I had vowed to travel light and managed to resist buying anything.

L’Etalier des Chefs Chocolate Course

As it happened, there were only two others on the course which meant we had plenty of opportunities for hands on experience as well as the chef’s full attention. As soon as the chef was ready, into the kitchen we went. Laid out before us was a veritable feast of cream and other goodies not to mention chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. I was feeling more festive by the minute.

Lots of whipping, stirring, beating and tasting ensued.

In two hours we made: chocolate orange fondants with Grand Marnier cream and orange syrup; chocolate mousse flavoured with cointreau and topped with hazelnut crumble.

We also made two types of chocolates. These entailed making quite a bit of ganache, which I found particularly useful. I sometimes have problems when making this at home; it has been known to split. Or I can’t get the chocolate to melt properly.

The top tip I took away from the course was don’t be afraid of boiling the cream. I’ve always been rather wary of overheating cream and now realise why I can’t always get my chocolate to melt. Turns out the cream is just not hot enough.

How Did I Find It?

Despite having only three of us on the course, L’atelier des Chefs was both busy and popular. A happy bunch of diners, consuming the meal they had just cooked told us how much fun they’d had and one of the other cheerful chocolate makers was on his third course and coming back for more. Regulars, I later found out, get discounts.

My only quibble was that although L’Etalier des Chefs sent links to the online recipes after the event, I would’ve preferred to have paper copies with me, so I could write notes as I went along.

Our chef was friendly, confident and knowledgeable and talked us through the whys and wherefores of chocolate as we went along. I was impressed with the quality of the ingredients we used, most of which was cream and dark chocolate. The kitchen was large and well equipped and the washing up magically disappeared down a hole in the wall, leaving the work surfaces clutter free.

I enjoyed all of it, but especially the chocolate making. I made salted butter caramel for the first time, I’ve only ever used cream before. It was scrumptious indeed and we used it to fill some of our chocolates.

We filled the other chocolates with rum soaked raisins and chocolate ganache. These were delicious too and I really must get some raisins soaking in a jar of rum so they are ready when needed.

The mousse was an eggless one which was easy to whip up and a great idea for a dinner party. Topping it with some caramelised hazelnuts gave it additional glamour. The fondants are also perfect for dinner parties as you can make them well in advance and just pop them in the oven for ten minutes prior to serving.

We took the chocolates away with us, but managed to eat both the mousse and fondant before we left and jolly delicious they both were too. We all had a fabulous time. Cooking with others is usually fun, but creating a huge mess with chocolate together is an absolute riot.

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you ever attend a chocolate course, either at L’etalier des Chefs or somewhere else, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for chocolate courses?

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If you’d like more posts about food events, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them.

Choclette x

Thanks to L’atelier des Chefs for inviting me to attend the chocolate course. I was not required to write a positive review and as always, all opinions are my own.