Chocolate Rush: An Adventure in Chocolate

Ahhhh.

That's pretty much all I can say.

Chocolate Rush will be my yearly tradition, that's for sure. Now in its third year, Chocolate Rush offers demonstrations, classes, stalls and taste tests.

Charlotte and I arrived at about 11.30am and I'm disappointed we didn't allow more time. There were many free demonstrations that we missed simply due to a lack of time. Oh well, there's always next year!

We sampled many delicious treats...hot chocolate, chocolate from a chocolate fountain, strawberries and marshmallows (drizzled with...yep, you guessed it...chocolate!)

We watched a demonstration by Kirsten from Savour, a Melbourne-based chocolate and patisserie school. She worked on a magnificent chocolate sculpture and showed us how to make a gorgeous white chocolate flower.

Charlotte and I were booked in to the Chocolate Garnishes workshop with Drew Maddison from Savour. In our hands-on workshop we learnt how to use transfer sheets, make fans, cigarellos (will come in handy for caking!), tulip cups, basketweave cups, curls, sugar shapes and sticks.

Luckily for us, Savour supplied us with aprons...these came in handy when our tulip cups exploded. Yes, it was so cold in there that the chocolate was contracting too quickly and the balloons we were using exploded. Fun times.

Unfortunately I don't have any pics from the workshop as it was at this point that my camera decided to die. Always happens at crucial times! Grr.

Here are some pics of what I brought home with me...

Macarons: chocolate, lemon, strawberry, pistachio and praline.

Petite desserts: chocolate tart, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate brulee and chocolate cupcake.

Hillier's 1.5kg box o' choccies - why pay $85 retail when you can get this for $26??

Chocolate making is something I would love to get into; but at the same time it appears to be a much more expensive hobby than cake decorating (and that's saying something, considering how many thousands of dollars I've spent on cake equipment). To give you an idea of how much some basic equipment will set you back:

Chocolate warmer = $730

Cooling agent = $70

Moulds = $60 each

Transfer sheets = $7.50 per A4 sheet (silly me bought two of these!)

Callebaut couverture chocolate = $65/kg

So...I will be sticking to caking for now.