I can't think of a better way to kick off December and a month of all things Christmas than to write this post.
Organised by the queen of gift swaps Vanessa Kimbell, Chantal Coady of Rococo Chocolates very kindly allowed a group of bloggers into her south London chocolate factory for the Let's Make Christmas Gift Swap. Chantal's story of her love of chocolate can be found in the introduction of her book, Rococo: Mastering the Art of Chocolate. A truly mesmerising and well written book combining captivating photography, design and a plethora of recipes.
Chantal welcomed us warmly to Rococo.
A cup of deliciously warming hot chocolate.
A table laden with treats.
Barry and the team at Rococo show us how to make ganache and temper chocolate.
I have a go at dipping. Excuse my left hand impression of The Claw.
A Marshmallow Game Cube.
A gaggle of geese, a school of fish, a charm of hummingbirds. But what do you call a group of food bloggers?
Vanessa gives her introduction to the gift swap, laughs and smiles guaranteed.
Lucas Hollweg gives his thoughts on the chocolate industry and judging.
I took Raspberry (, Cranberry and Orange) Marshmallows from the Rococo book (I think I was the only one who made something from the book that didn't involve chocolate!) and some Cinnamon Spritz Cookies with White Chocoate Gananche, the recipe for which will be posted shortly.
I got some beautiful cupcakes from Linda at Filled with Love and London Busy Body's chocolate fig spread, which is utterly delicious and I can't wait to make some for Christmas morning breakfast, in return. A very happy swap!
A huge congratulations to all of the winners and runners up!
Fantastic write up Hannah and you got some great pictures. It was such a lovely afternoon and really good to meet up with you again. I'm looking forward to the cookie recipe, that sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteThank you Laura, it was lovely seeing you again!
DeleteHannah, what a super write up, and your photos are superb. It was a great afternoon and good to see you again. Jude x
ReplyDeleteThank you Jude, it was such a nice venue for a gift swap and lovely to see you again :)
DeleteReally lovely write-up, what a fantastic event! Lovely photos too. I was so sorry not to be able to come along...
ReplyDeleteThank you Kate, such a shame you couldn't make it - your intended florentines looked delicious!
DeleteGreat photos and a wonderful day x
ReplyDeleteThank you Carmela, was lovely to meet you :)
DeleteThanks for the great write up Hannah.
ReplyDeleteWe all enjoyed it at Rococo as much as you did. It was great to see you all so interested and full of lots of questions.
Even if you (your jumper)was a bit hairy!!!
I did enjoy the 3 chilli chocolate cake over the weekend baked by @laura-howtocook.
Barry x
Thank you Barry, it was a really nice afternoon. (Thank you for clarifying that the hairy-ness was the fault of my jumper :) )
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