Corporate Favours at National Awards

Marron & Dolce recently supplied 170 corporate branded chocolate truffle favours for a National Awards event held at the new Auckland Art Gallery.

The chocolate truffles (one each of white chocolate & raspberry and dark chocolate & hazelnut praline) were presented in a small box at each table setting with the awards logo on the box.

A little chocolate treat was a nice surprise for guests at the event.  The chocolates we make don't use any preservatives and are made with real cream ganache - so you can really taste the difference.

The event organisers gave us the following feedback:

"Marron & Dolce certainly delivered on our brief: Classy chocolates to match our red carpet event!  They looked superb and tasted divine - the perfect branded boxed gift for our guests."  

Melanie Whittaker, NZILA Resene Pride of Place Landscape Awards Convenor

We can customise a gift for your corporate promotional needs - just give us a call to discuss.

Chocolate Mud Cake

We are known for our rich dark chocolate mud cakes, ideal for any special occasion - whether it be a dinner party desert, birthday celebration or wedding.

The tumble of dark chocolate curls and wrapped smooth chocolate sides over a chocolate ganache and with mud cake interior is a chocolate lovers dream.

Dress it up with your favorite flowers or a candle and your ready to impress.

A 8 inch cake (featured in photos) 

Chocolate Tempering - What's it all About?

You often hear people talking about the need to temper chocolate.  The tempering of chocolate is a process which ensures you get the best from your chocolate by creating a smooth and shiny finish and a clean snap (when broken) to the chocolate.

If you do not follow this process of heating and cooling to just the right temperatures then the crystallisation of the cocoa butter and mass will not occur correctly (and you will get the white colored 'bloom' that sometimes you see on store bought chocolate that hasn't been kept in hot conditions).  Tempering creates small crystals which improve the quality of the chocolate and is imperative to good quality chocolate work.

At Marron & Dolce we hand temper our chocolate.  This process involves melting the chocolate in the right way and then working the chocolate on a large marble slab (to keep cool) until it has reached just the right temperature using specialised scrapers.  The chocolate is then returned to the bowl and heated again to the right temperature for use.

We thought you might like to see the process involved to create the high quality chocolate we use in our products and how important it is for the quality of the end product.

Chocolate Quality - How to Know What You're Getting?

At Marron & Dolce we only use the best quality couverture.  Knowing the difference in quality between couverture and other chocolate products (such as compound and cooking chocolate) is important if you are wanting to ensure a 'real' chocolate experience and quality product.

Couverture is the name of a professional-quality chocolate product with a high percentage of cocoa butter, at least 32%, and as high as 39% for good quality couverture.  The extra cocoa butter allows the chocolate to form a thinner coating and has a cleaner taste and less fatty texture on the palette.  Couverture requires expert handling as it needs to be tempered to maintain a quality finish - the snap, shine and depth of color typical of excellent chocolate work.

Compound or cooking chocolate has part or all of the cocoa butter replaced by vegetable fat and usually a whole range of whey powers and other ingredients.  Sometimes the cocoa mass/liquor is also replaced by cocoa powder.  It is a lower grade product and easier to work with but does not have the flavor or texture of couverture.  At Marron & Dolce we do not use compound or cooking chocolate as we feel it results in an inferior product that doesn't do chocolate justice!