Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base of a 25cm spring-form cake tin. Melt the chocolate in an oven proof dish for 5 minutes or so, then stir in the butter. Or use a bainmarie or microwave if preferred.
Using an electric whisk, in a very clean bowl whisk the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. Then, without cleaning the beaters, whisk the yolks with the sugar in a separate bowl until pale and voluminous.
Combine the chocolate with the egg yolk mixture, then incorporate the cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, & the ground almonds. Add a spoonful of egg white to the batter, stirring it through to loosen the mix, then fold in the rest, taking care to keep in as much air as possible.
Gently pour into the tin and bake for 20-35 mins. Don’t overcook! I took mine out when the sides were risen, and bouncy, the centre still soft.
Leave to cool in the tin, after taking out of the tin then with cocoa powder and serve with crème fraîche.
Extraordinary taste, sustainability and social impacts
This event takes place in the British Library Theatre and will be simultaneously live streamed on the British Library platform. Tickets may be booked either to attend in person, or to watch on our platform (online) either live or within 48 hours on catch up. Viewing links will be sent out shortly before the event.
Chantal Coady, founder of Rococo Chocolate and The Chocolate Detective, is joined by Nick Davis, a grower in Jamaica, and Angus Thirlwell of Hotel du Chocolat to explore the dynamics of producing ethical, delicious chocolate and its huge impact on the local communities. Hosted by Leyla Kazim of The Food Programme.
With chocolate tastings available for those attending the event in-person.
Chantal Coady is the mother of the artisan chocolate industry in the UK and the real chocolate revolution. Having established luxury brand Rococo four decades ago, she now heads up The Chocolate Detective, leading the way in engaged ethics and sustainability. In the early part of the century she entered into a joint venture organic farm with Grenada Chocolate Company, directly supporting the organic cocoa farmers, who for the first time were able to become chocolate makers themselves and create real value in the local economy. She is a multi-award winner and author of five books.
Please come to the British library Monday April 11th 2022 as part of the FOOD SEASON
Leila Kazim of the Food Program will be moderator for the evening. Nick Davis founder of One One Cacao https://www.oneonecacao.com will join us from Jamaica and Angus Thirlwell of Hotel Chocolat will be there in person. We will discuss chocolate: past and future. Expect a lively debate and we will enjoy some special and delicious chocolates, while challenging the status quo of the enormous chocolate industry, dominated by just a few large players.
We feel powerless to help in the face of such atrocities. There is a very small way in which we can raise some funds to through our chocolates. We hand coloured blue and yellow eggs and packed them into our box with the Ukrainian stock designed by our bird illustration specialist Madeleine Floyd:
“The national bird of the Ukraine is the White Stork… a bird that is usually associated with the arrival and joy of new life. It is seen as a symbol of family, loyalty and patriotism. The national flower of the Ukraine is the sunflower which represents warmth and the power of the sun.
War uproots all of this. We choose peace.”
All profits will be donated to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal (British Red Cross).
#standingtall
Madeleine Floyd
We have donated 100% of the chocolate, the packaging and labour to put them together, thank you so much to Ruth Morgan for her help on this, Madeleine for the images and to our local printer Danny at Mailboxes who did the work for cost price and turned the job around super quickly.
From the ticket price of £12.75 a min of £10 goes to the DEC Ukraine Emergeny Fund (around £2 to HMRC for VAT which is what we have to do!).
So please help us by buying some eggs and we will donate to
In March I had a conversation with Dan Baker, an English national married to Victoria (Ukranian) they had been living in Kyiv for five years with their daughter Veronica & cat Pumpkin – he is now back in Brighton sofa surfing while raising funds for direct causes. If anyone wants to get involved at a grass roots level please connect directly with @danbakerukraine via instagram or youtube https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-60933264 or if you are able to help with accommodation in the Brighton area.
The Park Tower Knightsbridge, a Luxury Collec;on Hotel launches a choco-tastic Afternoon Tea in partnership with world renowned chocolatier, Chantal Coady OBE
The Chocolate Afternoon Tea will feature a selection of sustainably sourced cocoa treats from Grenada, set to thrill any choc-a-holic
28th March 2021: The Chocolate Detective, Chantal Coady, has arrived at The Park Tower Knightsbridge Hotel. Sustainable chocolate expert, (founder of Rococo Chocolates) and lifelong chocolate activist, Chantal, is dedicated to uncovering the rich heritage of chocolate and now launches her cocoa in afternoon tea for the first time, exclusively at the hotel’s Knightsbridge Lounge.
From ‘tree to bar’, The Chocolate Detective’s treats are naturally grown in the Caribbean and created in a solar powered factory, using zero emissions. This tasty collaboration between The Park Tower Knightsbridge’s imaginative pastry team, led by Executive Chef Gaurav Puri, and Chantal Coady will delight both afternoon tea and chocolate lovers alike.
From 100% unsweetened dark chocolate to frothy white chocolate mousse, the new menu celebrates the very best of chocolate, with every palate in mind. The menu signatures include Chantal’s classic light chocolate sponge club sandwich with raspberry and Grenada dust and a white chocolate mousse crown with pistachio and cardamom. The indulgence con-nues with a morello cherry cupcake topped with cocoa buttercream and a wicked minted dark chocolate ganache to finish the experience.
Guests will also enjoy warm, plain or chocolate infused scones served alongside an array of savoury sandwiches including sun dried tomato and gruyere quiche, Severn Valley smoked salmon with olive tapenade and Burford brown egg, cress and mayo on a buttery croissant.
Available in the stunning Knightsbridge Lounge, the tea parlour is surrounded by a hand painted canopy of magnolia blossom on draped silk and features a spectacular 18-foot teardrop glass chandelier.
Bookings for the Chocolate Afternoon Tea must be made in advance. The tea is available from 2pm to 6pm daily, and costs £39 per person or £49 with a glass of Champagne.
The Luxury Collection®, part of Marriott International, Inc., comprises world-renowned hotels and resorts offering unique, authentic experiences that evoke lasting, treasured memories. For the global explorer, The Luxury Collection offers a gateway to the world’s most exci-ng and desirable destinations. Each hotel and resort is a unique and cherished expression of its location; a portal to the destination’s indigenous charms and treasures. Originated in 1906 under the CIGA® brand as a collection of Europe’s most celebrated and iconic properties, today The Luxury Collection brand is a flowering ensemble, recently surpassing 100 of the world’s finest hotels and resorts in more than 30 countries and territories. All of these hotels, many of them centuries old, are internationally recognized as being among the world’s finest. For more informa-on and new openings, visit theluxurycollection.com or follow Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The Luxury Collec-on is proud to par-cipate in the industry’s award-winning loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest®. Members can now link accounts with Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® at members.marriot.com for instant elite status matching and unlimited points transfer.
About The Chocolate Detective
Chantal Coady OBE is known for being a sustainable chocolate expert, founder of Rococo Chocolates and she champions the exceptional & groundbreaking work of The Grenada Chocolate Company (based on the Caribbean Island of Grenada). This company is a small cooperave of Organic cocoa farmers who work with the ‘Farm to Bar’ model to create delicious chocolate that supports their local economy and ensures well-paid jobs for local farmers. The factory has been run using solar power and the farms are carefully worked to ensure maximum biodiversity in the fragile rainforest ecosystem. Chantal also curates a collection of chocolate from other carefully chosen makers. This Easter there is a collection of bird eggs packed in beautiful boxes and she is working with the Park Tower on a Chocolate Detective Easter egg hunt.
This small collection of six salted caramel and six hazelnut praline eggs is the perfect gift for the one you love. The limited edition box, illustrated by Madeleine Floyd, features two turtle doves facing each other, forming a heart shape between them. The illustration will then be replaced with two birds side by side as part of the ongoing collection. To buy yours, pop over to Rachel Vosper’s shop on Kinnerton Street, where you can also preview The Chocolate Detective’s Easter collection.Opening times:Tuesday 8th February 12pm – 5pmWednesday 9th February 12pm – 5pmThursday 10th February 12pm – 8pmOr by appointment
Absolutely Kensington & Chelsea February 2022 by Zest Media Group – Issuu
@chantalcoady sells a range of ‘broken chocolate’ in the Chocolate Detective recipes, including an intriguing white chocolate with wild fennel and cardamom (it’s delicious, and a world away from overly sweet white chocolate thanks to its aniseedy flavour and subtle cardamom notes). Chocolate, says Coady, is like wine, and can improve with age – this is something we’ll be hearing more about, she thinks. ‘Chocolate’s flavour depends on the weather and the soil, just like wine, or coffee.’
“The dainty Turtle Dove is Britain’s only migratory dove. Their gentle cooing purr reminds us of summer days & courtship, they form strong and lasting partnerships and have become cultural emblems of devoted love.”
Description and illustrations by Madeleine Floyd, author Birdsong.
Following on from the success of the egg collections last year we are launching the Love Bird eggs in time for Valentines day (January 14). This limited edition with two turtle doves facing each other, forming a heart shape between them, will be replaced with two birds side by side as part of the ongoing collection. They will be available online from 1st February and to personal callers at our first POP UP collection, hosted by Rachel Vosper in Kinnerton St, where we shall also be previewing our Easter collection (see below for details).
Early last year I was contacted by illustrator Madeleine Floyd, Madeleine was moved by the dedication of the NHS teams since the start of the pandemic and had created an uplifting image of the Rainbow Nightingale to raise funds for the Florence Nightingale Foundation. She had the idea of doing a box of rainbow coloured eggs that would also raise funds for FNF. It was a daunting task in a very short space of time, and we pulled it off.
Following on from the almost instant sell out of this collection, we looked at other birds for Easter and came up with hand coloured black bird and song thrush eggs, as well as robin eggs, using illustrations from her book Birdsong. We were caught off guard as we launched these on instagram and the orders came in thick and fast. We frantically packed eggs, and they continued to fly out, and did not stop even over the summer. It feels like we have touched a nerve with bird and chocolate lovers, this small box of 12 eggs seems to be the perfect gift…
St Valentine’s; a potted history:
Saint Valentine was an early Christian saint who was martyred in A.D. 270. His name is now synonymous with love and romance. He is in fact the patron saint of beekeepers, courting couples, married couples and epileptics.
St Valentine’s Day 14th February
The feast of spring is heralded by birds starting to find their partners, to start their courtships, to build nests and lay their eggs.
Chantal Coady spent 36 years working at luxury chocolatier Rococo Chocolates, until she left in 2019 when the company went into administration.Now she’s back with the new collection inspired by her uncovering the rich heritage of chocolate — The Chocolate Detective.
We’ve just launched a Crowd Funder #NetPositiveChocolate to create a permanent home for The Grenada Chocolate Factory Business that can make a lasting impact on inequality and climate change.
6 reasons to back this project:
To eat excellent organic vegan friendly chocolate made from the finest cocoa in the world
To get special offers and discounts as part of this “pay it forward” campaign
To design a purpose built solar powered zero carbon chocolate on the Caribbean island of Grenada
To ensure the future of an island business that provides real jobs in a local cocoa economy
Support the farm to bar business model & connect back to the cocoa farmers & chocolate makers
Support the bio diversity and eco systems that thrive in managed organic farming. The first 50 people who choose this reward will get their funding matched by the Chocolate Detective.
£10 Direct to Farmers & Workers in Grenada WI
This reward will be matched by the Chocolate Detective so will be worth £20. The money will go into a fund to be distributed directly to the farmers and workers at the Grenada Chocolate Company who are suffering from loss of income due to Covid-19.
