Chocolate Kungfu in Melbourne

On Sunday, Greg stayed at home blogging like a good boy. Meanwhile, I journeyed up the perilous mountain of mystical mist to seek the wise & skillful Master Chocolatier of Melbourne.

And after 7 hours of physical & mental torture & ridicule, I survived the skillful art of le Chocolat & came out with these creations. And we took home what we made.

Truffle balls with chocolate and vanilla ganache pumped into truffle shells, then hand rolled in dard and milk choc. Greg walloped down 5 pieces of these as soon as it was opened & he chocked because they don't just melt in your mouth, they melt in your throat too.

Roger was just as swift. When it got to him, he reduced the whole bunch by half.

This is a Bavarian Cream and Chocolate Charlotte Entremet. Why the use of this super-sophisticated term Entremet? Because, ... any Mary, Jane & Lulu housewives can now make gateux already & so the baking schools are pushing for a newer, higher & unreachable standard, to set themselves further ahead.

Entrement does sound more sophisticated and normally you would have at least two types of mousses. I had fun with the compressor that sprayed chocolate mixed with cocoa butter on top (see the beautiful mahagony on top). If I were to do this at home, I'd probably have to take it to the car mechanics to do the spraying :) But seriously, it is so good. Greg loves it. Well, who would not with Callebaut 66% Madagascar Dark.

The picture above is a tart. Rich shortcrust with almond filled with velvety berries jam (yeap we had to make the jam too) lined and topped with dacquoise. I loved it. Don't you think this will make a good Christmas centre piece? It's just that in Malaysia, the icing sugar will probably sweat after coming out from fridge.

Astralia is a bakers' heaven. All ingredients are so fresh and pure. Sigh! I think they are doing a whole class of chocolate, praline and macaroons in April. I will be back!