Have you ever wondered how to make chocolate? It’s not something that’s crossed my mind up until now; whenever I get a chocolate craving, I usually just pop to the shop and buy a bar of Galaxy. I’ve always assumed chocolate would be one of those foods that’s quite difficult and time-consuming to make and haven’t really given it a second thought.
However, I recently discovered that it’s actually quite easy to make your own gourmet chocolate bars when you know how. Simply stock up on a few ingredients and find a decent chocolate moulds supplier and you’ll be good to go!
I was invited to review a Raw Chocolate Making Kit by Indigo Herbs, a Glastonbury-based business specialising in natural health products. What better way to round off Chocolate Week (12-18 October 2015) than by making your own chocolate?!
Raw chocolate has considerable health benefits in comparison to standard chocolate because the raw cacao bean is full of phyto-nutrients, but most of this goodness is destroyed when the bean is roasted. In contrast, raw chocolate remains packed with nutrients, minerals and anti-oxidants.
The kit has everything you need to make your own raw chocolates including 100g organic raw cacao butter and 100g cacao powder, 3g raw vanilla powder, 100ml organic raw agave, 25g goji berries, 25g brazil nuts and 20 miniature paper cases.
I had a helping hand in making my chocolates from my 10-year-old niece, Ebs.
The instructions that come with the set are super easy to follow:
- Half-fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil before balancing a heat-resistant bowl over the top.
- Roughly chop the cacao butter.
3. Place the cacao butter into the bowl, allowing it to melt. You can remove the saucepan from the heat if you like; the butter will melt pretty quickly anyway.
4. While the cacao butter is melting, chop up the goji berries and the brazil nuts.
5. Once the butter has fully melted into liquid, stir in the vanilla powder. As you can see, Ebs enjoyed helping me with this!
6. Then add the cacao powder, stirring until all of the lumps have dissolved.
7. Stir in the agave syrup until well combined; the chocolate mixture should now be looking smooth and silky.
8. Finally, add the chopped goji berries and Brazil nuts and mix well (if you like, you can set some aside for decoration).
9. Carefully spoon the mixture into a chocolate mould or ice cube tray (if decorating with nuts and berries, place a small amount in the mould/tray beforehand).
10. Place the mould/tray into the freezer for 15 minutes to set.
11. Remove from the freezer, pop the chocolates out of the tray/mould and place each one into a paper case. The chocolates are now ready to eat, although if you’ve made them as a gift for someone, you could put them into a presentation box.
I was really impressed with how professional the chocolates looked once I’d finished making them, especially considering how quick and easy it was. They will keep for up to 12 weeks if you seal them and keep them refrigerated (that’s if you don’t end up scoffing them all by then!)
However, I wasn’t very keen on the taste of the chocolates. Raw chocolate is fairly rich and bitter; like dark chocolate, but more intense. I much prefer eating white chocolate and milk chocolate, so I don’t think I’ll be eating too many of these and they were too bitter for Ebs so I’ll probably give them to my Dad, who loves dark chocolate!
Indigo Herbs’ Raw Chocolate Making Set would make a great Xmas present for a chocolate lover – especially a dark chocolate lover! It normally retails at £19.99, but Indigo Herbs are currently offering 10% off all gift sets and so for a limited time only, it costs just £17.99.
Do you know how to make chocolate? Have you ever made your own and what recipe did you follow?
I have never tried making chocolate before so this would be a first for me. How does raw chocolate taste like?
It’s much more intense and bitter than standard chocolate – like dark chocolate, but really strong!
wow theses look tasty, going to try and make theses with my son. Thanks for sharing x
No problem 🙂 They are really fun to make, Ebs loved helping me 🙂
I’ve never made chocolate, it does look like great fun x
Me neither until now 🙂 It was pretty fun!
This sounds a lovely kit, and I think it would make a great Christmas present too!
Oh chocolate, I love chocolate. And these look amazing! I would love to have a go at this
I have made chocolate truffles before, making chocolate is a fun process as you completely control the final product and can add in your favorite ingredients, I like lots of rum in mine! Great instructional post!
This kit looks real fun nad perfect way to get kids involved in baking.
I had no idea it was this simple to make chocolate! I don’t like bitter chocolate either though so probably wouldn’t enjoy the taste of this :/
Not too sure I would have made any chocolate, i’d have been taste testing every stage 😉 x
wow £17.99 for all those ingredients, what a bargain! i know what people will be getting for christmas this year!
Oh this looks amazing, and I know my older daughter would love this especially! I don’t know if they’d actually like to eat it though!
Yes, my niece wasn’t keen on it to be honest, it’s too bitter for kids.
mmmm these looks great! I’m loving your zebra knife – where did you get it? x
Hehe, it’s my mum’s! My cookery photos are never this clear because my kitchen is pretty dark, so I made a point of doing this at my mum’s, haha! I will ask her where she got it from.
Wow, it’s easier to make chocolate than I thought. Plus it looks like a lot of fun! However, I’m not keen on the sound of the finished product. Think I’ll stick to Cadburys for now.
I have to be honest, if this kit came in a white or milk chocolate version I’d be rushing out to buy it for Xmas gifts, but I’m just not into dark chocolate and it was fairly bitter.
I love making chocolate, they are great as presents, I’ll definitely check this out 🙂
Definitely worth a look 🙂 I’d be very happy to receive one of these sets as a gift.
This looks quite interesting. I love chocolate so I will be giving this a go definitely.
Well done on giving this a go. I think that if I had to make my own chocolate then I would eat far less of it and my waistline would appreciate it a lot
Hehehe, me too, these are so strong I only needed to eat just one to kill my chocolate cravings too.
This kit actually looks really fun to use. My hubby and I are always on the look out for different things to do and this would make a great day in date! xxx
This looks like great fun – I love dark chocolate, it’s always my first choice so this would be great for me!
So…I’ll just be adding this onto my Christmas wish list…I love dark chocolate!!! Thought white chocolate is just as amazing.
Oh my god that is amazing, how cool to get to make chocolate home! Love this idea. x
What a fab looking kit! I’d love to try this with my girls!
That looks brilliant. I didn’t think you could make chocolate at home. You’ve made it look so easy. That’s a great way of being creative too. The perfect gift!
It would be a lovely gift, my whole family agreed on that. I was really surprised by how easy it was to do. I just wish I liked dark chocolate.
Oh this looks great – my youngest daughter adores chocolate – she would love this. Great present idea 🙂 Kaz x
It’s a great idea for both kids and adults alike 🙂 My niece really enjoyed helping me to make these chocolates.
Noway! This is so cool.
Looks a bit complicated – Knowing my luck, I’ll get something wrong.
Love the little cutie helper 😀
Charlotte x
It was surprisingly easy, I definitely recommend giving it a go 🙂