Monday, August 20, 2012

Weddings and Proposals

        Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in some pretty special events in the lives of our customers. As a chocolatier, it’s not unusual for us to be called for wedding favors and treats. We do this on a completely custom basis for what each person wants for their special day.  However, we do have a Wedding Menu (available upon request) with preset options if you need help deciding, all are customizable. It’s also not unusual for us to get a request for something we’ve never done before. These requests are always fun to fill, as it gives us a break from our usual line of chocolate, and allows us to get creative and stretch our muscles, so to speak. 

Sadly, we don’t always think to get pictures when we do this, and we don’t always remember to ask our customers either. But here are a few examples of what we do have record of. These are all well in the past (no worries about ruining any surprises) but they do give you an idea of some of the things we can do.


Some of you might be familiar with our square shaped truffles with the pretty designs on top. Those are called cocoa butter transfers, and they work like a temporary tattoo. We partner with a great transfer company that allows us to choose designs that we can use in the store.  We can have these transfers custom made, and we do, mostly for our corporate customers, but they only come in bulk. They can be done for any occasion though, if given enough notice. For “on-the-spot” orders that need to have a custom look, we can hand pipe on the design. In this case a proposal. 


Here’s another fairly simple request. This gentlemen knew her favorite chocolates, and had us custom make a box and put the ring in the center. This was her dessert after a picnic in her favorite park. 


This is an example of a simple favor box we can do. These are the most common custom orders we get. This is a one piece box, and can be tied with any color ribbon that would most fit your color scheme. We can also order in custom colored boxes of almost any size, if given enough notice. 

We’re always honored to be a part of your special day, and we take great care that our custom orders are delivered exactly as requested. If you are interested in making a custom order of your own, we suggest coming by the shop. Any of our girls can give you suggestions, ideas, or take an order, but for something really special you’ll probably want to speak with one of our managers. They are always happy to help, and will be able to show you examples of what we’ve done in the past, or maybe even something we’re working on right now. 

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Fortunato #4


We are proud to announce the debut of our new chocolate, Fortunato No.4. This is an extremely rare strain of chocolate that has been lost for 100 years, and only recently rediscovered in a canyon valley in Peru. It is a very unique type of chocolate, possessing complex fruit and floral flavors, and it used to be the most popular chocolate in the world. Sadly, in 1916 disease struck the Cacao trees in Peru that grew this chocolate, and it was thought to be lost. 
In 2007 two men sourcing fruit were exploring a canyon in Peru when they found a very unusual Cacao tree. After sending it to the USDA for genetic testing, it was confirmed to be what we now call Fortunato No.4. It has been named “Fortunato” after the family who currently lives in the same valley and harvests the trees. It took two more years of work to make this chocolate available, including putting together a transportation plan involving travel by foot, burro, motorcycle, and finally an all-terrain vehicle just to get it out of the jungle.
This is a truly unique flavor experience, and something unlike any other chocolate we’ve become used to. In the words of Beth Tully:
 Cocoa Dolce is excited and honored to have exclusive use of this amazing chocolate.  In my years of confection making and chocolate tasting,this is the best fine-flavored chocolate I've ever tasted! Can't wait to show it off to our amazing customers.