Employee Spotlight--Kelly Peterson

Meet one of our newest additions to the Cocoa Dolce Team.  Kelly Peterson, Pastry Chef, has been with us for almost a year now.  Get to know her a little more....

*What is your favorite thing about working at Cocoa Dolce?

 Definitely the people.  You could have the worst job ever (not that mine is anywhere close) but being surrounded by awesome co-workers will make all the difference in your day and attitude.

 

 *Do you have a favorite chocolate to make?  Why? 

 Champagne truffles because every time I make them I get a picture in my head of me eating the entire tray.

 

*What is your dream chocolate?  (as in, what chocolate, if Beth would allow, what would it be….in details!  Ingredients?  Finish?)

 I would love to see a strawberry cheesecake chocolate coated in graham cracker crumbs and strawberry drizzle.

 

*Do you have a “most memorable” moment with your time at Cocoa Dolce?

 90s music dance parties that randomly breakout in the kitchen.

 

*If you weren’t working at Cocoa Dolce, what would your dream job be?

 Sounds very cheesy, but I am very lucky to be doing my dream job.

 

 

Welcome to the Team, Kelly!  We are excited to have you on board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love at First Sight

With Mother’s Day fresh in our minds, we wanted to fill you in on the process for creating our adorable Mother's Day picture!

We had talked about whether to include models with our promotions, in-store or online marketing, print ads and so on.  However, over the years we have decided that our chocolates speak for themselves.  Plus, the logistics of the “right person”, model fees, etc. just hasn’t fit well into our marketing outlook…until this great idea came along! With some of our staff members as new parents and some great customers in the same boat, we thought it might be a perfect time to have our first model shoot.

As all the mom’s and dad’s unloaded the car seats, diaper bags, wardrobe options, bottles and more, you can imagine the scene at the Cocoa Dolce Kitchen may have been a little chaotic.  Our photographer, a long-time customer and mother of two of our models, wanted everything in place and set up before the parents and children arrived so that everything could run smoothly. In discussing the details of this shoot, we knew the idea of working with young children there may be some tears and attitudes involved, not to mention diaper changes and bottle breaks. So, we spent a lot of time talking about the game plan and having all the props set for the shoot.

In a way, we had hoped there might be some chaos or maybe even a chocolate smudged face in the mix, but it was as if these kids were pros!  Every baby sat and played with their prop just as we had all dreamed about.  We tried to include assortment boxes, chocolate making materials and even chocolate.  With the idea from our great Wichita Chamber friend (and mother of one of the children), we had a list of taglines to choose from and some adorable babies to use as models.
 
Here are a few shots of the “chaos” of working with such young models. 

Selah Myers (far left baby)

A little tribute to the Cocoa Dolce Family.  Here are 3 employees (former and current) and their little ones.

Abby with Camdyn, James with Adi, Angie with Braden

Who are the Models:
Cash Landon--Son of Courtney and Holly Landon

Audra Myers—Daughter of Matt & Jenny Myers
Camdyn Kocukov—Daughter of Andrew & Abby Kocukov
Braden Gonzalez—Son of Andy & Angie Gonzalez
Corinne Myers—Daughter of Matt & Jenny Myers
Marco Laham—Son of George and Jocelyne Laham
Adi Tully—Daughter of James & Molly Tully

Cocoa Dolce chocolates and adorable babies.....Love at First Sight!

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. 

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.

Art Of Chocolate Classes

If you’re on our email list, you know you don’t have to always come in for your chocolate fix, we’ll also teach you how to make it yourself! I tagged along for a Level One Class, and from what I can tell they can be fun way to spend a weeknight!

First off, Beth talks about chocolate terms and the focus of the evening, ganache making.

Lisa helps you select your chocolate, which of course comes with butter. 

The first step to a ganache, adding cream.

Next step, adding flavor.

There’s always plenty of help from Lisa and James as well. 

Wine is all part of the process. 

Fixing mistakes comes hand in hand with chocolate. 

So does having a good time. 

A finished student product...

And a successful class.

We offer three levels, each teaching different chocolate skills. They run mostly during the summers, and the only way to find out and sign up is by being on our email list. So sign up next time you’re at the store, join in and add a whole new Cocoa Dolce experience to your list!

Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Event

What's better than a Wine and Chocolate Tasting?  How about adding CHEESE!  For those of you that missed our inaugral Wine, Chocolate and Cheese tasting, we wanted to give you a little information to lure you into coming for the next one!!

The tasting pieces for the evening

Some of the attendees

Jamie Stratton, Wine Educator from Jacob Liquor, answering questions during the tasting

 

 

 

 

 Take a look at the menu from this tasty event. (We chose the cheese from Murray's Cheese in New York, but I'm sure you can find something local if you want to venture out on your own tasting.)

1.       Artezin Zinfandel 2010 (Mendocino, California)

a.       Cheese:  Roomano (Holland) COW

b.      Chocolate:  Mezzanotte (espresso-infused dark chocolate ganache with Black Sambuca and crushed cocoa nibs)

 

2.       Kaiken Aultra Malbec 2009 (Mendoza, Argentina)

a.       Cheese:  Montgomery’s Cheddar (England) COW

b.      Chocolate:  Burnt Caramel  (burnt caramel in a 70% bittersweet ganache)

 

3.       Conn Creek Herrick Red 2007 (Napa, California)

a.       Cheese: Ossau-Iraty (Vielle, France) SHEEP

b.      Chocolate:  Blackberry (fresh blackberry puree in a 58% bittersweet Belgian chocolate ganache)

4.       Kilikanoon Parable Shiraz 2005 (McLaren Vale, Australia)

a.       Cheese:  Gorgonzola Cremificato (Italy) COW

b.      Chocolate:  Cocoa d’Or (75% bittersweet single origin Tanzanian chocolate ganache)

5.       Quinta do Noval Black Port (Oporto, Portugal)

a.       Cheese:  Colston Bassett Stilton (England) COW

b.      Chocolate:  Pepper (Smoked jalapenos, cinnamon and habenero-infused platinum tequila in a 57% bittersweet ganache)

Happy Father's Day!

This year, in honor of Fathers everywhere, we’ve decided to come out with some new items geared towards our dads. I could say a lot of cheesy things about fathers. About how they protect their little girls, and show their sons how to be men. Or about what they teach us, like how to understand sports and grill a good steak. Or about all the things they give us, like an appreciation for classic rock and practical do-it-yourself know-how, but the truth is, I’ve noticed most dad’s aren’t big on words. Bacon however, they like. So let’s just say a big thank you to all the great fathers out there, and give them what they really want. 

Here we have a selection of no less than THREE different types of chocolate covered bacon. As you know, we’re chocolatiers, not bacon specialists. So we found some bacon specialists. We use Nueske’s famous bacon, covered in Belgian dark chocolate and available in applewood smoked, peppered and uncured cherry wood smoked.

But wait...there’s more! We’ve also come out with two brand new types of brittle, if that’s more Dad’s taste.

Here we have our Chili Beer Brittle, which is a classic peanut brittle with a twist of Mexican beer and smoky jalapeños.

We also have a Pistachio Brittle made with Sri Lankan Lion Stout in caramelized sugar with tons of freshly roasted pistachios.

Still not seeing something Dad would like? Then we have one more new item, and my personal favorite,

Beer Marshmallows! Old Rasputin Imperial Stout in a marshmallow, then they are double-dipped in Belgian dark chocolate and sprinkled with artisan butter pretzels.

Be sure to come in quick! These will be flying off the shelves before Sunday. Keep in mind we are always happy to take orders if you know you need something for sure.

Happy Father’s Day and enjoy Dads!