The Chocolate Weekly 49 - 2014

News

Last week was, as you will see, a week of superlatives: the tallest chocolate building, the most expensive chocolate etc… Let’s make this week unforgettable also because of some other great things. Maybe some lovely acts of kindness?

Here are our chocolate news:

The world’s tallest structure in chocolate, which is a replica of the Burj Khalifa, is on display from Sunday for air travellers into the UAE to marvel at inside Dubai International airport.

Courtesy by Dubai Airports

The 13.5-metre/44.2 feet  tall chocolate structure has been unveiled at Concourse A in Terminal 3 and will be on display for two weeks. This is a Guinness record feat by master chocolatier Andrew Farrugia and part of the 43rd UAE National Day Celebrations, according to a statement from the airport on Sunday.

The Guinness World Record for the most valuable chocolate was set in 2001, when an anonymous buyer in a Christie’s auction paid $687 for a 4-inch-long Cadbury’s bar that had traveled with Captain Robert Scott on his first expedition to the Antarctic in the early 1900s. Then there are the chocolates that make wacky top 10 lists, bolstered with gold, diamonds or hand-delivery by ’80s British pop singer Tony Hadley to send prices soaring into the thousands for a single truffle or bar. But putting pageantry and auction prices aside, at $260 for a roughly 1.5-ounce bar, new brand To’ak may be the most expensive pure chocolate in the world. The ingredients: just cacao and cane sugar. Read more here.

Dan Forgey

Dan Forgey, one of Norman Love Confections’ creative chocolatiers, was named the U.S. chocolate Master by Cacao Barry, the French brand of premium chocolate and cocoa products for professionals and host of the international competition. It’s the only global culinary competition dedicated entirely to the art of chocolate. Forgey’s skill, precision and creativity in creating chocolate confections and desserts will be pit against 20 international competitors in October 2015.

For all who are traveling to Paris may be very useful this chocolate guide to the French capital.

Saudi fashion designer Reem Faisal and a Belgian chocolatier Erik Van der Veken joined forces to create a concoction of edible couture to celebrate the grand opening of chocolate manufacturer and café Le Concheur in Jeddah’s Rawdah district.

William Curley and his team have their Chocolate & Chestnut Buche (picture bellow)  ready and available to order for Christmas. The recipe is published in the William Curley’s Patisserie book by Jacqui Small publishing.

Courtesy by William Curley

We have spent last week many hours between Yauatcha, Hakkasan and HKK and we fell in love with the birthday cake below, created by the Hakkasan’s pastry chef Daniel Pearse. Remember it when you will be looking for a great birthday cake!

Birthday cake by Daniel Pearse. Photo: Laura Lajh Prijatelj