The Piping Techniques class left my friend and I desiring another creative outlet. Enter the chocolate making class at Tache Artisan Chocolate. We would be learning how to make grignotines and chocolate molds. Upon hearing grignotines, I thought: wow, we must getting every penny's worth in the class. Turns out grignotine is a fancy way of describing a topping laden chocolate disc. We were given plastic baggies containing melted chocolate and were instructed to pipe out shapes onto wax paper. Subsequently we added toppings. There was a whole assortment of toppings ranging from tea leaves to nuts to various spices. I recall asking myself why I was paying someone to show me how to pipe a chocolate disc and coat it with toppings. Again, a technique I could have come across on YouTube. We then moved on to making chocolate molds. After choosing our respective molds, I went with the wise owl, we coated the bottom with glitter, colored chocolate, then dark chocolate from a giant tempering machine. Yes, we spent an hour and a half and paid someone to "teach" us how to make chocolate discs and fill molds with chocolate from a machine. Wish the wise owl would have told me earlier that I was wasting my time.
After watching movies like Chocolat and Romantics Anonymous, I thought we would be learning to temper chocolate on a marble slab, learning about the differences in chocolate percentage, and creating exciting truffle flavors. Sigh, what a disappointment. I would only recommend this class to someone looking to have a good time playing with chocolate, i.e., a child. Would consider taking another class if more challenging techniques were to be taught.
Inside the store.
Painting with chocolate and glitter.
The finished product, which we got to take home.
