I generally love baking, cooking, candy making. Most of my close friends would have tired one of my home made creation at one time or another. But as much as I like creating sweets, I don’t do it often enough. Usually its the cleaning up process that puts me off. These days the weather is also just way too hot for me to want to be cooped up in a hot kitchen. So how am I gonna be able to create something personal without having to go through all the hassle?
Well, recently I learnt of a online company based in Singapore called Cocoa B. that allows you to customize your own chocolates! I love anything that’s customizable because it means that it’s made fresh and personalized. If you are giving customized items as a gift, it shows that you’ve gone through a deliberate processes of thinking about the recipient before putting together a gift. The best part of Cocoa B. chocolates is that the prices are comparable to those chocolate bars that are mass produced!
Cocoa B. ‘s website is very easy to navigate and you can select high quality chocolates and the finest quality toppings for your awesome creations. I decided to create 3 absolutely different chocolate bars. Although there was a choice of white, milk and dark chocolate, I made all my 3 bars with dark chocolate as that’s my favorite. Cocoa B. uses 63% cocoa for their dark chocolate.
Their chocolate bars comes in 2 sizes. The ones you see on my photos are 100g bars but they also have 50g bars for those who would prefer their creations smaller. The 100g chocolate bars starts at S$7.50 and then the cost varies with each topping added. You are in control of the entire process from the type of chocolate to the types of toppings so just go ahead and go wild with the flavors that you’ve always wanted to create but could never find.
Creation 1: Exotic
Dark Chocolate Bar (63% cocoa) with bacon bits, tapioca chips and walnuts.
I decided to go really unconventional with my first creation after being inspired by the choices of unusual toppings listed on the Cocoa B site. This bar stirred my strong curiosity on how exotic ingredients might turn out when paired together on chocolate. Since I am customizing my own chocolates, I wanted to bring together flavors that can’t be bought elsewhere. After all, if I just wanted a simple almond chocolate bar, I could just buy it off the shelves at my nearest connivence store.
Of my 3 creations, this was my most exotic and daring of choices and I was surprised it turned out well. The bacon bits added a smoky flavor and the tapioca chips gave it the crunch. Walnuts finished up the taste with a little rustic sensation to the chocolate bar. Serve this at a party and I’m sure your guests would be wondering where you got this unique creation from and you can promptly tell them of how you designed it!
Creation 2: Nutty Bears on Beach Vacation
Dark Chocolate (63% cocoa) with almonds, walnuts, gummi bears and sea salt.
This is essentially a rather nut based creation. I put almonds and walnuts but you can also choose to put hazelnuts, macadamia nuts or cashew nuts instead. To increase the texture, I’ve also added in some gummi bears and sea salt. The nuts gives the chocolate bar a crunchy feel while the gummy bears added a chewy consistency to some bites with was really interesting because you never know what you might get with each bite.
From my experimental creations, the most interesting ingredient was actually the sea salt. A dash of sea salt pleasantly surprises the tastebuds with an added dimension of taste and stole my heart. The sea salt alliance with the dark chocolate is seamless though I feel it would have been even better if I could pair it with an even darker chocolate since it compliments the bitterness.
Creation 3: Heart of Autumn
Dark chocolate (63% cocoa) bar with dried strawberries, dried apricots, almonds, sunflower seeds and heart sprinkles.
My last creation has got to be the safest of my 3 choices. Filled up with the goodness of dried fruits, nuts and seeds, this couldn’t possibly go wrong even if I wanted it to. I love dried fruits and I love chocolate so the marriage of the two is just perfect. The ingredients somehow reminds me of harvest time during autumn and getting ready for winter. If you are creating these chocolates as a surprise for your love ones or to give away to good friends, the heart sprinkles are a nice touch as they add color and beautify the chocolate for a wonderful visual presentation.
With all 3 creations, it doesn’t matter if I had chosen the oddest most exotic ingredients or the most commonplace ones because Cocoa B. managed to disperse it gorgeously on the chocolate bars so that it looks great! Remember, you don’t have to toil in the kitchen all day to come up with personalized creations. All you need is to make your choices on what combination of chocolates you want and Cocoa B. will whip it up and send it to your doorsteps (or your recipient’s doorstep)! How convenient. Maybe I can have a chocolate party where each of my guest designs their own creations and sends them to my home in advance so I can sample all the creative combinations. The possibilities are endless.
You can visit their website at http://www.cocoa-b.com, email them at sales@cocoa-b.com or give them a call at +65 9847 5873 .