La Maison du Chocolat‘s “Duo de Ganaches” is a collection that pairs two ganaches that have the same chocolate couverture but which offer two different taste sensations.

This sixth edition of the collection features two delicious fruited ganaches, Salvador and Noir de Cassis.

“Salvador” is a dark chocolate ganache made with fresh raspberry pulp. It was the first “fruited” chocolate bonbon created by La Maison du Chocolat founder Robert Linxe. This classic ganache features three distinct sensations: the crunchiness of dark chocolate couverture, followed by the delicate tanginess of raspberry, rounded out by velvety smooth chocolate.

“Noir de Cassis” was created in 2012 by the company’s current creative director, Gilles Marchal. It is made with “Noir de Bourgogne” blackcurrants, selected for the fruit’s complex flavour and rarity in chocolate making, plus an infusion of blackcurrant buds. The immediate sensation is intense fruit flavour, followed by lighter floral notes, ending with a fusion of fruit and chocolate.

Both ganaches feature a 56 per cent dark chocolate couverture.

Launched in April, Duo de Ganaches is available at La Maison du Chocolat stores and online boutique for a limited time. The boxed set features 10 Salvador and 16 Noir de Cassis.

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Photo: © La Maison du Chocolat

A review of Macarons, by Pierre Hermé (Grub Street, 2011), would not be complete without whipping up a batch of scrumptious macarons from among the many delicious recipes presented in this fabulous collection.

With dozens to choose from, I decided on coffee macarons, one of ten flavours Pierre Hermé has grouped together under the heading “classics.” (The book also features fetish flavours, signature macarons, “made-to-order macarons”, and “exceptions.”)

My earlier coffee macaron recipe was made using the French method.

Pierre Hermé uses the Italian method for making macarons. This involves adding a cooked sugar syrup to the beaten egg whites to make the meringue.

The Italian method of making macarons is a little more complex and time-consuming than the French method, but many say it produces shiner, more evenly formed shells.

This was my first time making macarons with the Italian method. I followed Hermé’s recipe closely, referring frequently to his “32 steps to successful macaron shells” at the beginning of the book.

The original recipe makes 72 macarons. It has been adjusted below to make a smaller batch (one-half of the original quantity).



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While the popular double-sided Parisian macaron was invented back in the 1930s, Pierre Hermé is famous for taking the delicate meringue confections to a whole new level of sophistication.

The celebrated Parisian pastry chef and chocolatier is known for his exotic macaron flavours, both sweet and savoury.

The author of several books on French pâtisserie and chocolate, Hermé, who has been making macarons since 1976, has also published a guide to mastering these delicate pastries.

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Chocolatier-sculptor Patrick Roger, famous for the stunning window displays of his Paris chocolate shops, has designed some Easter eggs with a splash of colour just in time for spring.

These hand-painted chocolate eggs feature dabs of yellow, orange and green…or simply white.

The Easter eggs are made of either dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

They are filled with tiny chocolate sweets (fritures), featuring either praliné or marzipan interiors.

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Ladurée, the Paris pâtisserie famous for inventing the double-sided macaron back in the 1930s, is equally renowned for its fine chocolates.

In fact, the Ladurée store on rue Bonaparte (6th arr.) boasts a separate chocolate shop next door to the pâtisserie.

Among the house specialities are chocolates infused with aromatic herbs, mint and strawberry, mendiants (chocolate disks covered with dried fruit and nuts) and chocolate-covered macarons.

For Easter, Ladurée chocolatiers have created some limited-edition anniversary chocolate eggs and other goodies.

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Centre des Monuments Nationaux will be holding its annual Easter egg hunt at 53 national monuments across France on Sunday, April 8, 2012.

Called Oeufs, énigmes et chocolat (eggs, enigmas and chocolate), the event is a fun way for children and their families to learn about history and architecture. It is sponsored in part by Cémoi, one of France’s oldest chocolate manufacturers.

In Paris, the chocolate egg hunts will be taking place at the Conciergerie and Tours de la Cathédrale Notre Dame.

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For Easter 2012, Parisian chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin is presenting some unusual specimens from his cabinet of chocolate curiosities.

For starters, there’s Oeuf curieux, a chocolate egg hatching out of its shell; La Chouette, a “wooden” chocolate owl of sorts; and Oeuf de tortue, a chocolate “turtle egg.”

There’s also Poule drôle de zèbre, a chocolate hen with zebra stripes; Poisson X-ray, a skeletal chocolate fish; Poisson vorace, a voracious fish filled with tiny chocolate life forms; and Tout Pâques, a one-of-a-kind Easter chocolate creation that combines hen, egg and fish!

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For Easter 2012, renowned Parisian boulanger-pâtissier Arnaud Delmontel (Best Mille-feuille in Paris, 2010 and Best Baguette in Paris, 2007) has decided to break away from the traditional symbols of Easter.

Instead of the usual chocolate bells, hens and fish, Monsieur Delmontel has created a cute and colourful chocolate pig.

But this bucolic little pig, made of dark chocolate, is no ordinary chocolate pig. It is in fact a chocolate piggy bank, filled with chocolate eggs and chocolate coins.

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Chocolate lovers have  one more reason to feel good about indulging in their favourite treat: a recent study suggests that eating chocolate regularly may be linked to a slimmer figure.

The study, carried out by scientists at the University of California, San Diego, debunks the popular myth that eating chocolate makes you gain weight.

Researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb and her colleagues decided to examine the possibility that because of the metabolic benefits of chocolate, eating small amounts of it regularly might in fact be calorie-neutral. That is, the number of calories contained in a morsel of chocolate might be offset by chocolate’s positive metabolic benefits.

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Parisian chocolatier Jadis et Gourmande is presenting a special “painterly” collection of chocolate art.

Exposition Pascale (Easter Exhibit) features the symbols of Easter in the style of 20th century painters…Pollock, Matisse, César, Magritte, Rothko and others.

The colourful chocolate “masterpieces” on display are delicious examples of contemporary (chocolate) art, whether inspired by abstract art, abstract expressionism, new realism….

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Chocorico! (Choc-a-doodle-do!), La Maison du Chocolat‘s Easter collection, features not just yummy chocolate eggs and chocolate hens, but a scrumptious chocolate henhouse as well.

Under the supervision of creative director Gilles Marchal, the company’s chocolatier-artists have handcrafted this playful collection of chocolate figurines with plenty of care and attention to detail.

From the tiny bits of chocolate used for the birds’ eyes and beaks, to the grain of the chocolate woodwork and the texture of the “beaten earth” floor, every last detail has been meticulously crafted by hand.

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The third new pastry unveiled this year by Ladurée in honour of the celebrated Parisian pâtisserie’s 150th anniversary is the Polonaise au Yuzu.

This distinctly citrus-flavoured dessert consists of a sweet brioche base and creamy yuzu filling, covered with a lightly baked Italian meringue sprinkled with black sesame seeds.

Yuzu, a citrus fruit grown in southeast Asia, is a cross between a wild mandarin and an ichang papeda, another Asian citrus fruit. Its flavour is tart, similar to that of a grapefruit.

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“Head for the stars to discover your choco personality,” is what Abanico Chocolat invites chocolate lovers to do this Easter.

Abanico founder Victoire Finaz, who trained as a psychologist prior to becoming a chocolatier, has made choosing a chocolate Easter egg something of a personality test, with different coloured chocolate rings corresponding to different planets and personality types.

These individual 250-gram gourmand chocolate eggs come in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate and are filled with either hazelnut praliné or an assortment of chocolate seashells.

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Spring is in the air at Dalloyau, whose master chocolatiers have hatched a superbly sculpted chocolate Easter egg adorned with signs of the approaching season.

Covered in shimmering pearl dust, Dalloyau’s chocolate egg features a bas relief of a songbird perched on some dainty blue blossoms.

This artistic yet entirely edible chocolate sculpture is available in either dark chocolate (70 per cent cacao from Venezuela) or milk chocolate (40 per cent cacao from Côte d’Ivoire).

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La Maison du Chocolat has just launched a brand new collection of ganaches in its Tamanaco line of single-origin chocolates.

Named for the famous 16th-century native Venezuelan chief, the Tamanaco collection features five intense dark chocolate ganaches made from some of the world’s finest chocolate.

When chocolate is made with beans from a single variety of cacao grown in one region (as opposed to a blend of varieties) the result is a distinct flavour characteristic of the region, or terroir, in which the cacao was cultivated.

Among the superb cacaos featured in this collection are Porcelana del Pedregal, a rare variety of cacao notable for its white beans — only one in a thousand of its flowers becomes a pod —, as well as Trinitario and Criollo.

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