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Guerilla Bakery: We knead, we bake, we sell out of nowhere!

03 Apr

In April, we found an interesting announcement on Facebook – a community called Guerilla Bakery (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guerilla-Bakery/198857730133567) posted that they were going to sell cakes, cookies and other pastries on a certain date and at a specific place (e.g. a flat in Vienna).  After seeing some photos on Facebook we decided to attend this event and buy some of the goodies. On arriving, we already saw a crowd besieging the Guerilla Bakery and trying to get some of the pastries. We were rather lucky because since we were a few minutes too early we were able to choose from the whole range of sweets.

Box full of Guerilla Bakery goodies

Box full of Guerilla Bakery goodies

Fantastic cakes, cupcakes and cookies

Fantastic cakes, cupcakes and cookies

For instance, we got a wonderful raspberry cupcake, triple chocolate cookies, a cheese cake, a chocolate tart and a delicious raspberry crumble cake! No doubt, we really enjoyed eating all these pastries – and be sure: We’ll be back! :-)

 
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Posted in Bakery and cakes, General, Guerilla Bakery

 

The Making of: Coffee-Cardamom-Truffles

08 Jan

After having “designed” truffles with orange peel from the own tiny orange tree and hibiscus flower as a decoration on top, we decided to try a new combination: coffee-cardamom-truffles with a hint of Tasmanian pepper – since we didn’t have an idea about the dosage we’d improvise.
The first difficulty was to grind the cardamom seeds which were tougher than they looked like (see picture 1). But the aroma was fantastic! We also ground some coffee beans and the Tasmanian pepper (the last one being another tough candidate).

Picture 1: Grinding cardamon

Picture 1: Grinding cardamon

Picture 2: Melting chocolate for the ganache

Picture 2: Melting chocolate for the ganache

The ganache was easily made. First of all, we started melting the dark chocolate (85 %) up to 55-60°C (shown in picture 2). Meanwhile, the cream combined with a very small quantity of sugar syrup (which was boiled beforehand) was cooling down to about 40°C. During the “cooling down”-phase I put a coffee pad from our coffee machine into the cream-syrup-mix to achieve a nice coffee taste (and succeeded :-) ).

Afterwards, the cream-syrup-mix was added to the melted chocolate bit by bit. Then, after some stirring, we added the butter to it. To fill the hollow bodies with the ganache we had to wait until it cooled down to 32-34°C or otherwise the hollow bodies would melt away. No good idea in fact. ;-) While the cooling down of the ganache I added the ground cardamom, a bit of the ground coffee beans and a very little dose of the pepper to the ganache.

Picture 3: Melting chocolate for the coating

Picture 3: Melting chocolate for the coating

Picture 4: Preparing chocolate according to the injection method

Picture 4: Preparing chocolate according to the injection method

After filling the hollow bodies with the ganache we waited some hours before we continued with the coating. For this reasons, more chocolate was melted up to 45°C (around two third of it, see picture 3), then I added the last third to cool it down to 31-32°C which was required to get the wonderful dark chocolate shimmer (pictures 4 and 5).

Picture 5: Fluid chocolate with perfect shimmer

Picture 5: Fluid chocolate with perfect shimmer

Picture 6: Finalising a truffle by rolling it on a grid

Picture 6: Finalising a truffle by rolling it on a grid

The filled bodies were dipped into the melted couverture and then rolled on a grid so that they received the typical truffle shape (picture 6). Finally, they were powdered with the rest of ground cardamom.

And the result? See yourself!

Picture 7: Finished coffee-cardamom-truffles

Picture 7: Finished coffee-cardamom-truffles

 
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Posted in Homemade

 

Death by chocolate – get it at Orlando di Castello!

07 Nov

Orlando di Castello (http://www.orlandodicastello.com/) produces its goodies in a bakery and patisserie in the 19th district of Vienna but runs a nice “Caféhaus” at the Freyung in the inner city. On our way to the Xocolat shop, we passed this nice café and could not resist. And as there are several baked goods and cakes made of chocolate, Orlando di Castello is a clear candidate for our blog :-)

On our first visit at the coffeehouse, we ordered the “Willy Wonka Nougat Crisp” (see figure on the left-hand side).

"Willy Wonka Nougat Crisp"

"Willy Wonka Nougat Crisp"
"Black Beauty"

"Black Beauty"

When having a break from shopping on another Saturday, we tried a pain au chocolate (a dough to die for! :-) ), a bakery filled with excellent, dark chocolate, as well as the “Black Beauty”, a caramel-chocolate inside covered with liquid dark, intense chocolate, thin chocolate platelets on each side and two chocolate balls filled with liquid caramel (the right figure shows most part of it – the other one didn’t survive the photo shooting).

It’s definitely a “must taste” at Orlando di Castello’s since you’re being served such subtle, elaborated desserts which also look stunning – simply masterpieces of art and taste!

 
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Posted in Bakery and cakes, Orlando di Castello

 

Degustation at the Chocolate Lovers Club

07 Oct

This time, the wonderful chocolate store “Xocolat” in connection with its CLC (Chocolate Lovers Club) hosted the first chocolate degustation of this autumn. The topic was dedicated to fair, organic chocolate and was called “products with values” (Ware mit Werten).

Entrance to Xocolat shop Looking through the shop window A small part of the Xocolat sortiment

 

Nearly 35 chocolate lovers found their way to the Palais Ferstl to taste different varieties of chocolate brands. Six brands were presented, and before getting the degustation bites, we got a very interesting introduction into each single brand and the way it contributes to sustainable, organic and fair projects by for example protecting the rainforest, applying rigorous ecological standards etc.

The brands we tasted were the following:

  • Original Beans: Esmeraldas Milk 42%, Beni Wild Harvest 60% and Cru Virunga 70%
    The cocoa intent of the first one was not too high but like both others it didn’t taste too sweet. All of them melted nicely on the tongue. The one with 70% cocoa was indeed very intense.
  • Rio Napo: pure 40%, with cocoa nibs 40% and with coffee nibs 73%
    The first Rio Napo tasted very much of caramel while the third one with the coffee nibs was a little spicy because of its pepper note. The combination between a high cocoa content and coffee nibs is very nice!
  • Bonnat: Porcelana 75% and Cacao real del Xoconuzco 75%
    Both had a cocoa content above 70% and melted wonderfully although the first one was a little bit spicy on the tongue. The second one was just perfect and is actually produced from the cocoa variety that was the first ever cocoa bean cultivated by people.
  • CioMod: puro latte 50%, puro agrumi 50% and puro vaniglia 50%
    Though the cocoa content was only 50 % the chocolate didn’t taste too sweet, and all three varieties smelled really great and were very crispy because of the sugar crystals. It’s got a very unusual taste which results from creating the chocolate with centuries-old methods. It’s really worth a try!
  • Willie’s: Indonesia 69%, Peruvian 70% and Madagascan 71%
    Especially the first variety was very creamy but like the third one rather sweet considering the cocoa content of around 70%.
  • Zotter: Ein Waldstück 40%
    Zotter’s chocolate is famous for its wonderful melting. This one also tasted very intensively of milk and was kind of tingly-fruity. And with each bar sold one rainforest tree is being planted at a project in Laos (“Xe Pian”).

    •  

    For me, the Bonnat Cacao real del Xoconuzco 75% was the winner of this degustation and I couldn’t resist and bought a bar of it (though the price indeed reflected its value :-) . And a short side note: Try CioMod – it’s so different to anything else that you should have at least tried this one.

     
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    Posted in Xocolat

     

    Chocolate Party at the “Confiserie zum süßen Eck”

    26 Sep

    Today I was at a chocolate party organised by a nice little chocolate and sweets shop at the Währinger Straße. It started at 11 a.m., and when I arrived there were already quite some people tasting themselves through a wide range of different sweets (admission fee: 3 Euros).

    You could try the latest creations from Zotter (Götterspeise/ambrosia -> chocolate with a blueberry canache and pineapple marshmellow cream for a filling, Maroni/chestnut, Rosa Kokos mit Fischgummi –> chocolate with coconut and fish gummi) and six different kinds of Zotter’s Balleros (fruits/nuts covered in chocolate and fruit powder) and the Labooko chocolates (thin chocolate bars with 70 %, 80 % and 100 % chocolate). I love the Götterspeise (which I already tasted at Zotter’s chocolate factory before) because of its fruity fluffy taste. The fishgummi chocolate didn’t taste as much of fish as you might think so it’s worth a try.

    Besides the Zotter stall (which was best-attended) you could try

    • pastilles from Leone (I liked the coffee and raspberry taste),
    • nougat chocolates from Camille Bloch (I’m really not so into nougat but I liked the dark Ragusa chocolate bar – which means it has to be good indeed),
    • fruits covered in dark chocolate from Chocolate Garden (the gooseberries were definitely my fav ones –> http://www.doti.pl/en/),
    • gingerbread from Mariazell bei Lebzelterei Kerner (very tasty!),
    • fruit creams from Lanwehr called Crevisio (check it out yourself: http://crevisio.eu/home.html –> so delicious, I could have bathed myself in the strawberry cream!),
    • Gianduiotti and Mandorlotti from Caffarel (nougats – if you like nougat you definitely will like them!),
    • handmade truffles from Wrann/Jindrak (I really liked the one with the raspberry filling),
    • light and creamy chocolate eclairs from the bakery Ritz (which is in fact the only self traditional producing bakery in Vienna for 150 years now –> check it out: http://www.ritz.cc/ – available only in German) and
    • a wonderful chocolate Kaiserschmarrn (for those who don’t know this it’s kind of sugared pancake with raisins – and in this special version with chocolate pieces) from the Cafe Restaurant Weimar.

     
    All in all, it was a lovely idea to be able to taste all the different kinds of chocolate and sweets. So you could decide after a careful degustation which sorts to buy afterwards in the shop which made in a win-win situation for all participants.

    If the “Confiserie zum Süßen Eck” holds such a chocolate party next year I’ll definitely be there again. :-)
    (And of course any time before when I’d like to get some special kinds of chocolate… ;-) )

    A few information:

    http://www.suesseseck.at

    address: Währinger Straße 65, 1090 Wien
    opening hours: Tue – Sat 10 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.; Mon, Sun and holidays 2 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

     
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    Posted in Confiserie zum süßen Eck

     

    CupCakes

    05 Sep

    “CupCakes” is the first cupcake shop in Vienna, opened on 3rd September 2010. But it’s not only cupcakes they sell but also cakes in a huge variety for weddings, birthdays, etc., and cookies. Everything is handmade and only with sustainable ingredients (they use real butter, organic free-range eggs, no preservatives, no softener…).

    Reasons enough for me to pay a visit – already on the day after their opening. :-) The shop is easy to spot thanks to its great pink awning. The interieur is lovely, very fitting to all those pretty cupcakes – kept in simple white and hints of pretty pink and a dark parquet floor. There are even some tables (in dazzling white) where you can enjoy coffee and of course cupcakes.

    Although it was so soon after the opening it was a nice, calm atmosphere and I was served very friendly and helpful. I chose 4 cupcakes with different frostings: blueberry, elder-curd, buttercream and mango cream. Three of the cupcakes itself were chocolate and one with a ginger dough. I paid 3,90 euro for each, definitely not cheap but being handmade and freshly baked probably worth the money.

    As for the taste: The frostings were gorgeous, creamy, and tasted all so differently (they really savoured of the blueberries, the elder, mango… not like the artifical junk which tastes all the same). And the chocolate dough was made from intense, very rich chocolate – not even slightly comparable to any industry-made stuff. Also the cupcake with the ginger (and probaby lemon) dough with nuts was wonderful – a clear taste of ginger you could really savour but not too strong.

    These cupcakes are definitely nothing for everyday (regarding the price) but it’s something for days when you want to give yourself – or somebody else – a treat. Thank godness I don’t live in the surrounding… otherwise these days might be too often. ;-)

    By the way: I put two of the cupcakes in the fridge to eat them the other day wondering whether they would taste as well as the fresh ones. And really, they still were great, the chocolate soft and creamy on the inside. I’d prefer them fresh but it’s definitely no problem to keep them for the next day if you put them into the fridge.

    I’ll return and try other kinds. Hang on for more cupcakes of Vienna!

    ——

    A few information on CupCakes:

    www.cupcakes-wien.at

    address: Josefstädterstraße 17, 1080 Wien
    opening hours: Mo – Fr 10 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

     
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    Posted in CupCakes

     

    Being Charlie at Zotter’s Chocolate theatre

    14 Aug

    Although the topic of this entry is not chocolate in Vienna I decided to add it since Zotter has become such a well known synonym for organic, fair chocolate that it’d be wasted if it wasn’t part of a choco blog. And you can get the Zotter chocolate everywhere around the city so it’s still somehow connected to Vienna. ;-)

    In August we travelled to Riegersburg (southern part of Styria, Austria) to once more visit Zotter’s chocolate factory and to see (and taste!) the so-called “Chocolate theatre” for the first time in its new appearance. We’ve been there before several times but never since it’s been expanded so much.

    After registering at the entrance (you can choose date + time of your tour online in advance), we got a spoon in the special Zotter design for the degustation and had to wait a few minutes for the start together with 25 other visitors. At the beginning of the tour, a short movie gives interesting background information about the acquisition of the ingredients. The trailer shows how Josef Zotter travels to the countries that produce cacao and chooses the suppliers for his chocolate, primarily considering aspects of sustainable, organic cacao cultivation and production as well as fair payment for the farmers. The film also highlights problematic aspects of the suppliers (mainly South American countries), like bribery by the drug mafia or overexploitation of natural resources. It was a great introduction to understand the reasons behind the ideology of Zotter producing his chocolate the way it is produced.

    After the movie, audio guides are handed out so that everyone can walk through the factory at his or her own speed and get as much as information as wanted. I supposed we were by far the slowest visitors because we listened to every single bit of information. :-) But honestly, it was really interesting!

    Example manufacturing process step at the Zotter factory   The tour starts with the first manufacturing processes in the chocolate factory which deal with the processing of the cacao beans to the raw chocolate mass. After watching various other steps (like the “Debakterisierung” displayed in the first picture) and listening to the explanations on the audio guide, we tasted the beans and the pure chocolate mass which is very bitter but indeed a league of its own! After having tasted 100 % cacao mass nothing afterwards tasted so rich, so intense and so aromatic. It might not be easy to like the pure mass but once you’ve felt all the different aromas on your tongue it’s like a bouquet of flavours and scents incomparable to anything else.

    The 2nd picture shows an exited visitor in front of the fountain of bubbling chocolate mass (100%) and listening to the audio guide. The tour through the production hall ends with a room where you can taste all liquid kinds of chocolate mass from 10% to 100% (in 10% steps, see 3rd picture).

    Exited visitor in front of the fountain of bubbling chocolate mass All liquid kinds of chocolate mass from 10% to 100% (in 10% steps)

     

    The following part of the tour is dedicated to Zotter’s special thin chocolate bars called “Labookos”. At the end of this second stage we had a cup of hot chocolate chosen from many different flavours (small bars of chocolate which you put into hot milk) being delivered by the smallest cable car of the world (which is a manufacture by Doppelmayr especially and only designed for the Zotter chocolate factory, 4th picture).

    Afterwards we moved on to the “Balleros” room in which we could taste all different Balleros (some kind of ‘finger food’ chocolate) of the Zotter product line. Then we left the second section and passed by the chocolate tube (5th picture) to arrive at the last station, the “running chocolate” room. Here we could enjoy all the traditional and fancy chocolate bars of Zotter. After more than two hours we finally left the guided tour, happily stuffed with chocolate.

    Hot chocolate delivered by special Doppelmayr cable car Chocolate tube at the entrance to the running chocolate section

     

    It was really much more than worth the entrance fee and we also enjoyed us enormously by tasting and discussing the chocolate in all its different appearances. I suppose when Roald Dahl wrote his “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” it was exactly something like Zotter’s factory he must have had in mind. And the great thing: at the Chocolate theatre everyone can become a little bit of Charlie – only the Oompa Loompa are missing. ;-)

     
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    Posted in Zotter

     

    Sweet, sweet city of chocolate…

    12 Aug

    Here’s my blog devoted to all the sweet stuff in Vienna, be it chocolate, cakes, truffles, macaroons,… There are so many nice shops and stores which dedicate themselves to sweeten up the life – and I’ve made it my private mission to find them all and share them with anyone interested. Go ahead and have fun exploring a colourful sweetness of Vienna – and remember: Life’s short – eat dessert first! :-)

    Anything I’ve missed so far? Tell me – and I’ll be there!

    Your Chocolate Queen

     

    Check out the first post: CupCakes
    Others to come: Xocolat, Fruth, Schokov, Bobby’s

     
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    Posted in General