Blog

Wild Patch Chocolates

Aug

2010

How are Wild Patch Chocolates different from the rest? We are a boutique company, we use traditional methods - tempering, moulding, filling our chocolates all by hand. Our fillings have to be tasted to be believed! Each filling is made to a special recipe by us, using the best quality ingredients - we guarantee you'll taste the difference!

Send chocolates anywhere in Australia for only $10 freight* (see below). Condition Guaranteed.

If you're looking for something elegant and exclusive for your wedding, Wild Patch Chocolates produces fabulous wedding bombonieres or wedding favors, as well as chocolate-decorated wedding cakes. Or perhaps a platter of our hand-crafted Belgian chocolates to wow your guests. We also produce unique chocolate gifts for corporate events, business functions or as end of year gifts to your staff or customers - and it's not too early to book - you can call us to discuss your needs.

You can order chocolates online from anywhere in the world (the most remote to date is Antarctica!) to anywhere in Australia - overnight or next day delivery to most locations. Condition guaranteed. Whether it's gourmet chocolate gift baskets, chocolate wedding favors, corporate gifts or just something to spoil yourself - all our Belgian chocolates are beautifully gift boxed, lavishly wrapped, with gift tag (add your message under 'Comments' when you check out from our online shop).

If you've been inspired by what you've seen here and want to learn more, we teach chocolate making in our chocolate courses - half-day and full-day classes in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges, Victoria - whether you're a beginner or have some experience of chocolate making. And if you want to get your own group of friends together (minimum 3), for a special occasion or just to learn something new together, we'll organise a course just for you!

So you don't miss out on our new products and specials, sign up for our online newsletter (go to 'Contact' at the top of this page) or read our blog entries (also under 'Contact').

Belgian Chocolate Brownies

Jul

2010

We tried out the chocolate brownie recipe showcased on Master Chef last week using our own premium Belgian chocolate - and it definitely gets the thumbs up from us! It's something we might include in our chocolate classes or adapt for our Belgian chocolate Christmas treats.

In case, you missed it, here's the recipe we converted to weights and reduced to a smaller quantity if you just want enough for 1 or 2 people! If you do the smaller recipe, we judged the 1/5 teaspoon as a bit less than 1/4 and likewise with the 1/5 cup measure, as a bit less than 1/4 cup!

For 6-8 people
Mix together:
525g caster sugar
90g cocoa powder
250g melted butter
Add:
5 eggs
Then add:
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Finally add:

1 cup of chopped Belgian chocolate (we used a mixture of 50:50 milk and dark Belgian Callebaut chocolate)
1 cup of nuts (we used walnuts)

Pour into a lined baking dish and cook in a 165C degree oven for 40 minutes. Take it out of the tin (still with the paper on it) and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 5-10 minutes, then remove the baking paper.

For 1-2 people
Mix together:
105g caster sugar
18g cocoa powder
50g melted butter
Add:
1 egg
Then add:
30g plain flour
1/5 teaspoon baking powder
Finally add:
1/5 cup of chopped Belgian chocolate (we used Callebaut)
1/5 cup of nuts (we used walnuts)

Pour into a lined baking dish and cook in a 165C degree oven for about 25-30 minutes. Take it out of the tin (still with the paper on it) and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 5-10 minutes, then remove the baking paper.

Chocolate Making with your Dad!

Jul

2010

Even before we've put up our Father's Day Belgian chocolates range, here is something you don't want to miss. Chocolate classes with your Dad! Book early as places are limited.

Chocolate Making Gifts for Father's Day - $60 per person, 10am-12pm, Saturday September 4
If you're looking for something fabulous for your dad this year, you could get him a gift voucher for one of our courses, bring him along to our special chocolate making session on Father's Day (see below) or ... come and make your Father's Day gift out of chocolate!

Chocolate Making WITH your Dad! - special price of $100 (for two, if you come with your Dad), 2pm-4pm, Sunday September 5
Looking for something different to do with your Dad this Father's Day? Come along for this special fun afternoon of chocolate making with him!

Just go to Courses, fill in the on-line form and we'll get in touch with you.

Join us on Facebook!

Jun

2010

Did you know Wild Patch Chocolates is now on Facebook? Click here and come and add your comments - we'd love to hear from you about what we're doing. We're keen to have your feedback on new product ideas that we're working on and knowing how much you're enjoying our Belgian chocolates!

Lavender Pralines

May

2010

Chocolate and lavender? Absolutely!

Lavender chocolates are having a surge in popularity, and it's a flavour that's been on our favourites for months. Lavender oil for culinary use is available from specialty shops, and can be added to a soft filling to flavour the centre of chocolates. But at Wild Patch Chocolates we infuse cream with lavender tea grown locally to produce a complex, lavender ganache. When it is piped into a Belgian chocolate shell (we use milk chocolate), the result is stunning. Interestingly, the result was not the same in a truffle ball. It's something to do with the amount of filling to outer shell that changes when you pipe it into a truffle shell; we much prefer it as a filled praline. Of course, you need to use a cream that is at least 35% milk fat and a premium chocolate.

We top our lavender pralines with a lavender-coloured heart cut out from royal icing, so it's recognisable among our mixed selection of filled chocolates in our chocolate gift boxes.

Lemon Meringue Squares

May

2010

kimono A new flavour and a new look joins our range of gourmet Belgian chocolates.

The filling is lemon meringue - Belgian chocolate ganache with lemon juice, butter, cream etc - cut into squares and hand-dipped in white Belgian chocolate. An equisite transfer sheet is applied while the chocolate is still wet and then removed once set. These have been popular boxed as wedding favors or part of our range of gourmet chocolate gift baskets.

Mother's Day - Flowers Mum Can Eat!

Apr

2010

roses_web For Mother's Day, we've sculptured chocolate roses from 'chocolate dough' - a mixture of chocolate and glucose that gives you a pliable dough to work with (something we teach in our chocolate courses). Using similar techniques to those used by cake decoratores, we moulded the roses and used them as centre pieces in our chocolate gift boxes.

Intricate Belgian Chocolate Easter Eggs

Mar

2010

easter_egg_artsy With Valentine's Day out of the way, it's time to start the Easter egg production. Belgian chocolate is poured, sprayed, layered into a variety of chocolate moulds to make up our highly decorative chocolate eggs. The eggs are decorated by spraying colour and cocoa butter into the moulds before pouring the chocolate. Some eggs - like the 'Mosaic' or 'Artsy Eggs' - are produced in 4 or 5 layers - drizzling Belgian chocolate into the mould, colouring in and around the lines that have just been drawn (in chocolate), 'capturing' the colour with a layer of white chocolate, and then pouring in the final and main chocolate being used for the egg - milk, dark or white.

Like pralines, small eggs are produced by moulding a thin Belgian chocolate shell and then adding our own fresh fillings - caramel is a favourite! These are then backfilled, and the two halves of the eggs are melted slightly on a heated board and joined. A new line of product that we're developing are intricate animals made out of different sized chocolate eggs, chocolate spheres and other forms of decoration (sometimes using modelling chocolate or almond paste). Firstly, the pieces are moulded and then put together by melting and joining. Finally, a layer of chocolate thinned with cocoa butter is sprayed over the whole piece, giving it a clean finish.

We send chocolates all over Australia (although our orders for chocolates online come from anywhere in the world. A recent order to send chocolates to Sydney came from Antarctica!).

Chocolate Christmas Trees

Dec

2009

Taking a break from Christmas orders ... The kitchens at Wild Patch are bursting with activity and we're looking forward to the new year of more chocolate making and teaching chocolate courses!

This year's designs have been mostly around sculptured chocolate trees, truffles with holly leaves in icing, and edible decorations to hang on a real Christmas tree. This is a close-up of our sculptured trees - we moulded the cones from Belgian chocolate, melted out circular windows and filled them with spheres. Then we decorated the trees with holly leaves made from icing, and added silver and pink baubles. These have been a hit for our gourmet chocolate gift baskets.

Latest About Wild Patch Our Philosophy Processes & Ingredients

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Need the perfect FATHER'S DAY gift?

NEW for Father's Day!! We have beautifully decorated Solid Belgian Chocolate Balls on Sticks or Belgian chocolate golf balls in packs of 12, beautifully gift wrapped, ready to send to your Dad. Just add a message to the gift tag and send it anywhere in Australia, condition guaranteed.

Or choose a large box of our fabulous filled chocolates at the SPECIAL PRICE of $58 (normally $75) just for the next month only! All our chocolates are GLUTEN-FREE, no preservatives, no artificial flavouring and made from premium Belgian chocolate. Made fresh to be eaten fresh. Or ask about our range of premium Belgian SUGAR-FREE chocolate.

How about signing up for our special Father's Day Chocolate Classes - something unique and fun to do WITH your Dad on Father's Day! Special price of $100 for two (if you come with your Dad!), 2-4pm, Sunday Sept 5. Or come and make your own chocolate gifts for Dad on Sat Sept 4, ready to give on Father's Day.

$10 freight anywhere in Australia, except for orders exceeding 3kg cubic weight (ie packaged over 32x24x19cm) and remote locations.

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Mother's Day Flowers in Chocolate! This Mother's Day give your mother flowers she can eat!

Fabulous chocolates with mouth-watering fillings, hand-dipped and decorated. As with all our chocolates, they are GLUTEN-FREE, no preservatives, no artificial flavouring and made from premium Belgian chocolate.

Send Chocolates and Mother's Day Gift Boxes Anywhere! Guaranteed Condition

Send a gorgeous Mother's Day Gift Box at the special price of $55 (plus $10 freight anywhere in Australia!)

About Wild Patch Chocolates

Belgian chocolate that is poured, shaped, drizzled over freshly made fillings. No preservatives, no artificial flavours. Wild Patch Chocolates has grown from a passionate hobby to an established boutique chocolate company. Located in Olinda, in the heart of the Dandenong Ranges, beautiful artisan chocolates are created from Belgian chocolate (Callebaut) with only the finest ingredients used in our mouth-watering fillings. Made fresh to be eaten fresh.

We send chocolates, gourmet chocolate gift baskets, and chocolate wedding favors anywhere in Australia and have become known for our creative chocolate making and chocolate courses.

First Steps

The movie ‘Chocolat’? Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche… pouring chocolate onto a marble table, infusing cream with exotic flavours?

That’s what started our passion for Belgian chocolate making that has now become Wild Patch Chocolates. We send chocolates, take orders for chocolates online and teach others in our chocolate courses.

First Principles

Start with the finest ingredients, learn traditional methods from the experts, and taste food from around the world. Be passionate and a bit of a perfectionist - and when you've mastered that, you'll have to share it ... because you can't eat it all yourself!

Leave Things Out

We intentionally leave out all artificial flavours and preservatives. Our Belgian chocolates are all GLUTEN FREE. So when you get chocolate gift baskets, wedding chocolates, Easter or Christmas chocolates, you'll be getting fine ingredients without any additives.

Temper The Chocolate

Tempering chocolate is the process that gives Belgian chocolate its smooth mouth feel, beautiful shiney appearance and allows it to slip out of its mould, shrinking as it cools. There are several ways of tempering chocolate which we teach in our chocolate classes. Of course most other commercial chocolate makers use tempering machines to automate the whole process; however, at Wild Patch we only use traditional methods and temper all our chocolate by hand. Here are two of the most common ways of tempering chocolate. The Tabliering Method requires the couverture to be melted to 45°C. Two-thirds of this is poured onto a marble or granite slab and stirred with a spatula, allowing it to cool evenly. When it has cooled to around 27°C, it is poured back into the tank and mixed with the remaining one-third melted couverture. This allows the chocolate to reach its working temperature of 29-31°C (28-29°C for white chocolate, 29-30°C for milk chocolate, and 30-31°C for dark chocolate). The Seeding Method used unmelted chocolate buds to drop the temperature of the melted chocolate and to 'seed' it with the correct crystals. Melt the couverture to 45°C, then add one-third of this amount in unmelted buds and stir. Test the temper by dipping the edge of a plastic scraper into the chocolate and leaving it on the bench to dry. The chocolate should set within a few minutes and have an even colour, without visible oily streaks (if there are streaks, this means the chocolate was too hot). You will learn to recognise the temperature of chocolate from its look (its viscosity or fluidity) and feel (touch a spoon or paddle pop stick into the chocolate and place against your lower lip). Tempering chocolate by hand, however, can be a tricky business - best learnt from a professional. So come to one of our chocolate courses and learn chocolate making from our professional chocolatier (see Courses).

Devise Exquisite Fillings

Exquisite fillings are a whole other production which we teach in our chocolate courses (see Chocolate Making: Pralines). There are some great books around with recipes for basic ganache (generally made with cream, chocolate, glucose or inverted sugar and flavouring). Start with a recipe, try it out, modify it and apply the principles to other ingredients. You will only be limited by your imagination (and the success of your flavour combinations!). At Wild Patch Chocolates, we use fruit purees and concentrated extracts such as passionfruit, blood orange, wild strawberry and many other equisite ingredients. They are heated and poured over the chocolate to give the explosions of flavour our chocolates are known for (try our Passionfruit, Lime Jelly and Coconut, Strawberry and Balsamic Vinegar). Other complex flavours come from caramelising sugar in copper pots, steeping dried lavender flowers or rose petals in cream, or adding just the right amount of chilli oil to produce subtle ganache that is piped into chocolate shells or made into truffle balls (try our Smooth Caramel, Cappucino Cups and Chilli Chai). When you order our gourmet chocolate boxes, you get a variety of all the fabulous fillings in our Belgian chocolates for that season. So you'll have to come back for more to see what we've created next.

Select Only The Best

The principles for great chocolate making are common to all great food - start with the finest ingredients, learn traditional methods from the experts, and taste food from around the world. Be passionate (and a bit of a perfectionist) and when you’ve mastered that, you’ll have to share it … because you can’t eat it all yourself! After learning chocolate making and visiting chocolatiers all over the world, we now send chocolates all over Australia (and some of our customers send chocolates on to friends and family overseas - just to show them how well we make Belgian chocolates here in Australia!)