Divine at the chocolate factory in the snow

The Divine chocolate factory offices in winter

Four of us (Sophi, Sonja, Tom and Sarah) from Divine made our way through the snow across Europe to visit the factory that makes Divine chocolate in Germany. The trains, tubes, planes and cars all worked remarkably well.

On our arrival our host enthusiastically took us to a German Christmas market. Lots of Weihnachtsstandl and bright lights. We had mugs of hot Glühwein which warmed us for a moment, but soon the cold triumphed and we went for dinner. Lots of yummy food and frothy beer. A world away from Ghana where the cocoa comes from.

We began early the next morning with a tour around the factory, 50km of pipes running around the building linking tanks to conching machines, finally being deposited through nozzles into moulds that go through chillers, get knocked out and then wrapped and boxed. They have a new warehouse 15metres high with very tall forklifts to reach the upper shelves.

We visited the New Product Development lab and met Uta who showed us how she makes prototype bars. It is very important to mix ingredients at different temperatures very well to ensure the perfect texture and no fissures in the bars. We left Tom in the lab to have a go at mixing chocolate while we went off to meet the team, and discuss the serious business of logistics, forecasting, contingency planning etc

Due to the inclement weather and the usual British surprise we had a container of chocolate locked in the port. Together we tried to solve the problem. The Germans couldn’t really understand why the UK had ground to a halt and why we don’t have winter tyres! We were pleased to show how many road and sea miles have been saved by shipping the chocolate direct to Hull where we warehouse the chocolate. They told us that the factory will convert to completely green energy by 2012. We have been using recycled card in all our products and we are exploring converting the wrappers too. They explained why this might be problematic.

We ended the day tasting some potential new chocolate bars, with fruity flavours and roasted cocoa nibs. Then we rushed off to the train to try and beat the weather. The next time we’ll be meeting up with the factory’s director will be at the Divine Board meeting at Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana.

Guess who’s loving Divine (7)

Rhian Benson

Smooth soul singer Rhian Benson loves Divine!  Her Ghanaian roots showing loud and proud!

“I will always remember my first taste of chocolate. It was Christmas in Ghana and my Auntie gave me a box of miniature chocolates made from local Ghana cocoa. The main thing I remember as a child of 4 was the velvet smooth, richness and that unforgettable flavour.. so began my life-long love affair with chocolate! 

Years later I have come to appreciate that the unique characteristic of the chocolate I first fell in love with in Ghana derived from the combination of very high cocoa content and the superior quality cocoa used in the manufacture of the chocolates. I am so delighted to have found this unique flavour all over again in Divine chocolate. 

Divine believes in fair trade with their Ghana cocoa farming partners, a sustainable and mutually beneficial arrangement that ensures that Ghanaian cocoa farmers reap their just rewards for the incredibly hard work they do and Divine, in turn, receive the very finest cocoa available. One thing that I hugely admire is that the brand is actually owned by the farmers! In return they benefit so much more than other chocolate brands who don’t provide those opportunities for their farmers. DIVINE stands out from the others!

Divine is as Divine does!!”

Find out about Rhian’s new album here - and find out who else is loving Divine…

Tal’s day out sampling Divine at Kennards deli

Here’s a post Tal wrote about her Chocolate Week activities:

In LAMB’S CONDUIT STREET one of the loveliest streets in London, sits Kennards…

A modern grocer for food lovers that appreciate quality when they see it. Hence no surprise that Kennards is now run by Philip & his partner and stocks the entire Divine range. It seemed like a perfect destination to sample our chocolate. And it proved right. Between 11:00 and 15:00 I was offering our two new varieties: ginger and orange 70% dark and 85% dark, to Kennards visitors. Some came with google maps they printed out after reading about the event online or in the paper, some were just locals that came for lunch, and were thrilled to find  some Divine choc to taste. Needless to say many added a Divine bar (or two) to their lunch order at the till. The staff in the shop got excited as well, and at the end of the day one of the talented chefs, claiming to be solely a milk chocolate fan has moved over to the dark side, after just few bites into our Ginger and Orange bar..

Divine sampling at Kennards

60 ways to enjoy Divine … What Divine got up to for Chocolate Week 2010, the most indulgent week of the year!

Alan Coxon's Divine Chestnut Slice

Want to be seriously tempted by chocolate goodliness?  Then read on for details of what we at Divine got up to for Chocolate Week!

If you don’t know yet what Chocolate Week is then here’s a brief précis – essentially it’s a celebration of fine chocolate which happens each year in October and was set up seven years ago by the Academy of Chocolate.  Divine has been the main sponsor since Chocolate Week first started, and has really made it what it is today – an extravaganza of chocolate activity with events up and down the country – helping it be voted the nation’s favourite themed week.

So the last few weeks have been a hub of activity at Divine HQ, culminating in Chocolate Week itself last week (it ran from Monday 11th to Sunday 17th).  It’s an opportunity for us to work with some really lovely partners from hotels, restaurants and shops across the country, who do all manner of wonderful things with our chocolate.  It’s a great way for chocolate lovers to

Afternoon Tea at The Orangery, Kensington Palace

experience Divine in all its forms, from straightforward sampling of Divine bars, to chocolate cocktails at hotels and chocolate dishes on restaurant menus.

We set up more than 60 events this year – here are just a few of the highlights:

A fabulous Divine Afternoon Tea at The Orangery, Kensington Palace complete with chocolate-chip scones, a Divine Chocolate Tart made with Divine ganache & creamy toffee in a sweet pastry case topped with orange cream and more choccy pastries.

A wonderfully chocolatey menu at Terre a Terre restaurant in Brighton including the incredible sounding Gorgeous Gugel, a warm choccy pud with a melting middle served with white chocolate granita & a blackcurrant mint cassis

Terre a Terre's Gorgeous Gugel

compote.  I’m told their Divine chocolate orange cocktail was also a massive hit.

K West Hotel in Shepherd’s Bush went all out for Chocolate Week and created five Divine cocktails to serve in the bar.  My favourite sounding was Raspberry Blush made with Absolute raspberry, Dark cacao liqueur, coconut syrup and melted Divine 70% chocolate.

My colleague Charlotte held a chocolate afternoon at a shop called Eco Age in Chiswick and bumped into Colin Firth who said he liked Divine’s milk chocolate and orange chocolate best, explaining “I don’t like the sophisticated stuff”!  Well who’s to argue with that!

As well as events with lovely partners, we launched a set of ten brand new celebrity recipes for Chocolate Week, all featuring Divine’s new 85% bar.  If you didn’t catch last week’s edition of Hello! magazine then you can see them all here – there are recipes by Tom Aikens, Gregg Wallace, Lily Vanilli and for healthy amongst you check out the Pots au

Ian Marber’s Pots au Chocolat

Chocolat by Ian Marber.

Look out for our next blog post by Tal, our Marketing Manager, who visited Kennards deli in Bloomsbury and sampled our 85% and Ginger & Orange bars.

Quality will out: Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake (Divine 85% Chocolate & Billington’s Sugar)

By guest blogger Kavey Eats

Divine 85% Dark Chocolate

When I heard that Divine had launched a new 85% Dark Chocolate bar I immediately started thinking about recipes I could use it in.

It’s a surprisingly good eating bar – despite the high cocoa content it’s neither unpleasantly bitter nor overly crumbly (due to reduced fat content).

But I really wanted to cook with it.

Billington's Dark Muscavado Sugar

I’d also been wanting to cook with the Billington’s sugars I’d had in the store cupboard for a few months.

 

 

The recipe I chose is Nigella Lawson’s dense chocolate loaf cake. Simple, reliable and absolutely delicious, it’s even more of a winner when made with Divine 85% chocolate and Billington’s dark muscovado sugar.

I took some into work and, as well as the normal cakeitude (cake gratitude) – which would probably come my way even if I took in a shop-bought mediocrity – I received some proper glowing compliments.

A number of people showed real interest in the recipe, keen on the rich chocolate hit and curious about what gave it that deep caramel flavour (the unrefined dark muscovado sugar). I was even asked whether I might consider bringing some in every day!

Nigella’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
(Using Divine 85% Dark Chocolate & Billington’s Dark Muscovado Sugar)
 

Ingredients
225 grams soft unsalted butter (I think mine was probably lightly salted, that’s what I normally have in the fridge)
375 grams Billington’s dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 grams Divine 85% dark chocolate, melted
200 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250 ml boiling water
23 x 13 x 7 cm loaf tin
Notes:
I’m pretty sure we used lightly salted butter, that’s what’s usually in my fridge.
The original recipe calls for “best dark chocolate” which I would imagine is commonly interpreted as 70%.
Method
•    Preheat oven to 190 degrees/ gas mark 5.
•    Grease and line the loaf tin. (Nigella adds that lining the tin is very important as this is a “very damp cake” but as we used silicone loaf moulds, we just buttered and floured generously.
•    Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the flour.
•    Cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs and vanilla extract, beating in well.
•    Fold in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but not to overbeat. (Nigella advises that you want the ingredients well combined, not a light airy mass).
•    Gently add the flour (and bicarb) alternatively, spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter.
•    Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes.
•    Turn the oven down to 170 degrees/ gas mark 3 and continue to cook for another 15 minutes.
•    The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside so an inserted cake-tester or skewer won’t come out completely clean.
•    Place the loaf tin on a rack and leave to cool completely before turning out.
•    Nigella also mentions that she often leaves the cake for a day or so as, like gingerbread, it improves. She also points out that the cake often sags in the middle as it’s dense and damp.

Let them eat a Divine cake!

Posted by Abigail Phillips, owner of The Cake Nest

The Cake Nest stall

Last week, I had the privilege of holding a stall at the Childrens Adventure Farm Trust’s (CAFT) ladies lunch at Mere Golf and Country Club in Cheshire.  A big event with nearly 300 people attending and something I wanted to do justice to, to boost the charitable donations of the day.  I plotted and planned the best things to make for my stall, I am a cake maker by trade, mainly doing large birthday and wedding cakes locally, so I needed something different to sell on the day.  I work a lot with Divine chocolate in the slices of cake that I sell on my website nationally and have recently started doing cake balls… delicious balls of cake dipped in chocolate.  This was my plan!  I thought jars of cake balls would be something unique, attractive and ultimately yummy on my table so I placed my order to stock up with Divine’s chocolate to make sure I would have enough for all.  Unfortunately, my order did not arrive in time, so I shot down to the shops and got some from good old Morrison’s!  Not as much as I would have liked but it had a mysterious impact on my day…!  As the ladies arrived and looked over the many things I had to offer including cupcakes, lemon and syrup cake and parkin they also partook of some samples. The most popular of which were the cake balls. Many people were surprised at the taste and texture but also that they were enjoying dark chocolate. Now, although it is something I generally swear by, I know many people enjoy milk chocolate.  Many people commented on how rounded the taste was and not at all bitter.  I directed them to my Pick Me Up slices and told them if they enjoyed that they would love this!  The moral of the story?  Let them eat cake!  A chance to combine many lovely things in many different ways.  Why not send a slice to a friend and see what they think too!  I’ve only ever heard good reports about how Divine chocolate works with my cakes.  Divine is an inspiration to many, thank you for inspiring so many at such a wonderful charity event!

The famous Divine Cake Balls!

Cocktails and stars at the Observer Ethical Awards

Observer Ethical Awards 2010

Sophi and I went along to the Observer Ethical Awards last night at the V&A - not up for an award this time but there to help celebrate world-improving innovation and excellence.  The Observer’s Lucy Siegle - Queen of Green – shared the podium (dressed in Sika) with a sharply suited Colin Firth and presided over a cheerful and laid back evening. Amongst the winners was our own Board member Gordon Roddick - who deservedly won this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Gordon summed up his life’s work as doing something about the things that “pissed him off” – that was the motivation behind Body Shop, helping set up Divine with his wife Anita – and his latest campaigning initiative 38 Degrees.  Other notable winners included two young lads - the Recyclists – who have been helping people in their local community in Fife recycle by delivering their waste to the local recycling centre – on trailers behind their bikes. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was voted Campaigner of the Year, Caroline Lucas, the first Green Party representitive in the House of Commons, got the Ethical Politician Award, and Guy Watson from Riverford organic delivery service got his THIRD Observer Award (NB loook out for great review of the Riverford restaurant in Observer this Sunday)! 

Gordon Roddick - Observer Lifetime Achievement Award

Over a few cocktails (one of which had little pink petals floating in it which needed to be constantly removed from in between one’s teeth) it was great catching up with Livia Firth and everyone from Eco-Age, Marc Francis (one half of the Black Gold filmmaking team), Harriet Lamb and the Fairtrade Foundation team, and Rosie Budhani from the Foundation ethical fashion people. Vic Morgan, one of the guys behind ethicalsuperstore.com was there too, and Martin Wright, editor of Green Futures.  Spotted Jo Wood, Ken Livingstone, and John Sauven director of Greenpeace in the audience.

We’re still extremely proud of having won Observer Ethical Business of the Year (this year won by B&Q for demystifying ecological ideas for the consumer), and it’s good to see both smallscale local initiatives and big company efforts being acknowledged at the same event. 

We went home with the mother of all goodie bags (including a Divine bar of course).

My Favourite Chocolate Moment with Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic staff send in their Favourite Moment with Chocolate snaps!

James, a Virgin Atlantic Flight Service Manager, wins first prize

Divine UK and Kuapa Kokoo farmers in Ghana were excited to hear that Virgin Atlantic Airways would be flying from London Heathrow to Accra, the capital of Ghana.  The inaugural flight is today, Monday 24th May 2010!

Divine and Virgin Atlantic have worked together lots in the past so together we created a competition called My Favourite Moment with Chocolate for Virgin Atlantic staff.  Staff were tasked with taking photographs of themselves with chocolate and 34 entries were received – with a handful having to be discounted for being a little too risqué!!  Virgin Atlantic sent me the six pictures that had made the final shortlist and asked me to pick the winners.

It was a tough job deciding, but this picture of James, one of VAA’s Flight Service Managers wins first prize because he looks like he’s been caught out on board attempting a sneaky snaffle of chocolate.  It was taken at 5am one morning en route to London from Las Vegas.  The picture was sent in by Rebecca Sheppard who will be receiving a hamper of Divine chocolate shortly.

These two pictures were joint runners up and will shortly be receiving a box of Divine.  Mind the molten chocolate on your crushed velvet purple jacket Daniel!  Laura Wood and Sara Haider of Heathrow Cabin Crew and Cabin Services Supervisor Emma Allen on board a flight to Newark in the United States still manage to look super glam despite their choccy coated faces!

Daniel from Virgin Atlantic with a vat of molten chocolate is joint runner up

Laura Wood & Sara Haider of Heathrow Cabin Crew and Cabin Services Supervisor Emma Allen, joint runners up

Thanks for the funny pictures everyone!  And enjoy Ghana!

Announcing the winners of the Divine literary quote competition!

We received some wonderfully creative entries to the Easter competition we ran in partnership with Penguin books!  We asked you to amend your favourite classic literary quote and make it truly Divine.  See here for all the entries received.

The two winners are Sue Smith with her twist on Mark Twain’s famous quote.  It reads, “When angry count to four; when very angry swear.  If that doesn’t work, eat Divine chocolate”.

S won with, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possession of free time and spare change must be in want of some chocolate”, a novel take on Austen’s Pride and Prejudice!  This was a popular one to choose – we went for the one we liked best!

Congratulations the two of you – you have one lots of delicious Divine chocolate and Penguin books – on their way to you soon.

Write your own Divine Literary Quote

‘Thoughts are divine’ from Orlando by Virginia Woolf

‘I’ve no ammunition. What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead.’ from Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw

“‘Darling,’ she said. ‘How too divine” from Vile bodies by Evelyn Waugh

This Easter, Penguin Classics and Divine have got together to celebrate all that’s Divine and chocolaty in classic literature. Check out our large milk and dark chocolate eggs for a competition to win chocolate and Penguin books.

Come up with your own Divine quote in the style of your favourite  literature classic and we’ll send our favourite a selection of Divine chocolate! Post your idea in the comments below.