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

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!

Festival Fun at Ben & Jerry’s Sundae

We had such fun at the Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival on Clapham Common this weekend! Music, carousels, a helter-skelter, toe wrestling, egg painting, banana bashing and heaps of free ice cream!

Divine and Dubble were sampling and selling our chocolate as well as offering free Adinkra symbol Henna tattoos. We had a great pitch close to the main stage so we were happy talking to visitors and listening to the likes of bands such as Super Furry Animals and Futureheads.

The weather was stunning on Saturday, perfect for ice cream, maybe not so perfect for chocolate! The rain on Sunday evening didn’t put a dampener on things – not when you’re listening to the 80’s classics from The Human League!

Check out some of Ben & Jerry’s photos from the event, and a special thank you to Gemma Davis for use of her photos in this post. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Divine flies high with Virgin Atlantic

Divine stand at Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse

Hotshot Sir Richard Branson has long appreciated giving Virgin clients classy, memorable experiences, whether they’re staying on his ultra-lux Carribean island in the British Virgin Isles or closer to home: as Virgin Atlantic flyers in Heathrow’s Terminal 3 to be precise.

David and I spent the day in the upperclass lounge, aka the Clubhouse, of Virgin Atlantic at Heathrow airport, hosting a Divine chocolate masterclass, wowing and wooing the taste buds of passengers and staff alike making knockout white chocolate & tequila truffles and plenty more Divine-style treats besides.

Planes from the outside terrace

Virgin Atlantic and Divine have worked together for a number of years now.  Today our National Account Manager and trained chocolatier David and I were to host a series of Divine cookery demos throughout the day.  So we set up our stand at the end of the bar and spent the day chatting to interested passengers and staff about the company and cooking with Divine.  And of course there were plenty of samples to go round.  At various intervals during the day we demonstrated how to make truffles.  David’s very own creation, Divine White Chocolate Tequila Truffles, was a unanimous hit.  They combined melted white chocolate, cream, tequila, lime zest and juice.  After cooling in the fridge the mixture was then moulded into balls which were then dipped into a vat of melted pure 70% chocolate.  After a second dipping in the melted chocolate, the truffles were left to set.  Finally they were sprinkled with a few grains of sea salt and a little lime zest.  A Divine take on a tequila shot!!  See the full recipe here.

Tequila Truffles

We also demonstrated how to make dark chocolate truffles – nothing more technical than making a ganache by melting Divine 70% Dark Chocolate with some double cream, using a melon scooper and your hands to roll into truffle balls and coating in Divine Cocoa Powder.

Later in the day the Virgin Atlantic kitchen gave us some strawberries so that passengers could dip them in our cauldron of melted dark chocolate (actually a rather clever tempering machine which keeps the chocolate at a steady temperature so that it remains in melted form).  David got some passengers to sample a square of the 70% bar with a few granules of sea salt – he said it really brings out the flavour of the chocolate and both myself and the passengers were really excited to learn this.  I remember now the most incredible pudding I ate at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze once – a chocolate fondant with sea salt ice cream – makes sense now!

Tempering

A number of passengers we spoke to were returning home to the US and were delighted to learn that Divine is available to buy there as well as in the UK.  After sampling the hand-made truffles, along with some of the Divine chocolate bar and gift range, they took with them a bar of their favourite flavour and some recipe cards from David.  One passenger said “this chocolate is magical!”, another was so taken with the chocolate he asked to have a bar of each of our nine flavours there and then, and then proceeded to tap away at his iphone to find his nearest Wholefoods store in the US so that he could keep stocked up on his new favourite chocolate brand.  Passengers and staff alike were incredibly interested in the chocolatey goings-on and grateful from some Divine pre-flight action.  They were disappointed to learn that we wouldn’t be returning until October in celebration of Chocolate Week.  But we’ll be providing the Clubhouse with a regular supply of Divine Mini Bars from now onwards so they won’t be missing out altogether!

Thanks to Nikki and the team for a grand day out airside and we hope you enjoyed the demos & chocolate!  I’m looking forward to returning as David’s sous-chef for Chocolate Week in October.

Divine Summer Fun

Divine White Chocolate with real strawberries

We are getting into the summer mood here at Divine!

It’s our favourite time of year to enjoy Divine White Chocolate with Strawberries, reminds us of an afternoon spent on grassy banks enjoying strawberries and cream in the sun. Delightful!

We will also be attending a number of events over the summer including Ben & Jerry’s Sundae Festival, Greenbelt Festival with Christian Aid and we are involved with the Big Lunch this weekend. Divine and Ethical Superstore have put together a Fair Trade Hamper for all those Big Lunchers out there – a Jute picnic bag full of Fairtrade goodies including Divine chocs, Traidcraft brazil nut cookies, Fruit Passion orange juice, Equal Exchange cashew nuts, and Equality wine.

And finally heres a recipe to make any summer party a sensation. The Divinitini Cocktail recipe made with Grand Marnier, vodka and Divine Milk Chocolate, designed by chic London hotel The Sanderson.

Enjoy!

ASDA support Fairtrade and Divine Chocolate

ASDA head office staff in Leeds had a chocolaty treat when they got to sample Divine Chocolate and Fairtrade fruit with the Divine Chocolate fountain on Thursday. It was a real hit with everyone!
Also on site sampling of Fairtrade coffee, fruit, chesses and wine the Fairtrade Foundation Bus was on site before moving on into the Leeds city centre