Chocolate mascaras, grenades, dog biscuits and chainsaws: One-of-a-kind chocolate gifts

At Devonport Chocolates we love helping our clients create truly memorable promotional gifts and with the festive season quickly approaching I thought I would share a couple or the more unique items we have made.  We often get emails or phone calls that start with "we were wondering if you could make....." and we love answering YES!

Earlier this year we were tasked with creating a chocolate mascara as part of a Maybelline Great Lash promotion.  Maybelline provided an actual mascara and our fabulous mould maker produced the mould for us to turn into chocolate mascaras.  Delicious chocolate and some hand foiling later and beauty journalists were presented with a mascara they truly had never received before.

Stolen Girlfriends Club launched a flagship store this year and for a memorable gift gave guests a chocolate grenade with Stolen emblazoned across it.



The tricky thing with promoting dog biscuits is that you are promoting them to humans.  Give a biscuit to your dog and apart from a wagging tail you can't really get any feedback from them and if your dog is anything like mine you are likely to get a wagging tail from most food you present to them so the folks at tux decided to get chocolate ones made so dogs and their owners alike are happy.

Chocolate chainsaws were one of the more challenging items we have had to make.  Our mould maker hand carved the mould off an actual chainsaw.  Small and large chainsaws were made for this promotion.








And finally last but certainly not least everyone thinks of flowers for displays but The Langham thought of chocolate and commissioned us to create a chocolate display for them at Easter.  This was displayed on the centre table in the foyer during Easter weekend, what a memorable welcome for guests!

5 reasons why chocolate really can fix all of your problems

Being part of a chocolate business I often find myself looking for chocolate quotes to inspire staff, encourage customers to shop and of course justify this delicious food that we find ourselves eating every single day.  I often come across quotes extoling the benefits of chocolate by people a lot more famous and intelligent than me so I thought it was time to share why chocolate really can fix all of your problems, ‘scientifically’ backed up by quotes.

1.    Chocolate helps you achieve inner peace.

Isn’t it a fabulous thing when you complete something or a project comes to the end and you get to tick it off your ‘to do list’ and calm descends.  This quote is anonymous, but I have no doubt they were part of the work smarter, not harder movement.

“Put ‘eat chocolate’ at the top of your list of things to do today.  That way at least you’ll get one thing done.” Anonymous

2.    Chocolate makes everyone happy.

There are always various titbits of scientific research coming out showing that chocolate increases your endorphins, making you feel like you are in love but I think this quote from Sandra Boynton, a songwriter illustrator and children’s book writer sums it up all the better.

“The greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and Shakespeare...neither knew chocolate.” - Sandra Boynton

3.    Chocolate is good for you.

Once again scientific research is starting to prove chocolate is good for your heart, blood vessels etc, (I must put my responsible persons hat on now and say, in moderation and dark chocolate preferably), but why trust me?  Justus von Liebig said it and he was a chemist from the 1800’s. 

“Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power...it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.”  -  Justus von Liebig

4.    Chocolate is the perfect gift.

At Devonport Chocolates we have two shops and an online store.  Customers purchase gifts from us as much as they purchase a small treat on indulgence.  One thing has become very clear, it is the perfect gift.  Everyone loves chocolate.  It is an especially great gift for seasonal periods like Christmas and Easter (or did I mention staff and clients gifts?) Here we go with a Sandra Boynton quote again, she really loves her chocolate.

“As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.” – Sandra Boynton

5.    And finally…. 

      “Chocolate is the answer, who cares what the question is” anonymous

Gorgeous Chocolate Purses for Mother's Day

Yes you read the title right!  Our chocolatier Yoann Martichon has been coming up with some creative ways to use chocolate, and what could be more stunning than an edible purse?  Below is the step by step pictures of how these mini chocolate sculptures are created.

Yoann starts by splattering coloured cocoa butter onto a piece of flexible food grade plastic.

He then takes a piece of cellophane and spreads tempered chocolate onto it.  As it sets he cuts it into pieces to create the top and bottom of the purse.

Once the coloured cocoa butter splatters have dried Yoann spreads the plastic with tempered chocolate.

The plastic is then pulled together at one end and taped in place until it sets, this creates the basic shape of the purse.

The ends of the purse are created by putting a pool of chocolate onto greaseproof paper and then sitting the purse up in it until it sets.  This is done for both ends.

Once the purse is completely set the plastic is peel off from around the outside

Yoann takes the flat pieces of chocolate he created earlier and uses them to make the bottom of the purse, so it can stand up, and the top.

A couple of extra embellishments are added to truly make it look like a purse.  Voilà a mini Chocolate Sculpture.

Cutting through the clutter with quirky and exciting gifts at Easter

With Easter rapidly approaching we have noticed an increase in corporate customers wanting unique and quirky gifts for their customers.

When we first opened our first retail store for Devonport Chocolates Christmas was by far the biggest seasonal event with Easter merely a drop in the sand.  Now Easter is fast making tracks to overtake Christmas and largely because of an increase in corporate orders.  A lot of our corporate customers have found that saying thank you to their customers or staff at this time of year has meant their gift is remembered and thoroughly enjoyed at a time of year when corporate gift giving is not normally the ‘done thing’.

Our corporate customers have come to us with increasingly exciting and challenging gifts that we have enjoyed creating including personalised Easter eggs with gifts of makeup in them, chocolate chainsaws and Easter gifts from $5 each to $200 each.  We are well versed in problem solving and love coming up with creative solutions to help our customers stand out from the crowd.  Drop and email to info@devonportchocolates.co.nz if a corporate Easter gift has been at the top of your ‘to do list’ and you just haven’t got to it yet.

Create your own wine and chocolate tasting at home for Valentine's

What could be more romantic for Valentine’s Day than a wine and chocolate tasting?  

Pairing wine and chocolate has always been a bit of a challenge.  I can confirm that after years of testing the theory myself I think I have come up with a (nearly) fool proof methodology as follows:

Don’t take it too seriously!  Have a bit of fun, it’s fabulous to do with a group of friends not just your partner/boyfriend/girlfriend.

Have a read of the wine label and try to match flavours in your wine with the flavours of your chocolate.  For example, berry tones tend to suit berry flavoured chocolates.

White wines and bubbles tend to suit white chocolates, milk and dark chocolates suit richer wines like merlots.

My most recent tasting experiment involved two superbly (and romantic) wines, Laurent Perrier Champagne and the Wooing Tree Pinot Noir Rose, both of which are consistently available at Glengarrys.

The champagne worked wonderfully with our coconut, mango and honey bon bon, this out of all the chocolates was my husband’s and my favourite.  The other notable flavour was the lemon and date truffle.

The Wooing Tree Rose went beautifully with our honey and raspberry bon bon, the freeze dried raspberry complemented the flavours in the Rose perfectly, I also enjoyed our limited edition dark chocolate raspberry and vanilla heart with rose.

So there you have it, a quick, easy and romantic Valentine’s date night for you or a group of friends.  

Enjoy!