Kanya Hunt

Friday, 30 January 2015

Shocked chocolate - an inspiration

When things calm down in our kitchen over the colder months of the year, our creative juices flow and I thought I'd experiment more with shocked chocolate work this past winter. The process involves perfectly tempered chocolate, working on a slab of frozen marble or granite and literally seconds exposure time of the chocolate to the ice cold slab. You have to work fast and with confidence, as you should with most chocolate work. The colder room temperature we experience during our mild winters is perfect for this kind of work, but you should be able to do this in summer as well. In winter the chocolate will stay harder longer and might even be too hard to pleat at first and you will have to try a few times before you get the feel for it. In summer the chocolate will go limp much faster, even to the extent that it almost melts again. Simply lay it down on the granite slab to set a bit until it is ready to pleat. Again you'll have to experiment and get your own feel for when the chocolate is ready to obey your orders.

The beauty of these pure chocolate drapes are that they make the cakes look beautifully formal and classical yet there is a rusticity and looseness about them as the drapes cannot be perfect as what sugarpaste drapes are because you simply do not have long enough time at your disposal to fiddle with them.

Here follows some illustration and notes as to the process. I hope you are inspired!

Firstly, make sure the frozen slab is clean and dry.Condensation might cause ice crystals to form on the surface. Scrape these off and dry well.

Work fast and with confidence. As soon as you have ladled the chocolate on top start spreading.

Now is not the time to hesitate or think twice. Spread!

The chocolate will set almost immediately because of the ultra low temperature of the surface. Carefully lift the one end and pull it off the surface.

In winter I like to place the shocked chocolate sheet on a wooden surface and in summer back onto a granite surface at room temperature. You'll notice the chocolate go limp as it is exposed to the room temperature. It is then that you will have a few seconds to mould it into a drape or flowers. Good luck!

Here we even managed to make a bow - but this is a tricky one and I think I need a bit more practice before my next attempt.

The true spirit of Christmas

13:28 by UnknownNo comments

Andreas Hauke invited us to take part in a Christmas charity for children of the Langa Orphanage, Ikhaya le Langa, and community. We sponsored our special chocolate buttercream cupcakes and although we could not be there on the day, we were there in spirit. Albeit in chocolate cupcake spirit.

This special day captured by Duwayne and http://www.lvstar.co.za/ as well as the video Andre and his team made, will nestle somewhere deep in your hearts I'm sure.

Please click on the link below to join in the fun:
http://www.weddingfriends.co.za/charity-xmas-party-ikhaya-le-langa/

This is my absolute favourite image of the day:

And here are our cupcakes:

Jhandré en Sarah: 21 June 2014

09:49 by UnknownNo comments

I always ask my couples who will be doing their wedding pics and get very excited with them when certain photographer's names are mentioned. Christine Meintjes is one such photographer. I have known Christine for a while now and have kept a close, very admirable eye on her work since she started in the wedding photography market. And all I can say is "wow", what a talented woman she is! Her work is trendsetting and always inspiring.

Jhandré and Sarah were privileged to have her capture their love story, in fact, I think they chose their wedding date based on Christine's schedule. I know of many more couples that are doing this...just to have her as their photographer!

Here is a link to her post on this wedding: Jhandré and Sarah: 21 June 2014, Zorgvliet

I asked Christine to share more cake pics and here they are. I thought it best to showcase them all because I simply could not choose and the more I can share of Christine's work the better for everyone.

Another cake lovestory - Soné and Chris, Val de Vie, 25.04.2014

13:05 by Unknown1 comment

Cake set-up is an extremely personal event for me. I get to see the most beautiful venues, get to meet and work with the most wonderful coordinating teams and have the opportunity to say goodbye to my cake children in a very personal way by capturing the cake images as best I can. Often my lack of expertise behind the camera and the fact that the indoor lighting is not ideal leads to my images being pretty mediocre. I followed up with Inecke photography for pics of Soné and Chris's wedding cake and received these absolutely priceless images that tell a true wedding cake love story. I just could not choose nad decided to treat you to all of them.

Our hearts are filled with pride and joy

09:50 by UnknownNo comments

Our naked cake contribution to the latest Wedding Inspirations Mag Spring 2014 has another story the likes of what dreams are made of. Look out for for this cover on sale now:

And a taste of our naked cake styled twice:

The very same cake with the thinnest smear of fresh cream to still expose the inside of the cake. Fresh pommegranate pearls add a touch of colour.

And this is our story:
With any naked cake on shoot there is no getting away with dummies and all the contributors had to expose the inner beauty of their cakes. Ours was a decadent dark chocolate fudge cake layered with dark and white chocolate ganache. Even for a shoot we do not compromise on quality of ingredients and also because I simply do not have any other chocolate in my kitchen than pure Belgian Callebaut couverture, the cake exuded with intense chocolate smells, begging to be devoured as soon as possible. After cutting and sharing some with our marvellous photographer Jilda Gildenhuys and her family I had to make a plan with the 80 portion 3 tiered cake. What better plan could there be than to donate this to a charity.

They say charity begins at home and this was never more true then. My assistant, Winkie, as been looking for a good school for her son, Luyanda. He will be starting Grade 8 next year. Throughout the year Winkie researched all the best schools she could afford and applied to a few. Did I happen to mention that Luyanda is a star pupil with top reports to boast? Our neighbour popped in one day with an advert to apply for Students for a Better Future and we all thought it to be a wonderful opportunity with nothing to loose. Somehow all at The Hunt House felt positive about this and we never doubted that Luyanda will succeed in his application. He went through numerous interviews and assessments and then the final call came and Winkie was informed that Luyanda was indeed awarded a full scholarship to Rondebosch Boy's High. Tears of joy were shed and even more tears when we learnt that Luyanda also quaified as a full on boarder! We still talk about this life changing gift everyday and Luyanda is so positive and so looking forward to next year.

The good news came at the very same time the cake called out to be shared. What better celebration could one have hoped for than to celebrate Luyanda's good news with his class and all the teachers who played a huge roll in shaping him for his future. We decided to surprise Luyanda's class, his teachers and staff at Imperial Primary School in Mitchell's Plain. More stunned was Luyanda to see his mom arrive with such a gorgeous cake. I, of course, could not get a word out as I am overcome with happy tears at the drop of any show of emotion. Winkie made a lovely speech thanking the teachers and pupils for all their support and almost all his class teachers over the years managed to pop in and share in our wonderful news and equally wonderful cake.