There are just days until Easter, and the mouth-watering smell of melting chocolate hits you as you enter Davenport’s Chocolates’ factory in South Tyneside. Every surface is covered with trays of freshly dipped truffles, and shiny Easter eggs splashed with colourful cocoa butter ready to be filled and packaged. This is the chocolatier’s busiest season, when pretty much everyone has chocolate on their shopping list.
For Jane Williams, owner and chocolatier, the days in the kitchen are incredibly busy at this time of year.
It’s 08.45am and with the school drop done, Jane switches on the tempering machines and starts by printing all the online orders that have come in overnight. She makes a stock plan of everything that needs to be made today, and there’s a lot of Easter eggs on the list. Meanwhile her husband, Michael, sets about packing the orders.
At 09.30am, the chocolate making begins in earnest. Perfectly tempered milk chocolate flows smoothly around the wheel of the moulding machine. First Jane moulds two batches of 24 milk chocolate eggs. One batch will be filled with the afternoon tea selection – truffles in flavours such as lemon meringue, earl grey tea and creme brûlée made with white chocolate and little pieces of crunchy toffee inside. Davenports is based in Pelaw, but Jane started her journey as a chocolatier when she worked in a Swiss patisserie near London, before she and Michael moved to the North East in 2007. Jane’s personal favourite is the hazelnut praline, “I can’t decide whether I like them best in dark or milk chocolate, which is why we make both!” she says.
By 11am, the second batch of eggs are being filled with honey truffles. These are made in two variations, wildflower and heather, using local honey from Northumberland Honey Co. Twenty eggs are wrapped and ribboned ready for a wholesale pickup. “They are really popular, but we’ve not even had time to put the Honey Truffle Eggs on the website this year, it’s just been so busy,” says Jane.
It’s 11.30am and time to make a batch of fondant creme filling. Made in a beautiful traditional copper pan, the fondant is bright, glossy and smooth. Half will become peppermint cremes and half will be lavender, both enrobed in dark chocolate. The peppermint cremes are to be hidden inside dark chocolate eggs for Easter.
At 1pm, Jane has a quick lunch at the computer while getting the post labels ready for the Royal Mail pickup. Michael is busy making up more truffle boxes to package the latest batches. Then it’s time to make even more truffles. Jane weighs out double cream, butter and dark chocolate in a heavy saucepan, then watches the mixture carefully as it heats up. The liquid is poured into trays then cooled, before being cut into squares ready to be covered in chocolate.
School pickup – for Jane and Michael’s two children, aged eight and 12 – is at 3pm. They all have tea together before Jane heads back to the chocolate factory to teach an evening workshop. The worktops are cleaned and prepped for 16 chocolate-loving customers to come and create their perfect Easter egg.
By 9.15pm, the egg makers are leaving with their creations, and Jane is tidying up the kitchen ready to start again tomorrow. There are dark chocolate eggs and milk chocolate truffles on the to-do list, and a weekend market to prepare for.
For details of workshops, markets and more follow Davenport’s Chocolates on Facebook – and visit www.davenportschocolates.co.uk
