Some chocolate experts say white chocolate is not chocolate at all, just a confectionery aimed at kids. But that’s not true.

Cacao fruit is the source of both cacao mass (you have probably learned to appreciate 75% of your bar being made of that) and also, cacao butter.

White chocolate bars are usually 35% pure cacao butter (in nice white chocolate bars it should be listed as the first of the ingredients), and have no cacao mass at all – which is why they are so pale a shade.

The other ingredients for making white chocolate are: Milk or cream powder, sugar, emulsifier (usually Soy Lecithin), and vanilla or other spices.

White chocolate would contain not less than 20% by weight of cacao fat, a minimum of 3.5% percent by weight of milk fat, and at least 14% by weight of total milk solids, and it may contain quite a bit of sugar – up to 55%.

Valrhona, the high-quality supplier for chocolate makers, provides a relatively low-sugar version of white chocolate. They accurately describe their Ivoire white chocolate “[it] reveals aromas of warm milk enhanced by delicate vanilla notes.” Their 40% cacao butter product claims to have “distinctive flavor, both mild and chocolate-y, unveils notes of caramel and vanilla enhanced with a touch of malt.”

A recent trend in artisanal chocolate is hand-crafted white chocolate bars with exciting additions like berries, coffee nibs, spices, pistachios and other nuts.

The inclusions add texture and flavours that make the experience of eating white chocolate much more interesting and pleasurable.

Mini white chocolate bar with coffee nibs, by IKA

Already in last October, The Chocolate Journalist AKA Sharon Terenzi has visited The London Chocolate Show, UK’s largest event dedicated to chocolate, and reported about the artisanal redemption of white chocolate:

“…white chocolate is slowly but steadily transitioning from a cheap candy to a fine food to be savored just like dark chocolate… it can be turned into an intriguing delicacy with the addition of crunchiness (nuts, cocoa nibs) and flavors (spices, teas).”

White chocolate is quite sweet, which is why snobs sneer, but we find it hard to see a problem here… are Financiers, Mille-Feuille, Macarons not sweet? Indulgence can be luxurious, too.

Speaking of patisserie pleasures, we take this opportunity to share Ika’s recipe for
White Chocolate & Strawberry Sablé Fingers.

This recipe was published also in cooperation with Pascale Perez- Rubin, one of Israel’s leading recipe book authors and food writers, who also styled and photographed this sumptuous picture.

“I used to work in a radio station for many years as a sound technician. I can’t possibly describe how much music means to me. I flew four hours to Barcelona from Tel Aviv and back last week just for a Sting concert.”

As usual, Ika’s answers are just a prelude for a longer story: “His voice fills me with hope. Sting has been an inspiration for me ever since high school. In general, I feel that music is instrumental to my work. On the sound job I learned how to mix and balance sensory experiences. But the most important lesson sound engineering taught me is how to be patient while working. It wasn’t an easy lesson to learn, let me tell you,” and she goes on…

What’s the most memorable concert you have ever attended?

“It was a Tosca performance at the magnificent Sydney Opera House.”

Surely even just entering the building is a hugely inspiring experience: The pure curving shapes rise across the harbor render a heroic artistic achievement.

Savoring Splendor

Another magnificent opera building, though completely different in its Baroque style, is the famous Opéra Garnier. We mention it here because the building is said to have been the inspiration for a luxurious popular cake – the Opera Cake.

Gâteau opéra is an elaborate almond sponge cake with a coffee and chocolate filling and icing (Grande Larrousse Gastronomique).

Cyriaque Gavillon claimed he had invented the cake in 1955, while working as a Pastery Chef at La Maison Dalloyau (established in Versailles in 1682); Gavillon’s wife Andrée supposedly named it after the Garnier Opera building.

The idea behind this dessert is that all of the flavours of the cake should be tasted in just one bite.

And what is a praline, if not pleasure concentrated into one rich chocolate-y bite?

Pâtisserie Expressions

On the night before flying to the Barcelona Sting concert, we visited a new temporary exhibition here in Tel Aviv: The artist Anat Hutzler created eight unique chocolate desserts, each inspired by a song or an album she loves. Anat had let the words and melodies inspire color and taste combinations, textures, compositions, under the title FoodPlay.

“Behind every act of creation there is inspiration, igniting passion.”

Above: inspired by Abbey Road: Pralines filled with bittersweet English Breakfast Tea Ganache, crossing strips of homemade vanilla marzipan. Every band member has a different shell.
Did you guess that John is made of white chocolate?

The Sweet Sound of Sting

What do you listen to when you work?

“I’d like to have been able to tell you that I put on an opera CD early every morning at the chocolatery, when I start my long day at work,” Ika says. “But really, I only listen to a couple of uplifting songs on my iPhone, before the craziness of the workday tasks and calls take over.”

Here is her favorite Sting song, à propos de #MarchMadness