Chocolate Food photography
Chocolate, for me as a foodphotographer is one of the most delicious textures to work with. Its deep dark colours enhance the texture of cake. Many chocolate dishes hide even more dark treasures, such as chocolate ganache or beautiful beer with its enhancing taste and dark tones
I chose deep dark backgrounds to use in my food photography to emphasise the pleasures of eating chocolate
Chocolate is one of the big pleasures in food photography, to be able to use deep dark backgrounds and rich textures to enhance the glistening texture of chocolate is a food photographers delight.
Lucky for most of us who enjoy this simple pleasure in life, chocolate is actually good for you to eat!! Yes that’s right it helps your hart : people who eat a little bit of chocolate, like a 100 g or so are less likely to have a stroke. It helps us with maths, ahum makes us smarter, a 2009 study at UK’s Northumbria University concluded people who consumed a chocolate-flavoured drink had increased blood flow into the brain due to flavonoids found in cocoa which allowed them to do calculations more quickly and accurately. Helps with winter-colds, again flavonoids found in chocolate could reduce the risk of the common cold.Helps with your memory and most of all it just makes you happy! Wich is a very important reason for me.
Just looking through the camera, at the glistening substance of chocolate is heaven to me, working with amazing food stylist, like Jody Vassallo, who styled the deep dark marble cake is a necessity in food photography. The cake, off course did not come out of the oven as planned. So light pink butter icing was whipped and placed with a great eye for art on the cake. An antique cake stand, just the right size for the cake, deep dark background and a dark wooden table set the scene for this by now majestic looking cake.
Another pleasure to work with were the Stone and Wood chocolate cupcakes with a rich flowing ganache, the dark flavours of the Stone beer make these tiny chocolate pleasures a great adult style cupcake.
Please find below Mehera Rowan’s recipe, also featuring in the enriched edition of the Byron Bay Cookbook, selling from September 2015.
Stone & Wood’s
Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
MAKES 18
Cupcake Batter
1 cup Stone and Wood Stone
Beer
280g unsalted butter
. cup sifted unsweetened cocoa
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 cup caster sugar
. cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tbs vanilla essence
2 cups sifted plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
Chocolate Stone
Beer Ganache
(The ganache is piped inside the
cupcake before cooking for a
luscious soft centre)
220g good quality dark chocolate
125ml coconut cream
100ml Stone and Wood Stone
Beer
25g glucose
2 tbs cream
50gm butter cubed
Expresso Buttercream Icing
200g very soft unsalted butter
450g sifted icing sugar
2 tbs milk
. tsp vanilla extract
50 – 100ml cold expresso coffee
add to taste and consistency
12 Byron Bay dark chocolate
coffee beans, to decorate
Stone & Wood’s
Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
Heat the oven to 175C. Place your cupcake cases ready on a tray.
In a saucepan, combine beer and butter, cook over medium heat until the butter
melts, then remove from heat, add sifted cocoa, caster sugar and brown sugar, whisk
to blend.
In a bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla essence, mix well.
Add to beer mix, whisk well. Add sifted flour and baking soda, whisk again until
smooth.
Prepare 2 piping bags; fill one bag with the cupcake batter and the other with the
chocolate ganache. Pipe the batter into the cupcake cases only filling halfway, and
then pipe a decent amount of the ganache mixture into the middle of each cupcake.
Finish with the batter mix again, taking care not to overfill.
Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for approximately 25 minutes, or until cupcakes
spring back. They should be a bit gooey. Cool on a rack.
Once cooled decorate with espresso buttercream icing and a coffee bean.
To make the chocolate Stone Beer ganache (this can be prepared before the cupcake
batter and set aside), place the dark chocolate in a bowl. Put the coconut milk, Stone
Beer, glucose and cream in a saucepan, bring to the boil over a medium heat.
Pour the boiling mix over the chocolate. Let it sit for 20 seconds. Then whisk it all
together until the chocolate is melted. Whisk in the butter until the mixture is very
smooth. Set aside to cool for a short time. Stir well before using.
To make the espresso buttercream icing, whisk butter well and till very pale, add
sifted icing sugar, adding half at a time. Whisk very well. It will be very pale.
Add milk and vanilla extract. Add cooled espresso coffee in a slow stream down the
side of the bowl. Add to taste and consistency, and colour. You should be able to
taste the coffee.
To decorate the cupcakes, place icing in a spoon, plop, turn, bounce and flourish on
top.
Place a coffee bean on the top of each cupcake to serve. Chill or even better, serve
fresh.
Note: Stone Beer exhibits dark fruits, toasted nuts and sweet caramel flavours
