This week, from the 12th until the 18th of October, it is National Chocolate Week. There is no denying, I am a massive chocolate lover. I could probably eat my body weight in Galaxy chocolate and still be hungry for more, it just tastes so good!
To mark the occasion, we were sent the Chocolate Pen along with some delicious chocolate from Divine Chocolate, and some fabulous autumn recipes from Amy Beth Ellice, and I couldn't wait to try it out.
The Chocolate Pen is designed to help you create beautiful chocolate creations at home, using your own favourite chocolate. It is suitable for children aged 6 and up, and retails at £19.99. The idea is that you fill the pen with chocolate, and a little motor inside squeezes the chocolate out of the tip allowing you to write and create your own designs.
In the box, you receive the chocolate pen, 3 mould sheets with 50 moulds and reusable bags and piping nozzles. It requires 2 AA batteries which are not included, and you must get your own chocolate too.
We decided to make and decorate Amy-Beth's toffee apple cupcakes. A cupcake filled with toffee apple jam and smothered with toffee buttercream and a generous helping of toffee sauce. They sounded rather indulgent, and perfect for these cooler autumn evenings. Who didn't love toffee apples when they were a kid?
I made the jam and the toffee sauce in the morning, and when the children got home from school we started making the cupcakes. Once the cupcakes were ready, it was time to decorate them with delicious chocolate. Of course, there was a little opportunity to pause for a moment while we licked buttercream from our fingers (my favourite part of making cakes!).
To get started with the chocolate pen, we filled one of the provided bags with chocolate. You can use any chocolate you like, but we used the Divine Chocolate that we received (which really is divine, by the way). To melt the chocolate, you place the prepared bag in to a bowl of hot water, and leave it for around 4-5 minutes. Keep an eye on the chocolate, if you leave it in too long it can get very runny. You need it to be melted, but still firm enough use.
While the chocolate is melting, we cut a square of baking paper and stuck it to a large chopping board using sticky tape. This makes it easier to transfer you designs to the fridge for cooling. Rather than using the moulds, we decided to draw out some autumn themed designs on to the paper, that we could trace over with the chocolate pen.
To begin with, we found it quite difficult to use the pen. It takes a few goes to get the hand of it, so I would recommend having a spare piece of baking paper to do some practice designs, and get a feel for using it. Once we got going it got much easier.
Caitlin's hands are very petite, so she did struggle a bit to hold the pen and press the button on the side at the same time. She is just slightly below the recommended age of 6, but she still really enjoyed using it.
Once the designs were done, we popped them in the fridge for a while to firm up. Once out of the fridge, we simply peeled the baking paper away and were left with our chocolate designs ready to adorn our cupcakes.
The cupcakes were absolutely delicious, and the chocolate autumn shapes were a perfect final touch. Don't they look amazing? They went down a treat in my house, and the kids were chuffed with their creations.
If you would like to try your hand at making your own delicious chocolate creations this National Chocolate Week, you can buy the Chocolate Pen from all good toy shops for £19.99. (You can find the recipe for the toffee apple cupcakes, in Amy's Baking Year from Amy-Beth Ellice.)
Keep an eye out on my youtube later this week, as I will be testing out the chocolate moulds. Until then, you can see the latest creations of twitter using #ChocolatePen & #NationalChocolateWeek
We were sent the Chocolate Pen for the purpose or review, however all opinions are my own.
I love reading all of your comments and getting to interact with all my readers so pop a comment in the section below and lets chit chat.
Your chocolate creations are fantastic id love to have a go at doing them. I think i might actually put this on the xmas list for my little boy he would absolutely love this.
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOODNESS! I NEED THIS!! Haha. Perhaps a gift for the kids ;) Seriously it looks and sounds amazing! I'd love to try this and I think my kids would like to try it too, although I'm sure they'd scoff the chocolate before it's even hit the bag haha.I love your Autumnal designs. They look delicious.
ReplyDeleteChocolate week, why did i not know about it? Not that I need an excuse to eat chocolate! This pen looks a great idea and the results are really professional. Cupcakes sound very yummy and indulgent just what you need when its starting to get colder outside x
ReplyDeleteI love Galaxy too! I have never seen anything like this before it looks great and like lots of fun. Caitlin is such a mini you she is adorable xx
ReplyDeleteWhat, it's National Chocolate Week?! I'll have to eat more chocolate haha! I think I want this kit, it looks so much fun. And then you can eat it all! Sabrina xx
ReplyDeleteThat's a handy way to decorate. I think my son would find that fairly easy to use and hopefully we could make nice shapes.
ReplyDeleteAaaah this is incredible! You make using it look so easy too. Your leaves turned out incredible. Fab product x
ReplyDeleteHow fantastic is this chocolate pen you make it look so simple! The leaves look like they have been done by a professional and the desert looks so tasty.
ReplyDeleteOh this looks brilliant! When I read the name I thought it would be just another gimmick that barely works but the ones youve made look fantastic, Id be tempted to buy this for my nieces! xx
ReplyDeleteOh this is great! I HAVE to get my children one I can see them having hours of fun with this, and then leaving lots of yummy mess for me to clear up instead of the usual un edible paper and pens etc!
ReplyDeleteGreat product. Great post.
Anna x
Oh wow! This looks amazing. And I know a seven year old little girl who would ADORE it! This may have to go on our list to Santa. Your leaves on the cupcakes look awesome :)
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