They returned carrying a new grinder, Kit was quick to get rid of the old one, so they didn’t use it by mistake, he wasn’t willing to listen to that god awful noise again! He then left Finn with the task of completing all the grinding, it was great being the boss!
Kit went into the kitchen to see Cupcake and Kola hard at work, he quickly greeted them, then went to a counter and pulled out a large jar of the cocoa powder. Kit felt his face was going to crack from the large smile he couldn’t wipe off his face.
This would be his first time ever making chocolate, excitement bubbled just thinking about the sweet taste. He had prepared by reading numerous recipes online when he last logged out. All the information he found stated that the measurement of ingredients and tempering were an important step in making chocolate.
So, the first thing Kit did before he collected the rest of the ingredients was to buy a set of scales. He would need to accurately measure the cocoa powder, cocoa butter and other ingredients going into the chocolate so he could make the perfect blend.
When the scales were sitting on the bench, he went into the storage facility to collect the rest of the ingredients. For his first attempt he was going to make dark chocolate.
Kit eagerly placed a large bowl on the scales and added cocoa butter, he looked at the scales made a note of the amount 140g, then took the cocoa butter off. The cocoa powder needed to be half the weight of cocoa butter, he added 70g of cocoa powder to the bowl.
The brown powder filling the bowl made his eyes crinkle, with a flourish he cleared the scale then added the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Once the scales settled on 42g, he was ready to start.
He bustled about in the cupboards to find a large pot, when he found what he was after he stood in front of the fire pit and frowned. Although he could boil the water on the fire pit it wouldn’t be good for making the chocolate, he needed to place a bowl on top of the pot so he could melt the ingredients.
Bending over the fire pit to stir was not ideal, he would be squatting to stir! He would also need a workspace next to the melting chocolate, using the floor wouldn’t be sanitary!
It looked like he was going to have to work outside once again. It would be more convenient working with his camping kitchen. Kit sighed and went outside to set up his camping kitchen, he then brought out the bowls full of ingredients.
Finn was watching him with a pout as he waited for the grinder to finish. Kit waved the red head over, he had worked so hard helping him with the cocoa beans he would feel bad if he didn’t let him watch at least once. “I’m about to start making the chocolate, do you want to watch?”
“Yes!” Finn rushed over and stood on the other side of the camping kitchen, so he didn’t get in Kit’s way. Kit then turned on a burner and placed a pot on the stove top. While the water coming to the boil, he got a large marble slab he had bought earlier at the market and wiped it down.
Once he was done, he took out a tray and lined it with some waxy paper. By the time he had finished steam was billowing from the pot.
With a happy hum, Kit turned down the element, he was ready to start! He placed the bowl of cocoa butter on top of the pot and watched as it started to melt, “Finn, can you pass me the cocoa powder mix please.“ Finn happily joined in the process.
Once the cocoa butter was a smooth liquid, Kit slowly stirred the cocoa powder mixture. Fine brown powder would tickle his nose every now and again when he added more into the mix. A slight blue hue started to swirl in the liquid, the small amount of blue didn’t deter Kit, he knew that the important part of making the chocolate was in the tempering.
Once the mixture was dissolved into a thick brown liquid, Kit changed the way he moved the chocolate inside the bowl. Instead of stirring the mixture around he scooped up the edges of the chocolate and moved it to the centre. As he did this the blue hue started to spread through the mixture.
“Oh… Oh Kit! Something is happening!” Finn was peering into the bowl watching Kit’s hand movements.
“Yes, hopefully it will keep spreading.” Kit smiled as he kept working.
After a minute of scooping, he took the bowl off the pot and poured half of the chocolate out straight onto the marble slab. Then he took out a spatula and started to smooth the chocolate over the thick slab.
“Kit why are you doing that?” Kit had a feeling Finn was going to question him at each step of the process.
“To make it taste better.” Kit chuckled at his simple answer to Finn.
Then he patiently explained to Finn what he was doing. “This is called tabling, it’s part of the tempering process. You spread the chocolate back and forth until it starts to thicken, then add it back to the mixture. This helps the chocolate to have a smoothy glossy finish once it hardens. It will also make it easier to break when eating.”
“Why is chocolate making so complicated, shouldn’t it be simple?” Finn looked fascinated as he watched Kit work.
Once the chocolate on the marble slab was at a consistency he was happy with, Kit added it back to the rest of the chocolate. Then he placed the bowl back over the pot and kept moving the chocolate inside to melt the semi hardened chocolate from the tabling.
“No, making chocolate is an art, this is just the first step. Once I get the chocolate to the right consistency then I can play around with different types, flavours and shapes. There is so much to do with chocolate, it is endless really,” said Kit.
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“That sounds like fun! I will be a chocolate maker to!” Finn’s eyes sparkled with determination as he spoke.
“Great, in the future I will leave the chocolate to you.” Kit knew he could get caught up in just making chocolate recipes, so it would be better to hand the task off to someone else so that he could concentrate on other recipes for his restaurant.
Though he wouldn’t do this until he had some chocolate recipes under his belt. Kit switched his focus back to the chocolate mixture and noticed the blue hue was covering all the chocolate mixture now.
It intensified the longer he folded and tempered the mixture, when the consistency looked about right, he tested a portion by making a chocolate drop on the waxy paper. He held his breath as he watched as the chocolate set right before his eyes.
Ding!
[Skill learnt: Beginner chocolate maker.]
Player can make chocolate from cocoa beans and other ingredients.
+ 20 Agility
+ 25 Intelligence
+ 25 Speed
Excitement swept through him as he took note of the notification. If he was now a chocolate maker did this mean the chocolate he made was a successful stats creation?
Kit felt giddy staring at the small piece of chocolate on the paper, his eyes then went back to the pot. A silky smooth dark thick liquid sat in the bottom of the bowl covered with an intense blue hue.
The smell of chocolate was heavy in the air, Kit felt his mouth start to water staring at the brown goodness. He took the bowl off the pot then his hands worked quickly to spoon dollops of the chocolate on to the waxy paper making chocolate drops.
Once the bowl was swept clean, Kit gaze was drawn to the chocolate drops covering the trays. Finn had lined three more trays with waxy paper as Kit worked, now all four trays held chocolate drops.
Kit felt his handshake as he took out a plate, now he was going to see if he was successful.
Kit heart pounded as he picked up one of the chocolate drops and placed it on the white porcelain plate. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait to see if this chocolate worked. A notification rang as soon as the drop hit the plate.
Ding!
[Cocoa dark drop]
Quality level: Good
Quality bonus: + 3 Charisma
A bold bitter treat, with a hint of earthen flavour.
+ 2 Charisma
For 1 hour
[Unlocked: Nil level restriction.]
Reward: 500 EXP, 500 culinary EXP, 5 silver crowns, 100 culinary points.
Kit’s blood ran wild as he looked at the notification. He had unlocked another hidden stat! He had never seen charisma in any items yet, then again this was to be expected, he still hadn’t explored much of CAL and the stats available.
Although the stats for the chocolate were low, he didn’t care, he knew that he could combine the chocolate with different ingredients to get better stats creations. This was just the start of his chocolate endeavour! He could make a whole range of charisma stats to sell!
“Kit, we did it!” Finn was bouncing on his heels staring at the chocolate drop in awe.
“We sure did, now it’s time to make the next type. This time we will make milk chocolate.” Kit started to pack up the chocolate drops, one of the clean sprites came to clean the mess on the counter Kit had made.
A smile of delight flittered over his face, he loved the fact he didn’t have to clean up after his mess. When everything was clean Kit started the whole process again, the only difference to the process was in the ingredients.
For milk chocolate he would use less cocoa butter and cocoa powder and add in more sugar and some milk powder. Soon Kit had a mixture of soft brown chocolate swirling with an intense blue hue. “Kit, it looks like this chocolate will work out too!” Finn was stuffing a dark chocolate drop in his mouth as he spoke.
Kit frowned when he saw the chocolate disappeared into Finn’s mouth. “How many is that you have eaten? You will get a tooth ache if you keep eating them.”
“But they taste so good!” Finn pouted but stopped his hand from putting another one in his mouth. Kit chuckled, the way Finn was going he would get a stomach-ache from all the treats. It reminded him of a time when he was young and ate too many chocolates.
He guessed everyone had to go through a stomach ache to learn not to overindulge in the sweet treats. Kit returned his focus back to the task at hand, the chocolate was ready to make chocolate drops. He started to scoop the chocolate from the bowl and make small dollops on the waxy paper.
When the trays were full, he placed a single milk chocolate drop on a white plate.
Ding!
[Cocoa milk drop]
Quality level: Good
Quality bonus: + 3 Charisma
A sweet creamy treat that melts in your mouth.
+ 2 Charisma.
For 1 hour
[Unlocked: Nil level restriction.]
Reward: 500 EXP, 500 culinary EXP, 5 silver crowns, 100 culinary points.
Kit gave a delighted chuckle, he was going to fill his snack section in no time now he had chocolate. When he was able to build the shop in a shop, he planned to have a whole section dedicated to chocolate treats!
“Kit, I like this chocolate better!” Finn was stuffing another milk chocolate drop into his mouth as Kit looked over.
Finn’s eyes were twinkling as he savoured the taste, in the next moment Finn scooped up four more of the treats. Kit’s mouth dropped open as Finn stuffed four of the chocolate in one go inside his mouth.
This was really asking for disaster. “Finn, no more, you really will get sick.” As if Kits words cursed the red head, he let out a groan.
“Kit, I don’t feel so good.” Finn clutched his stomach and a grimaced.
“Go and sit under the tree, I will bring you some water.” Finn complied and sat down in the shade. Kit pulled a bottle of water from his pouch and handed it to the man. “It won’t take long to pass, but don’t eat any more chocolates today.”
Finn nodded his head and then started to sip the water. “I’ll go clean up then come back and see how you are feeling.” Kit left Finn to rest, he had a feeling that Finn wouldn’t overindulge in chocolate anytime soon.
Kit quickly packed away the milk chocolate and another clean sprite came to make his bench sparkle. While Finn was resting under the tree, Kit decided to make the last type of chocolate. That way Finn wouldn’t be tempted to try it.
This time he was making white chocolate, so he wouldn’t be using the cocoa powder, he would just use the cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder.
As he collected the ingredients, he went over the other two recipes in his head. He felt like the chocolate recipes were a bit of a cheat. He could tell by the intensity of the blue hue when to temper and when the chocolate was finished. He wished more of his recipes had a cheat like the chocolate.
A noise broke Kit out of his thoughts, Finn recovered faster that Kit expected. The man came over just as was about to start the white chocolate. Finn’s face was still pale, but his eyes held curiosity, Kit held back from telling him to sit down again.
When Kit was done with his first white chocolate drop, Finn was looking at the treats with a forlorn gaze. “Kit, I really want to taste it, but I’m scared my stomach will hurt again.”
“Don’t eat anymore today. You can try it tomorrow.” Finn’s eyes were dropping as he nodded.
It didn’t take long for Kit to fill the waiting trays, once he was done, he placed the white chocolate drop on a plate.
Ding!
[Cocoa white drop]
Quality level: Good
Quality bonus: + 3 Charisma.
A rich buttery pale Ivory treat.
+ 2 Charisma.
For 1 hour
[Unlocked: Nil level restriction.]
Reward: 500 EXP, 500 culinary EXP, 5 silver crowns, 100 culinary points.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you are now Level 52 Chef]
Kit blew out a breath to steady his racing heart, with the three types of chocolate made successfully, it was now time to experiment with adding the chocolate to other ingredients!