Laurent Bernard Chocolatier Blog

After months of experimenting and fine-tuning recipes in my kitchen, I am delighted to share that I have just launched a new menu with various new chocolate creations – ranging from chocolate pralines and truffles, hot chocolates, homemade ice creams, to classic French pastries.

Because chocolate pralines and truffles are my specialty, I will first introduce to you some of my exciting new chocolate pralines and truffles.

The Whisky Chocolate Truffle is one of my new personal favourites. Whisky and chocolate is really a match made in heaven. And Nikka is one of my favourite whiskies. It is rich and complex with a slight sweetness which pairs very well with dark chocolate. For me, the Whisky Chocolate Truffle is a great after-dinner treat and I believe many gentlemen would think so too.

Another of my new chocolate creations is the Caramelis Praline – this is a chocolate praline featuring lovely, smooth salted caramel. You must also try my new Jasmine Praline. While it may sound exotic, jasmine and chocolate is a very good combination. For those of you who are curious to know the difference between a chocolate praline and a chocolate truffle, a praline is a filled confection and normally integrates caramelized sugar, nuts and sometimes icing. A truffle (named after the fragrant, highly prized French fungi due to their similarities in appearance) is a purer form of chocolate, made of chocolate ganache and rolled in cocoa powder.

In fact not long after I introduced the new pralines and truffles in my café, aides of a member of the royal family of a certain Middle-Eastern country came to order my chocolates! We specially put together a large, beautiful, luxurious box filled with a wide selection of my best pralines and truffles. It is a great honour to know that my chocolates are sought after by royalty!

Someone asked me the other day, “Why did you open your second outlet?” Most people think that it was natural for me to expand my business, seeing the relative success of my first café at Robertson Quay. But in fact, the second café and chocolate bar was born out of my quest to make better chocolates, not to make more chocolates for sale. My Portsdown outlet has a bigger and better equipped kitchen, which gives me more space and freedom to experiment and make flawless creations…creations worthy of your attention and enjoyment.

My cafés are more than a business; they represent my lifelong passion for chocolates. I have been working with chocolates for more than 20 years now, which has brought me from my hometown in France to London, Bermuda, USA and Israel before I settled in Singapore and set up my own shop. From the day I opened my first café in 2006, I have been spending long hours in the kitchen every day, tweaking recipes over and over again until they are perfect. Recently, I spent three full days just perfecting my chocolate éclairs. This means that when you order a chocolate éclair at one of my cafés on your next visit, it will taste better than the one you had previously. I only serve creations that I am proud of. I am very thankful to have my wife, Iveta, who takes care of the other details of running the business so that I can concentrate on my craft. She understands me like no one else does, and shares my ambitions and love for chocolates and desserts.

Right now summer is still at the forefront of many people’s minds and enjoying ice cream is a fundamental part of this special season for children’s and adults…

I have just wake up from my day dream, which brought me back to my childhood of European summer holidays. Remembering breaking my piggy bank every Sunday for ice cream, observing people of all ages enjoying it – families out walking eating ice cream lollipops, couples walking hand in hand enjoying ice cream cones and groups both large and small sat in pastry shop looking excitedly at the menu, spoilt for choice as to which delicious ice cream they should order.

My husband Laurent has passion for all sweet things and some time ago he told me about how wonderful it would be to make his own ice cream and has his long time dream ice cream cart. When we manage to save up some money and finally bought the ice cream machine, Laurent gets crazy with his new toy and come out with more then 20 new ice cream recipes. Melon- Mint, Chocolate, Vanilla, Wild Strawberry sherbet, Cassis -Violate and much more….. The ice cream cart arrived one of the evenings in July to our shop at The Pier, we saw people cueing and curiously asking about all wonderful flavors. Well, the wait was worth it. I have never seen such an array of smiling faces amongst people of all age groups and all of them eating ice cream!

Iveta

i’m sharing today my hot chocolate receipe, it’s very easy, anyone can do it.

you will need 300 gr of milk, 30 gr of cream, 100 gr dark chocolate (i usually use caraibe dark from Valrhona it’s a 64 % ) 1 vanilla poods

bring thye cream and milk to boiling point with the vanilla bean, pour in 3 times over the chocolate chopped in small pieces, mix well with a wisk, a good hot chocolate should be a little froythy.

you can let it rest 1 day at 4C or enjoy immediately. in any case do not let it boil it will become very thick and almost undrinkable.

enjoy

Widad (one of our pastry cook) and Chef Laurent have been working on a chocolate show piece…

An assemblage of chocolate cacao bean shaped, some chocolate leaves, a chocolate bar and some chocolate spheres….

The result is quite amazing and many customers were impressed.

We will have some more to come as Widad is now in France for a training on chocolate techniques and show pieces!!!

On last monday, we had a barista training organised at the Pier.

The training lasted about 2hours, it was very knowledgeable for all of us.

We learnt how to make cappucino, latte and espresso to perfection….

Foaming the milk and getting the exact temperature, brewing the coffee, making the espresso shot, exact quantities of milk and coffee, milk foam on top… Some call it, THE ART OF LATTE

Chef Chocolatier Laurent Bernard went on a travel across South East Asia…

This was for a serie of 3 chocolate tasting organised for Bloomberg, one was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, another here in Singapore and a third one in Manila, Phillipines…

What’s a chocolate Tasting?

You learn about the history of chocolate, when it was first discovered in South America and then brought to Europe.

You will eventually know how chocolate is made, from the cocoa bean to the very delicate bite. Chocolate can come out in so many different ways, from the intense chocolate Bar, to a delicate and hot chocolate, to a very pleasant deep in chocolate fondue or the smooth of a rich chocolate ganache…

But we’re talking about ‘tasting’ here, so it’ll be time for you to appreciate different chocolate from different continent, region. Will you be able to taste the fruity note of this chocolate or the tea flavour of another one…?

Mercedes-Benz VIP Party

Stylo Fashion Grand Prix Singapore

This event was organised by Mercedes-Benz – the engine partner of the McLaren F1 team – as a “glamorous party for  the fashionistas”.

It took place at the Mercedes-Benz Centre and guests include Malaysia’s leading fashion designers, models, and stylists, as well as Singapore and regional celebrities. Backed by the Singapore Tourism Board, celebrities like Michelle Yeoh and Jimmy Choo were among the guests. Luxury labels and their reps were there too.

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier was catering the mini desserts; delicious black forest, crispy chocolate tarts, smooth and delicate raspberry tarts…all mini sizes…fine mini bites for the guests.

Chef Chocolatier Laurent Bernard had his show, a chocolate body painting on models for

LA PERLA.

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The Grand Prix was also the occasion for Chef Laurent Bernard to create a new chocolate, in the shape of a car of course…

Our chocolate room did look like a race track for a while…yellow, red cars (made of white chocolate with coloured cocoa butter), milk or dark chocolate cars all over the shelves…

(more…)