Undoubtedly, you know plenty of people who can whip up a batch of cookies, cupcakes or brownies – but who can make a batch of Irish Love Bombs?
How about a Snow Day Surprise, Spun and Done, Honeymoon in Boston, White Chocolate Raspberry Wonder or Totally Tubular Toffee?
These are just a few of the tongue-twisting and mind-bending chocolate creations formulated for Chocolaterie Stam’s baking contest, which has been held every January since the shop opened in late 2010. This year’s contest begins at 5 p.m. Jan. 24 at the store, 79 S. State St.
The concept is the brainchild of co-owner Anna Nelson, who loves to bake, says Nelson’s co-owner and sister, Kris Michel.
“We invited our customers who had been buying our baking chips … to make something with them and then bring it in,” Michel says.
Each contestant who signs up is given some of Chocolaterie Stam’s baking chips, which may be dark chocolate, extra dark chocolate, white chocolate, cocoa or other varieties.
“People just create some wonderful things,” Michel says.
The co-owners expected maybe seven or eight entrants that first year in 2011, but ended up seeing about twice that much interest, Michel says.
“By the end of that one, the judges didn’t know what they’d gotten themselves into,” says Michel.
The next year saw about 20 entries, with the field climbing closer to 25 in 2013.
A panel of local judges – including such names as state Rep. Anne Gonzales, Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce President Janet Tressler-Davis and radio personality Shawn Ireland – determines the winners of four categories. These are Delightfully Distinctive, for best presentation; Exquisitely Extraordinary, for best name; Ingeniously Innovative, for best use of chocolate; and Delectably Delicious, for best taste.
Last year’s winners were Honeymoon in Boston, a heart-shaped Boston cream pie, for presentation; Gimme S’more Cupcakes, self-explanatory cupcakes, for name; Chocolate Honeycomb Stout, a chocolate stout beer, for use of chocolate; and White Chocolate Raspberry Wonder, baked bars with white chocolate on bottom and raspberry on top, for taste.
There’s also a People’s Choice award voted on by attendees. Honeymoon in Boston took home that award in 2013, too.
“(The baker) made this heart-shaped Boston cream pie, and on top he took … two little Hershey’s kisses and made them into mouse faces, and they were kissing in the middle of the cake,” says Michel.
Among the other items in the 2013 line-up were “Eggs”elent with Distinction, a chocolate cake with meringue topping from Westerville City Schools; Chocolate Sourdough Bread from the Grandfather Clock Company; White Chocolate Puddles Delight, made with Chocolaterie Stam’s white chocolate drops; and Sometime Love Bites, butter cookies dipped in white chocolate.
And that’s not even taking into account some of the top finishers of previous years. One year, a pair of Otterbein University students – in a tribute to the school’s orchestra, of which they were both members – built a miniature orchestra out of chocolate and called it Double Chocolate Concerto.
“They actually used a photo of their orchestra as a framework, and they displayed the photo with the pan,” Michel says.
Another favorite was the Black & White Cheesecake made by Westerville resident Jeanne Arkfeld, which took home People’s Choice in 2012. The rich cheesecake with Oreo crust is a standard contribution to family birthdays, Arkfeld says, but the version she made for the contest was especially good because of the Chocolaterie Stam chips.
“I had never used their chocolate before to make the cheesecake,” Arkfeld says. “It’s delicious … but it’s not something you can have every day.”
Those interested in entering have until Jan. 20 to sign up.
Garth Bishop is editor of Westerville Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
Recipe
Black & White Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 16 Oreo cookies
- 3 Tbsp. melted butter
- 10 oz. semisweet chocolate pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 8-oz. packages cream cheese
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- To make the crust, crush Oreos and place in the bottom of a spring form pan. Mix melted butter into the crushed Oreos and press onto the bottom of pan.
- For the filling, melt chocolate pieces and mix in ½ cup heavy cream. Set aside to cool.
- Beat cream cheese until soft in a food processor. Mix in sugar, eggs, ½ cup heavy cream and 1 tsp. vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour half of the mixture into a bowl and stir in an additional ½ tsp. of vanilla. Pour the chocolate you melted earlier into the remaining cream cheese mixture still in the food processor and beat.
- Next, pour almost all of the chocolate/cream cheese mixture over the Oreo crust in the spring form pan. Carefully pour the vanilla cream cheese mixture over the chocolate layer. Use of a measuring cup to gently pour the vanilla is recommended; you don’t want the two layers to mix.
- Take the little bit of chocolate/cream cheese mixture left and drop circles of it on the vanilla layer. Run a knife through the circles connecting to make hearts.
- Place in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 to 90 minutes. Take it out when the center is still loose but not watery. Let cool completely before serving.
