Clothes are passe, now its designer chocolate

New Delhi: Have you ever tried de-seeding a red chilli and stuffing it with chocolate or paying Rs 6000 a kilogram for French chocolate? It is all in a day's work for chocolatiers in the city who create your favourite indulgence just the way you want it.

Taking a leaf from Willy Wonka's recipe book, "chocolate designers" offer patrons the option of custom made chocolate using their favourite flavours.

Customers can choose from caramel, nougat, wafer, plum cake and a mind boggling array of other options and combine it with Belgian, Kenyan, Swiss or basic dark, milk or white chocolate.

These "boutiques" use the purest form of chocolate, which has a higher cocoa content and is sourced from abroad. The production is labour-intensive and orders - depending on quantity - should be made at least 2-3 weeks in advance.

Couverture - premium chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter - is a popular base ingredient for handcrafted confectionery. The rich-flavoured couverture is also used in chocolate fountains.

"People of all age groups walk in for hot chocolate or to place orders for weddings and birthdays," says Karan Singh, Chief Operating Officer of Choko la cafe.

Handmade chocolates are also available at Nirulas during the festival season. Truffles and liquor chocolates are some of the options available in customised boxes.

"The handcrafted and moulded chocolates we have introduced for Christmas has been done keeping in mind customer preferences as they are a big hit with our guests, at Nirula's we are happy to cater to requests for customized chocolates and other gift items." Sudipta Sen Gupta, Senior VP Sales & Marketing says.

Liquor chocolate is made by filling flavoured liquors into hollow pieces by hand. Rum truffle, whiskey, cognac and cointreau are among the popular flavours available this

season.

"We have a chocolate Santa Claus filled with plum cake as well as a chocolate house as our Christmas special," says Sanjiv Ubhrai, President, Chocolate Boutique.

"A lot of corporates and call-centres come to us and order chocolates which are then given as incentives and rewards to employees" says Ubhrai.

For those who want to learn how to make their own chocolates, some outlets organise daylong workshops.