Celebrating Easter With La Chocolatrice, Newcastle

A chocolatey catch up with Zoë Rutter, the brains behind Newcastle’s School of Chocolate, La Chocolatrice...

How did your chocolate journey begin?

To say that I love chocolate is an understatement. It has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. From about the age of four, on a daily basis, my grandpa used to buy me a big bar of chocolate, tell me to hide it, and to only eat it when I was sure that no one was watching. We are all about sharing in my house, but not when it comes to chocolate. 

This indulgence continued until I was 18 when I moved to a small town in France, where I worked as an au pair. This is where I discovered my passion for cooking, baking, and ultimately for making chocolate. 

Chocolate is an important part of French culture. In most towns in France, there is a chocolaterie or chocolate shop, and the one I used to visit (far too regularly) was magical. As an 18-year-old living abroad for the first time, everything was new and exciting, however, I was particularly captivated by French gastronomy and the importance placed upon each element of each meal. I began experimenting with recipes, flavours, and techniques and it was during that year that I perfected the chocolate pudding - much to the delight of the children I looked after.

I spent three and a half years living in France, where I spent some time studying, and sampling, patisserie and chocolate.  

When I returned to the UK, I trained to be a French and Spanish teacher which I did for two years, until June 2019 when I decided the time was right to launch La Chocolatrice in Newcastle.

We love all things chocolate every day of the year, but Easter is a great excuse to really indulge. What does Easter mean to you as a business? 

Easter is such a fun time for us at La Chocolatrice. It gives us a great opportunity to be creative, dream up new flavours, and go wild with new creations. Also, the weather is starting to warm and there is a lovely buzz inside of our chocolate factory. 

What can you tell us about your Easter collection?

This Easter we have launched the La Chocolatrice Bunny Bars. There are seven limited edition chocolate bars each with a different flavour and personality. 

• The Artsy Bunny: a colourful paint-splattered white chocolate sprinkle bar, topped with a milk chocolate bunny

• The Yummy Bunny: a beautiful milk chocolate bar topped with crunchy honeycomb pieces, caramel fudge chunks, white chocolate chips, golden caramel drops, and a copper milk chocolate bunny

• The Gooey Bunny: a stunning milk chocolate bar filled with oozing chocolate fudge brownie caramel and topped with a dark chocolate bunny

• The Bouncy Bunny: a fun milk chocolate bar topped with mini eggs, popping candy, mini marshmallows, sprinkles and a blue milk chocolate bunny

• The Nutty Bunny: a crunchy milk chocolate bar filled with yummy caramel and topped with caramelised hazelnuts and a golden bunny

• The Berry Bunny: a beautiful bar made of 55% dark chocolate topped with a shimmering red bunny, raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries

• The Crumby Bunny: a 55% dark chocolate bar full of delicious Biscoff crumb, and topped with a dairy-free white chocolate bunny. 

Your hero product for Easter? 

I have two great loves this Easter! The Gooey Bunny and The Nutty Bunny - both are delicious milk chocolate bars. The Gooey Bunny is full of delicious chocolate fudge brownie caramel and The Nutty Bunny is full of dreamy caramel and topped with crunchy caramelised hazelnuts.

And finally, do you have any events in the pipeline as the city starts to open up again? 

We can’t wait to start teaching chocolate making workshops again! They are such an important part of our business and so much fun for us and our guests. We teach a Chocolate Truffle Making Workshop which is fantastic fun for any chocolate-lover. During a 90-minute session, you learn how to make the best chocolate truffles, chocolate flakes, and chocolate crisps, and we also temper chocolate too. We are also hoping to add some new classes to the line up later in the year. 

We also have some new chocolate bars lined up which will launch in April. We are currently busy trialling them in our chocolate factory kitchen and I am really excited for these to launch. 

lachocolatrice.co.uk

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