Coffee Musings | Chocolate for a Party

"Hot chocolate is another expression of love.
I learned to make it watching my grandma. Now, I share it with the world."

Swipe to see the photos

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Last week, I had the chance to participate in a conspiracy. Nothing illegal. We were planning a surprise gathering for @adncabrera. When I say we, I mean her daughter and I. We planned everything in advance as not to give a hint of the things to happen. And we also enlisted the help of people who are close and share a lot of things with her.

Amidst the preparations for last Sunday, the day of the gathering. Her daughter texted me about a problem with the oven at her house. It has a hole in it. Yes, an actual hole. I don't have any photos, but that ruins the purpose of the thing. Now, you can't bake anything since the oven won't hold the temperature. Without thinking it twice, I told her to come over so we could bake the cakes on Saturday.

She did and we did make the cakes in a record time. I also had to convince her to let us take her back to her place since it was a bit late and she was planning to carry two hot cakes on her own. A bit crazy, but I get her point. And while we were on that, I was wondering what I could make for the party.

It dawned on me that hot chocolate is a good way of closing a day of talking, eating, and having a good time. Making it always throws me back to the days when gramps came back home with a bad of bread and grandma was already making the chocolate for all of us. We had these big mugs. Chocolate and bread with my grandparents and cousins. It was amazing. And such is the same feeling when I make hot chocolate for others.

In the photos, you can see some of the secret ingredients of the preparation. We have a touch of spices, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. There's no photo of the pinch of salt, but always add some salt to your chocolate. It draws out more of the cacao flavor. And the slurry is optional. Thickening your chocolate is a very personal step. There are many ways to do such thing. My favorite one is using corn starch.

In the end, the cake turned out to be something amazing, I'll be showing some photos next week. And the chocolate? Well, it always gets some praise. Why wouldn't it? Grandma would be proud of it. I once made it for her and the smile on her face meant the world to me. Same as the smiles of people who taste mine.

• Photos 📷: Redmi Note 13

• Thumbnail 🖼️: Canva.

• Editing 🎬: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

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