Salon du Chocolat 2016

The International Salon du Chocolat 2016 – the place to discover and try everything happening in the world of chocolate at the moment! We were so happy to be there and to taste our way around the giant convention center at the Porte de Versailles.

They had us at CHOCOLATE but we were also incredibly excited when we discovered that M6 has organized for some of the contestants from one of our favorite pastry shows, LE MEILLEUR PATISSIER, to provide live baking demonstrations. (What we didn’t know at the time was that we would get to taste these creations too. That was really a treat!)

Le Meilleur Patissier Pastry Show on M6

What is LE MEILLEUR PATISSIER and how does it work?

• Le Meilleur Patissier is the French answer to the Great British Bake Off.
• The show is in its fifth season this year.
• This season, there are 12 participants.
• Judges are Cyril Lignac (chef patissier) and Mercotte (cooking blogger extraordinaire) + additional big names in pastry who are invited to participate some weeks as surprise guests.
• Each week there are different baking challenges based on technique, creativity and following a specific pastry theme.
• One contestant is given the title of the “best pastry chef” of the week and gets to wear the blue shirt.
• One contestant is (lovingly) given the boot each week.
• The show takes place in the beautiful Château de Maillebois close to Dreux.

You can get more of the inside scoop and watch past episodes here.

Mercotte

Mercotte created a wonderful French cooking blog filled with traditional French recipes as well as some modern revisits of traditional recipes. She participates in a lot of French foodie events and shares them on her blog as well.

Mercotte made us verveine-citronnelle macarons

Mercotte gave a live demonstration at the Salon du Chocolat with some of the contestants from LE MEILLEUR PATISSIER. She also prepared 250 verveine-citronnelle macarons which we got to try! They were perfectly creamy on the inside with a slightly firm and somewhat crunchy exterior. The marriage of verveine and citronnelle is delightful!

Lila made us caramel-peanut-chocolate tartelettes

Lila, one of the MEILLEUR PATISSIER contestants this season, also made us a dessert to sample. It was made with chocolate mousse, salted caramel and peanuts. It was kind of like an artisinal version of a Snickers bar and it was yummy too.

Matcha waffles stuffed with chocolate macarons

What? Yes, you read that right! Matcha waffles stuffed with chocolate macarons exist in this world and we are happier because of it. They were created by Sadaharu Aoki and we are so excited to show you their work in action. Look at that!

These were the most unusual chocolate creation we tried at the Salon du Chocolat this year and we were impressed! These matcha waffles stuffed with chocolate macarons are moist, almost spongy, and have the most amazing flavor which is a mixture of powdery, matcha tea and velvety dark chocolate. WOW! I can still taste them as I’m writing this to you now!

Georges Larnicol

Georges Larnicol delighted fans of all ages with his giant chocolate Sphinx head. Take a look at his creations.

Chapon Chocolatier

Have you heard of Criollo chocolate from Madagascar? It’s pretty rare (which also translates as pretty expensive) and we bought some, because what the hell, when in Rome… We were not disappointed. In France, criollo chocolate is considered “a très grand cru” of chocolate. Do you know what that percentage on your dark chocolate means? It refers to the percentage of chocolate in comparison to the percentage of sugar. Our chocolate was 75% dark chocolate and 25% sugar.

A Chocolate Fashion Show

Yes, you read that correctly! This year at the Salon du Chocolat, visitors were treated to chocolate fashion shows featuring dresses made almost entirely of CHOCOLATE!

This was our favorite chocolate-covered dress!

Have you been to one of the yearly Salons du Chocolat? Would you like to go to one? Tell us all about it!