The Bite Magazine - issue 16

G oing from attending to horses to creating choc- olate and patisserie may seem an unusual career change to some but not to Paul Hargreaves. “This is my second career, my first was shoeing horses!” he explained. “But my love for all things sweet and the desire to work in a kitchen led me into pastry.” Before deciding to finally hang up his farrier boots, Har- greaves started Cocoa Cream in 2005 while still working his original job. It may have taken drive and an overwhelming passion as well as an abundance of energy but Hargreaves managed to make haute cuisine his love, life and career. “I trained in the best place possible – Harrods’ pastry kitchen – and fulfilled my dream, before going to Switzerland and America to learn more about sugar and sugar blowing.” It was after hours of commuting to London that he decided to set up his own kitchen and do things in the best possible way by “using the finest ingre- dients possible, and developing the skills and traditions learnt at Harrods.” Today, Cocoa Cream offers a unique creative catering service for private and business occasions. Through his dedication and attention to details, Hargreaves ensures that his chocolates and patisserie are unique and outstanding in both appear- ance and taste. As well as their signature truffles, Cocoa Cream also offer bespoke celebration and wedding cakes, wedding favours, centre pieces in chocolate and sugar, ‘ready to enjoy’ cakes and provide skills for the next generation of chocolatiers at their Cocoa Cream School. Praising Amedei, an artisan chocolate manufac- turing company from the Tuscany region of Italy, the world renowned chocolatiers are said to produce the best chocolate from bean-to-bar.They use Criollo beans, a rare and most prized type of bean that is known for its exquisite taste. All of Cocoa Cream’s amazing truffles, which are dreamy delicious by the way, ocoa ream bite chocolate P U R E S I M P L E QUAL I TY C