David Mitchell of award winning butchers Black Barn at Secretts in Milford sent me an email with an introduction to founder of Choctopia and chocolatier, Matt Hancock. I clicked on the link and his chocolates looked so gorgeous I rang him immediately to arrange to meet. Matt is right at the beginning of his business journey and we met a few days later at his chocolate studio in leafy Newdigate.

An alumni of the prestigious Westminster College where he gained a professional chef’s diploma, Matt has worked his way around some feted kitchens and the globe. He has done stints with Phillip Howard of the Square (in his heyday), which gave him a ticket into many restaurant kitchens. Keen to travel, he has spent years hopping around New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. After emigrating to Australia in 2007 he tried to settle but felt compelled to return to England and in 2012 he came back to the UK and found a job at the Ship Hotel in Weybridge. By this time he had started to dream about starting his own chocolate company making high end, gorgeous looking creations with interesting fillings.

A couple of years later he took the head chef position at Ghyll Manor which kept Matt occupied while he planned his own business. Finding an available unit on a farm in Newdigate made this a reality and a few months ago he made the move. The ethos around his business, he says, is his fascination with the art and science of food and in particular chocolate. This is apparent in his workspace, which actually looks more like an art studio than a typical kitchen. When I visited, I realised I was in for a treat as Matt showed me how he makes his current creations from scratch.

His approach to his designs is unique and as he says he feels its worth spending time making sure he achieves the finish he wants for the ultimate wow factor.

First he starts with a chocolate mould. This is polished to ensure that when the chocolates are finished, they have a gorgeous glass like sheen on the surface. Each design of chocolate denotes a different filling too, so on his workbench are all the tools of his trade set up ready for the artistic demonstration I was about to witness.

I was particularly fascinated by open pots of intensely coloured, slightly lumpy, textured powders. These, Matt explained, were his artist’s palette. Coloured cocoa butters form an important part of his designs and they can be bought in virtually any colour. My favourite was a vibrant orange, which Matt used during my private show! There was also a range of sparkly coloured powders, also cocoa butter based, which are used to coat truffles and when melted to decorate chocolates too. On one side we have the mould polished and shiny, in the centre the chocolate which will form the designs, and then the ganache fillings. This looks like a lot of work to me and it turns out to be a true labour of love.

There is a bench-mounted paint gun that allows Matt to spray the chocolate moulds with a thin layer of chocolate. This is designed for runnier paint and can be quite temperamental used with chocolate, so the key is to work fast. Normally making one style of chocolate in each tray, Matt has elected today to show how he makes all his chocolates, which demonstrates the fragility of his paint gun. Luckily he is extremely patient and nothing it seems will get in the way of a perfect result.

The action starts with setting the first layer of the design. Some chocolates start simply with a spray of chocolate from a brush. Matt places some black cocoa butter in a small dish and melts it. Dipping the brush into the liquid chocolate, he flicks it deftly into the mould. For another, a small detail brush is used to place a row of small dots across the centre of the mould. Another starts with a thin layer of white chocolate placed into the paint sprayer cavity and melted with a glue gun then sprayed immediately into the mould. Time is of the essence here: the layer is thin and sets almost immediately. Matt takes a clean toothpick and draws a squiggly design. Melting red chocolate next, he sprays over the design. Each layer is built up in this way: it’s definitely a labour of love.

Once the designs have been set in layers, most have three, it’s time to coat with a first layer of white chocolate. This sets the design particularly for those that will have a dark chocolate centre and won’t interfere with the intricate designs. This white tempered chocolate is poured into the mould and then tapped out over a large bowl. The mould is popped into the fridge to aid setting and at this point the different fillings are assembled. I am just so surprised at the huge amount of effort that goes into producing these chocolates. Matt says he is at the beginning of his journey (it’s only a few months since he started the business) and he has already found ways of making short cuts to speed up production, providing it does not impact on the quality of his finished product.

Now he is ready to fill the chocolate cases. Fillings range from raspberry ganache made with freeze dried raspberries (shelf life is essential here), salted caramel, hazelnut praline, white peach and Champagne, strawberry, amaretto and cherry and orange fudge. Once the fillings have been levelled off, a final layer of white chocolate seals the chocolates and they go into the fridge for a final set.

Whilst they are setting, Matt shows me another side to his chocolate business. He creates painted chocolate slabs of celebrities old and new: Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison and even Pete Docherty have been featured here. In fact Pete Docherty recently ordered some chocolate slabs with his image hand painted by Matt for an event at which he was performing. For me, they are a world away from his individual chocolates, but obviously certainly have appeal. Matt creates these designs by printing images and working over them in chocolate on a sheet of food grade plastic with a small pointed stick. This is then covered in chocolate which lifts the design when it is set. I also noticed on Instagram the other day that Matt had made a sculpture out of chocolate too! He is, as he says, combining chocolate with art to create his designs.

When it was time to sample I was feeling a tad destructive, but tasting as good as they look, the guilt of destroying a work of art quickly passes. My favourite was salted caramel. I loved the fact that after the salted caramel had been placed in this chocolate, Matt sprinkled on a few tiny flakes of good sea salt before sealing. It’s little details like this that set these chocolates on a pedestal.

Currently Matt has been selling chocolates to Ghyll Manor for weddings and corporate events. They are for sale also via his online shop on his new website. Matt showed me the full range of his packaging as he also creates slabs of chocolate studded with his chocolate creations and seasonal products such as Easter eggs. He can also provide wedding favours, mini packs of chocolate to present on a wine bottle and any number of variations. His prices, considering the huge amount of work that goes into production, starts at an affordable £3.50 for two chocolates, £10 for 8 and upward.

Shirlee Posner

essence info

Websites: www.choctopia.net and www.eatsurrey.co.uk

Shirlee Posner is a food writer and blogger at www.eatsurrey.co.uk and provides social media management, web copywriting and food photography.