Monday, April 30, 2012

chocolate madness.

NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts hosted their annual Chocolate Madness event at The Cyclorama. I was invited to attend as a judge which included a catered reception with plated appetizers and glasses of wine before diving headfirst into plates of chocolate everything. At assigned tables fellow judges and I rated eight entries based on taste and creativity, before making the rounds to all (or as many as we could!) individual tables. We sampled from the wildly inventive treats to the standard but never disappointing confections from local restaurants, bakeries and chocolatiers who came out to support the cause.
My favorite? Definitely the Grand Cru Granada chocolate mousse w. cookie crumbs, caramel + meringue from Union Bar & Grille. Runner up was a tough call, but I will give it to the salted caramel chocolate cupcake from South End Buttery.  Honorable mentions go out to the Taza Chocolate bread pudding w. salted caramel + toffee cream from The Fireplace, the peanut butter chocolate fudge brownies courtesy of Butter Girl Baking Co. and the French macaroons w. Bergamot chocolate + salted toffee provided by Beacon Hill Bistro. Oh and then there was Foie Gras Cupcakes from Kickass Cupcakes - not for everyone - but definitely for me. 

As it turns out, you can have too much chocolate. But I wasn't complaining. It was such an honor to judge this event and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

18 comments:

  1. Lovely photos! And how freaking adorable is Robin?

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  2. Lucky lucky you! I love the carrots as decor!

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  3. what an event ;) tough job, judging, i'm sure! love the looks of that salted caramel cupcake, mostly because i can't avoid salted caramel anything!!

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  4. Say WHA?! I need to get to this SE Buttery place. And I'm always up for bread pudding. What a great event, lucky you!

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  5. Great photos, per usual. And so glad to see Doves and Figs was there - love their jams!

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  6. This looks like such a fun event, but I can see how it would be tough to judge!

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  7. is that table of condoms amidst the chocolate? I guess those two things go together :)

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  8. The event looks like a blast - I could not imagine having to judge all those delicious chocolate dishes!

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  9. Everything sounds awesome. So, so sad I had to miss it!

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  10. What an awesome event! It looks like tasty madness to the extreme, yum!

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  11. What an awesome event! It looks like tasty madness to the extreme, yum!

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  12. Wow! Those cupcakes look incredible!

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  13. Sweet treats galore! Man I wish I were in your shoes that day!

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  14. How fun! That chocolate mousse really does look like a show-stopper.

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  15. They would have had to roll me out of there on a cart. Lucky!

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  16. Looks like you and I had similar picks. I LOVED the union mousse and caramel cup, and SE Buttery's cupcakes. Fun seeing you there!

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