WHAT MAKES A GREAT CHOCOLATE?

We have chosen to use the world famous Valrhona chocolate. The origins of Valrhona Chocolate go back to 1922 in the Rhone Valley of France. Since then, the mission of Valrhona has been to create exceptional chocolate, utilizing the natural aromas of the various cacao growing regions throughout the world while keeping with the traditions of the French chocolate making art. Valrhona has rediscovered the best cacaos, Criollos, with the aroma of flowers and fruit, and the Trinitarios, typified by a strong bouquet, and mixed them all together in an exceptional taste. The intense flavor brought out by hints of flowers and fruits reveals intensity - exceptionally long on the palate. These “top of the Line” Valrhona chocolates are known as their Grand Cru’s. And just as with fine wines, a Grand Cru only receives its designation based on superior taste and texture. We then take the Grand Cru, be it a dark chocolate such as Manjari, Craribe, Guanaja or Araguani, or a milk chocolate, such as Tanariva Lactee of Jivara, and create a ganache. This ganache will then form the base for a truffle center, bon bon filling, cake filing or the high sheen glaze on a “death by chocolate” cake. In addition to being used as the base for our centers, Valhrona Grand Cru’s are melted and tempered to perfection, as the final couverture for each of our finished products. In this way, we are assured that you are not only looking at and smelling the finest chocolate on earth, but you're about to taste it.

WHAT MAKES A GREAT CHOCOLATIER?

Chocolate, cacao butter, fruits, flavorings, nuts and various other components are merely raw ingredients. Like musical notes, its how they’re combined that makes the symphony. Fine chocolate is a study in texture. Does a given set of ingredients meld to caress the palate or conflict and assault it? The chocolate craftsman chooses when an assault of texture is warranted and when it's offensive. Fine chocolate is a study in flavors. When should a confection contain enhancement and when should it just taste like chocolate? The balance that’s struck between these disciplines determines the quality of the customer’s experience. Only years of study can provide the scale upon which to achieve this balance. Our Master Chocolatier has them. Joëlle Mahoney, born in Amiens, France heads the creative team for Chocolaterie Maya. She has studied with Andre Renard, member of the Academie Culinaire, Sylvain LeRoy, coach of the winning USA World Pastry Team in 2001 and Betty Van Norstrand, two time Gold Medalist of the World Pastry Olympics, just to mention a few. Joëlle has been a featured instructor at the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Annual International Chocolate Shows held in New York City as well as an invited participant in the Chocolate Fashion Show from 2005 through 2008. In her spare moments, she's a Master Instructor for Cake Decorating. She also holds Gold and Silver Medals from Societe Culinaire Philanthropique, as well as the Otto Gench Medal for excellence in her field. The sign on her desk tells it all . . . “If you can imagine it, I can create it in chocolate, sugar or cake !”. If you think she’s kidding, give her a challenge.

Joëlle

Being born in France, it seems that every week brought another reason to bake something. The holidays started on New Years day, then the Three Kings Festival, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations and finally it was Christmas again. Later in life, after I started Signature Cakes & Confectionery, LLC, joining the Retail Bakers Association and I.C.E.S. (International Cake Exploration Society), I realized everyday was truly a holiday for someone, somewhere. Hence, I specialized in creating custom pieces for YOUR “holiday”. Cakes, chocolate or any other pastry discipline, can be used to form anything a person can imagine. Their favorite car, an animal, a building, or the wedding cake of their dreams.

Pastry and confectionery arts are my passion. I've been lucky enough to learn from the masters; sugar work from Ewald Notter, pastry techniques from Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastien Cannone, chocolate artistry from Elaine Gonzales, corporate showpieces from André Renard, taste from Sylvain LeRoy, pastiallage from Pat Rocco and gum paste techniques from five time World Pastry Olympic Gold Medalist, Betty Van Nostrand.

Each year since 2002, during the International Chocolate Show in New York City, my sponsor,  the  Valrhona  Company, fills the theater with 100+ “chocoholics”, where I demonstrate my chocolate artistry.

In competitions, such as the annual Sociètè Culinaire Philanthropique, Salon of Culinary Arts, held in the Jacob Javits Center in NYC I’ve won several Gold Medals for my cakes, Silver medals for my Chocolate, the Otto Gench Medal for excellence in the field of chocolate and in 2008 another Gold for the Best Pastry Display of the Salon

In my earlier role as a Master Wilton Method Instructor, I've taken a harried mother, who first learns to bake, tort, dam, fill, ice and decorate her cake with a single rose . . . . and in only a few sessions, transform her into a budding Pastry Artist who creates a multi-tier wedding cake.

My life wasn't always in the kitchen. In 1997 I won an International Pageant and spent a year cris-crossing the country, while of necessity, honing my "lite" cooking and baking skills. Being tri-lingual, I’ve addressed groups in English, French and Spanish, and often graced the pages of Pageantry Magazine.

Like baking, public speaking was an early acquired skill. My first televison appearances were with the late David Suskind, and most recently on both Rachel Ray and “The Today Show”, with Kathy Lee.

My radio debut was with ABC's Ross and Wilson Show followed by New York's WHTZ "Z Morning Zoo" and a myriad of local stations throughout America. As for publishing, I was a featured columnist for a major NYC metropolitan magazine and I've just started writing my first cookbook and DVD series, "Every day's a Holiday in kitchen with Joëlle".