Chocolate Bliss

"Chocolate bliss - Inland party-goers are melting over the fountains of flowing sweet confection" from the Press-Enterprise in Southern California posted on September 29, 2004
 

The buzz hasn't abated yet. Even though Shirleen Bosen's daughter got married in Temecula last month, friends still are gushing over the star attraction. (Hint: No, it's not the bride and groom).

"People keep talking about it," Bosen says.

They've tasted the latest manna on the party circuit - rich, molten chocolate. Smooth and silky, it cascades over three tiers from a 3-foot-tall fountain. It's the novelty du jour at weddings, bar mitzvahs, celebrity birthdays, movie premieres and campaign bashes.

"Brides are flipping for them," says Kathleen Murray, editor of The Knot, the New York-based bridal magazine and Web site. "It's a unique way they can put their mark on the event and make it memorable."

Popular for more than a decade in the East, Midwest and cosmopolitan areas, the chocolate fountain is beginning to trickle west and into the Inland Empire. A sure sign that the confection is stirring up interest: There were six chocolate fountain vendors this year versus one last year at the recent Western Hospitality Food Exposition in Los Angeles.

"Guests will stand in line for the fountain even before they'll stand for the buffet," says Cherie Monk, owner of Catering by Cherie in Fullerton, which serves San Bernardino, Corona and Riverside as part of its overall territory. "Chocolate brings out the children in people."

April Ferrara, who owns the California-based California Chocolate Fountains, says about 10 percent of her rentals is to caterers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

"Chocolate fountains have that 'Wow!' factor," says Brookes Konig, owner of Dreamakers Catering in Temecula. "Guests enjoy them because they're interactive." Translation: Grab a plate and a wooden skewer and jab anything - from marshmallows to strawberries - into the chocolate-fall.

In fact, guests often will skip the wedding cake to plunge cream puffs, pretzels, cookies, maraschino cherries and graham crackers into the rain of chocolate. The fountain was such a smash at the recent Corona reception of Bridget and John Morley that "no one ate the cake," says the bride's mother, Kelly Allen. "They all filled up on the fountain."

Chocolate fountains update the concept of fondue, allowing guests to dip their delicacies.

It's not your imagination that the gizmo resembles the championship hockey trophy. French Canadian Michel Esnault of Montréal developed the fountain, which also resembles a wedding cake, in 1993. He figured that a mass of chocolate powered through a device shaped like the Stanley Cup would punch up any party.

Unlike its predecessor, the humble fondue pot, the fountain is a behemoth. It weighs about 100 pounds when full. Any grade or variety of chocolate will suffice, but if there's more than 60 percent cocoa content, vegetable oil must be added to thin the mixture.

The contraption's heating system warms and melts the chocolate and keeps it liquid at 176 to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. A giant corkscrew propels the ooze upward and controls the flow through a vertical cylinder. The chocolate spills evenly over stainless-steel tiers, collects at the bottom and is continuously recycled.

The chocolate, poured in like chips, is easy to melt, says Wendy Crittenden, director of catering at the Mission Inn in Riverside, which purchased a fountain two years ago. "It's a huge success at special events. Brides are just learning about it."

This torrent of chocolate doesn't come cheap. In the Inland area, it costs $395 to $495 for three hours to rent a medium-sized fountain that serves 300 people, plus $1 to $8 per guest. It seems that brides want their cake and chocolate too, because Ferrera says the fab fountain isn't a replacement for the traditional confection. It's a bonus addition.

If there can be any downside to this Willy Wonka-ish creation, it's the social and unsanitary faux pas of double dipping (dipping, nibbling, then dipping the same half-eaten piece into the spray). Not to mention spillage and drizzling.
"It can be a little messy, people dripping chocolate on the table," Monk says. "That's why I surround (the fountain) with a lot of dark artificial foliage."
Ferrera, who rents out four fountains and is buying another four, says there's no problem if the fountains are handled correctly. She'll never run them outdoors: Even a slight breeze will blow the chocolate off course; kamikaze bugs, attracted to the aroma, dive into the drink; extreme heat or cold can wreak havoc with the chocolate's consistency.

For another thing, Ferrara always uses a trained attendant to set up the fountain, show guests how it works, keep kids from sticking in their fingers, fish out dropped food and check the chocolate's temperature.

"I never have dripping or double dipping," Ferrara says.

Stacy Thorn, who rented a fountain recently for her niece's wedding reception in Apple Valley, says the chocolate flowed without a hitch. "Guests made a beeline for it," she says. She fretted that maybe she was serving too many sweets dipped in the milk chocolate lava.

"But no one complained," she says.