Desperately Seeking Chocolate for Valentine’s Day

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate–with Valentine’s Day approaching, it’s in the air we breathe, it’s in our dreams, and, hopefully, soon, it will be melting luxuriously on our tongues.

Cathy Wylie and Helen Sullivan-Thompson, owners of Desperately Seeking Chocolate based in Boulder Creek, are making sure of that by busily filling jar after jar with their decadent chocolate sauces.

Before starting D.S. Chocolate, Wylie was making the sauces for personal gifts, and Sullivan-Thompson approached her about starting the business selling what Sullivan-Thompson considered “an exceptional product.”

“Even though we didn’t have the experience to start and run a company, we weren’t deterred, as we knew we had the ability to learn,” Wylie said.

“And it is chocolate, after all, that we are selling,” she added.

They decided to focus solely on sauces rather than other chocolate products, because the process and set-up for producing the sauces is unique. They use “premium dark chocolate” for the sauces, which, Wylie explained, “refers to the quality of the dark chocolate that we chose.”

She said that chocolates are categorized by the percentage of cocoa they contain, and Desperately Seeking Chocolate sauces use chocolate with 60 percent cocoa.

I thought it was interesting that one of the ingredients in the sauces is brown rice syrup.

Wylie said the syrup is used as a sweetener along with brown sugar.

“We used to use corn syrup,” Wylie said. “But we made the change to rice syrup, because we felt it more closely followed our belief in using the best ingredients that we could find.”

The line of D.S. Chocolate sauces includes Hot Fudge, Mocha Latte Fudge, Mint Fudge and Ginger Habanero. Wylie said they are working on some new flavors to add to their variety of sauces sometime in the future.

Besides pouring the sauces over ice cream, Wylie suggests using them as fondue for fruit or pound cake or drizzled over brownies.

All the sauces are available at , as well as other locations throughout Santa Cruz County.

Below, Wylie provides a decadent dessert recipe­–Molten Chocolate Cake with D.S. Chocolate Sauce.

“The molten cakes with any of our sauces drizzled over is a really easy and impressive dessert for someone special,” she said. “I am making mine in some heart-shaped custard dishes for the guys in my life.”

Easy and impressive, I like that! And it sounds like the perfect ending to a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with my sweetie.

I hope everyone has a happy, romantic and chocolate-filled Valentine’s Day!

Molten Chocolate Cakes with D.S. Chocolates Mint Fudge Sauce

Note from D.S. Chocolate: These cakes are decadent, rich and every chocolate lover's ultimate dessert. They are served warm with D.S. Chocolate's warmed Mint Fudge Sauce. They are so simple and yet very elegant. Make them for someone special this Valentine's Day.

Ingredients:

5 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Vanilla ice cream

Equipment:

6 3/4 cup ramekins, or custard cups

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly. Whisk eggs and egg yolks in large bowl to blend. Whisk in sugar, then chocolate mixture and flour. Pour batter into dishes, dividing equally.

Bake cakes until sides are set but center remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes. While cakes are baking, warm D.S. Chocolate's Mint Fudge sauce in a pan of simmering water or microwave on high at 20-25 second intervals until warm. Remove cakes from oven and run a small knife around edges to loosen. Immediately turn cakes out onto plates. Spoon warm Mint Fudge sauce around cakes. Serve with ice cream.

Cakes can be assembled one day ahead, covered and refrigerated. Bake according to directions above lengthening the baking time up to 14 minutes.