News

At Sugar Love, we've always offered shipping across the country and into Canada. In fact, way back in 2015, we were only an online shop for some time. So during this unprecedented time of social distancing, quarantining and plain ol' home-bodyness, we're already set up to fulfill those orders.

What is new to us though, is offering curbside pick-up for the Reno Tahoe area! Read more for dates and hours available.

It's the time of year for backyard BBQs, watermelon and ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream! I just can't resist a good ice cream sundae with a high quality hot fudge sauce. And to scratch my own itch for such a hot chocolate sauce, I designed a decadent hot fudge sauce using honey as a base.

Using a local honey instead of the more typical corn syrup base gives this fudge sauce a richer and less saccharine sweetness. It also gives the chocolate sauce a thicker texture which means it won't immediately pool at the bottom of your bowl (unless of course, you heat it to temperatures similar to Dante's sixth level of hell).

Another reason this hot fudge sauce is so rich is that we use both cocoa powder and real chocolate. Many quick recipes call for cocoa powder only which produces a less full-flavored chocolate-y profile. Our mixture of cocoa powder and French dark chocolate five the sauce a deep, rich chocolate taste.

The last crucial quality concern for me was how the sauce would react once poured on ice cream. My biggest pet peeve with many high-end chocolate sauces is that they often turn into a hard shell on the ice cream. Our blend of honey, fresh cream and butter make sure that this sauce stays somewhat fluid and flexible once poured on the cold ice cream.

A few of our early taste-testers (you'd be surprised how many people volunteer to help out a chocolatier when it comes to tasting new products!), have found other users for this hot fudge sauce:

• to make decadent mochas
• as a garnishment or finishing touches on plated desserts
• as a topping for waffles and crepes
• to make a delicious chocolate martini
• one person suggested eating by the spoonful straight out of the jar, but I can't recommend that in good conscious since it's not calorie free lol

Our sauce comes in a glass jar so you don't have to worry about popping it into the microwave. And it generally takes between 10 and 20 seconds to heat it up just perfectly! Keep this product refrigerated as there is fresh cream and butter. Lasts for about 30 days.

Buy it in our shop or online here.

Last spring, I stumbled upon a cocktail recipe for a French Tart. It's a simple drink to make with wonderfully complex flavors. Since then, I've been obsessed with making it into a confection. And I think I've done it!

The drink recipe (found here) has fresh grapefruit juice, simple syrup made with fresh rosemary, a splash of fresh lemon juice, vodka and St Germain. When you make the rosemary simple syrup in advance (and it really is very simple to do), throwing together this drink in a shaker is easy and will still be impressive to your friends and family. And what better drink to wish for warmer temperatures (c'mon Reno and/or winter weather)?

So while the drink recipe is surprisingly easy to throw together, the recipe for this confection took me a long time to create. The biggest issue was controlling the amount of water that is naturally in fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Because you are creating a confection that must be shelf stable for a minimum of three weeks, even with dairy products present, the chemistry of the interior is very important. And water is easily the biggest enemy in creating a wonderful chocolate. I toyed with the idea of using a grapefruit essential oil, but that just isn't my style. I like using the ingredients as they're found in nature whenever possible.

This lead me to create something other than my usual truffle made of a ganache base. Instead, this month I present the French Tart jelly. This jelly is made with fresh grapefruit juice, rosemary, lemon juice, vodka, St Germain and pectin, not gelatin. One reason being the natural source of gelatin, but the real reason is the texture. The texture of a pectin jelly is so addictive. You can thank French pâte de fruits for my addiction to that texture!

Right off the bat, let me apologize for the tardiness of this update! 2017 has threw me for a real loop (flooding of my house three times, grandma in/out/in the hospital, temporary second location opened and failed, etc etc). But I've also had loads of good news too!

The biggest one is that the manufacturer is back from holiday in China and so we're moving forward with the final design touches of the 2 piece boxes and they'll be underway soon! This was the work of our Kickstarter campaign that we ran in December. These two piece boxes will allow us to serve the corporate and wedding market better. And I can't wait to get my hands on them!

Our expansion plans are moving along as well. The expansion is into a our own kitchen that will be larger and allow for more types of goodies (drinking chocolate anyone?). And of course, pretty new pieces of equipment as well like this one I've been drooling over for months now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgCiDNauvI Isn't that pretty? No one else seems to drool as much as me... haha

Did you know that February marks two years in business for Sugar Love? Where does the time go?? Also, when do I get paid? haha

xo Krysta Bea

We're so excited the holiday season that I couldn't just create one flavor for the holidays. And these are traditional favorites with a modern look.

The Peppermint truffle takes a dark chocolate ganache made with our French 56% dark chocolate and we fold in a natural peppermint oil. It may be the perfect ending for too much holiday food since peppermint is known to settle tummies. Or at least that's what heard in the kitchen!

The second flavor is our Eggnog truffle. It's a local eggnog, brandy and a splash of cinnamon. While the peppermint may be a cooling flavor, this one will certainly warm you up! Just in time since it's snowing as I'm writing this.

I'm keeping this short - 'tis the season for me to be working like crazy. And so off I go!

For our next Sugar Love University course, we're exploring New World (Latin) flavors since that's where our chocolate obsession began and that's where some interesting things are now happening in the food world. The jungles of the Central America and the deep forests of the Amazons are beginning to shine again for their interesting ingredients and flavor profiles. Let's discover a small portion of those together at our event that we're pairing with Branded Hearts Distillery (click here for tickets). 

So what spices have we chosen for the Spiced Truffle this month? A wonderful and dark, almost raisin-like, sweet and very-long tasting heat. There is a reason why this pepper is often paired with duck, mushrooms and lamb. Then, because most people are expecting a kick from something called a Spiced Truffle, a dash of cayenne pepper is added for that necessary punch. 

This is a long flavor profile in your mouth. If you purchase several flavors - make sure to have this last. Not necessarily because it will over-power the others, but because the full flavor takes quite a while to develop on your palate. This is a flavor that rewards, and rewards slowly for those that will wait patiently. Oh and it goes perfectly with a black coffee or a highlands Scotch. Yum!

Oh my goodness!

Fantasies in Chocolate was amazing! This annual chocolate-worshipping event in Reno, Nevada was actually our debut in 2015. So to return was an amazing feeling!

This year’s theme for Fantasies in Chocolate was Diamonds and Pearls, like old Hollywood glitz and glam. As soon as I heard the theme, I immediately knew our booth should be themed as Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Not only are diamonds and pearls involved, but a retro sense of style and high-fashion pervade the movie and what I wanted our booth to be.

And how do you create flavor for an event of this description? While diamonds and pearls are beautiful decorations, they certainly are not an inspiration for confections. Hard, yet beautiful gems? I was stumped.

But if my inspiration was Holly Golightly, what would she do? Well while she drank bourbon in the movie at her lowest point, she was fabulously in love with the city and borough of Manhattan. What’s also known as a Manhattan? The drink of course!

So I ended up making a dark, sweet cherry jam with orange bitters for the top layer and then made a layer of dark chocolate ganache with Dickel rye whiskey. A Manhattan in a chocolate!

Why the polka dot decorations? Because Holly Golightly said that diamonds only look good on a woman over forty. And well, Sugar Love just turned one - so pearls (or dots) it is!