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Jennifer Almodova painting a chocolate box lid.  A portrait of Carol's cat on a 12-inch white chocolate box lid. |
At Luv Confections we specialize in using only the finest French, Belgian and American chocolates to make elegant handmade artisanal chocolates. We are continually experimenting with new flavors and combinations of layers to provide a variety of available delights. Hand dipped bittersweet chocolates in single layers feature ganaches (mixtures of chocolate and cream). Flavors include cacao nibs, cappuccino, Meyer lemon, orange, raspberry, peanut butter, pistachio, ginger, mocha, caramel, chili, Chinese five spice, curry or vanilla. Dark chocolate ganache can be topped with rice crispies to make a crunchy chocolate. Two layer bonbons include a layer of bittersweet ganache combined with a second layer of white chocolate ganache, passion fruit, cinnamon marshmallow, pate de fruit of various flavors, or marzipan. New popular combinations are hazelnut mochas (crunchy hazelnut praline and mocha dark chocolate ganache) and pecan caramallows (honey vanilla pecan caramels and vanilla marshmallow) Other popular hand dipped bonbons are crunchy hazelnut praline, vanilla caramels with pecans, chocolate caramels, orange caramels, coffee caramels, raspberry caramels, caramelized hazelnut clusters, toffee, or flavored marshmallows. Dark chocolate molded bonbons are filled with bittersweet ganache, semi liquid caramel, hazelnut praline, or marshmallow. We also make white chocolate bonbons, hand dipped and molded, with pistachio, vanilla, Meyer lemon, ginger, coconut, apricot, or cognac centers. Rocky road squares, chocolate barks, almond haystacks, mendiants (chocolate circles topped with candied fruit and nuts), chocolate dipped orange and lemon peel or candied apricots are available on request. All chocolates are decorated with elegant designs of colored cocoa butter. When appropriate, the design may identify an ingredient, denote a holiday, or celebrate a special event. Other specialties include elegantly decorated boxes made of chocolate filled with bonbons, and life sized chocolate Bordeaux and Champagne bottles with custom labels. We also specialize in white and dark chocolate plaques, box lids, wine bottles and bonbons hand painted with original art by our accomplished artist and art instructor, Jennifer Almodova. Custom paintings may be available on request. Cookie specialties include white and chocolate sugar cookies, and gingerbread decorated with elegant or whimsical royal icing designs, “magic cookies” of crunchy peanut butter dipped in chocolate, Oreo cookies molded with designs, and a large selection of European holiday cookie treats. Specialty cakes can be customized for any occasion. Our signature recipe is dark chocolate buttermilk cake filled and frosted with either bittersweet chocolate buttercream, bittersweet chocolate mousse, or white chocolate cream cheese buttercream, which can be decorated for weddings with chocolate tiles on the sides and bouquets of real roses in the center, or turned into a chocolate box with chocolate sides and topped with bonbons for birthdays or other occasions. Round layers can be elegantly banded with chocolate transfer designs. Custom flavors and designs are also available. We enjoy sharing our knowledge and skills with others. Private chocolate making classes for up to 3 participants are available. Students may select to learn how to cut, hand dip and decorate ganache centers, make a chocolate box with a decorated lid, make rocky road or chocolate bark, or make molded chocolates. Students take home all their production. Cookie decorating classes can be scheduled as well. Learn how to make royal icing and decorate sugar or gingerbread cookies and take home all your cookie art. Recipes provided.We appreciate your comments. Please email us at luvconfections@yahoo.com Carol Nimelstein grew up in Marin County, California, where she attended the Kent School, Marin Country Day School and the Katharine Branson School. Carol subsequently attended Stanford University and graduated with distinction and a Phi Beta Kappa key. She proceeded through Stanford Medical School and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and practiced in Marin County for 20 years before retiring to pursue her passion for all things confectionary. Carol enjoyed two brief stints studying with Charles Bataille, a chocolatier in Belleme, France, where Carol‘s longstanding study of the French language was put to the test. Of French chocolate, Carol says it's amazing that there are gorgeous chocolate shops on every block in Paris, and that she recalls being awestruck by the beauty, perfection and taste of the chocolates. Inspired in part by her French chocolate experience, Carol has developed a chocolate expression rivaling her French contemporaries. She produces hand dipped bittersweet and white chocolate bonbons, with a variety of ganache centers, as well as molded bonbons and molded boxes and bottles. All are elegantly decorated with transferred or hand painted one of a kind designs. She enjoys gifting her wares of chocolates, cookies and special occasion cakes and will take a rare order now and then. A Testimonial by Jennifer Almodova The first year that Carol gave me a colorful tin of her holiday cookies, I hadn't a clue as to the time, complexity and love involved in their creation. I was unaware of the fact that only the finest ingredients were used, although, knowing Carol, I suspected this. Many mornings in the weeks preceding the holiday season, one can find Carol involved in the various stages of cookie and chocolate creation. The delicious aromas of butter, vanilla, chocolate and gingerbread envelop visitors as they enter her airy home. Sunlight filters through her warm and inviting kitchen, as she carefully removes another cookie sheet baked to perfection from her Wolf oven, or deftly pulls the transfer sheets off of the top of a tray of freshly minted dark chocolates, while her tempering machine whirs in the background. She makes it look like a dance of sorts, I think, as I watch Carol in motion. I remember contemplating a deliciously fragrant and elaborate checkerboard cookie of chocolate and shortbread that had just been whisked from the oven, and thinking to myself that its execution was no small culinary feat. To watch Carol nimbly handle the tools and ingredients of a master confectioner is like watching a prima ballerina dance. Even the tins in which Carol places her wares are carefully selected for friends with themes in mind: people's lives, loves and interests. The cookies and chocolates are placed in the tins with thought for who will enjoy which cookies or chocolates. If someone has an allergy, aversion or a passion for a particular flavor, then she thoughtfully considers this. Cat and dog lovers are apt to discover a gingerbread version of their beloved pets; realtors a gingerbread house, boys and girls a giant gingerbread boy or girl. The unbelievable cake that Carol so lovingly crafted for my birthday party last year is now known in perpetuity as the “chocolate love bomb.” This scrumptious, unforgettable eight layer beauty has worked its way into the collective unconscious of my group of friends. In a time when fast foods, fast relationships, gift cards, online shopping and the like typify our instantaneous culture, Carol’s approach to gifting her holiday cookies and chocolates is a true breath of fresh air. Her wares are love made manifest in confectionary form. Her budding business is aptly named Luv Confections. Jennifer Almodova This is what Patricia Unterman in the San Francisco Examiner says about Luv Confections: |
