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Developing new sweet skills in Chocolate

Taking a Chocolatier diploma is a great idea to expand your creativity and repertoire as a baker.

If you have been thinking about expanding your skills you may of looked at online courses including ones by a company called SMART Majority. After seeing a Wowcher for a Chocolatier course we thought we would give it a go!

Basics of the Chocolatier Diploma

This SMART Majority course claims to take you from basics to advanced in just 12 modules. By covering everything from the understanding of bar to bean to specific recipes.

We learnt everything from the history of chocolate to the best way to temper. As well as how to make ganache, filled shell and layered chocolates. The course was really interesting and sparked a new passion. We even took ourselves for a field trip to Brussels (very important research to be done of course!).

How we found completing the Chocolatier Diploma

The course was a really good starting point. With the 12 modules it covered a lot of information.

We really enjoyed creating the chocolates and learning about all the techniques (and enjoyed eating the results!).

Mostly you read information in units, perhaps answer a few questions and move on. You have access to a “tutor” but we didn’t use that factor much, except any set work. If you are struggling with certain elements you may find that the odd Google or search on Youtube for specific help is quicker.

We did find that the course material wasn’t very well written. It is almost as if the author had cut and pasted lots of different paragraphs of information and different styles of recipes from different sources. So it didn’t always make complete sense together.

How much does it cost?

We bought our course (3 months online access) via Wowcher so it was only around £26ish. I don’t think that was too bad. We did however have to buy a 3 month extension which cost around £20 again from Smart Majority. But if you buy the course straight from SMART majority it costs £399 which we would not of been happy to pay! It’s currently listed as free with a value of $550 (as of September 2021). Update in September 2023 it is now listed as $100 or £83!

So is the Chocolatier Diploma worth it?

The skills you learn are great and we find doing a course really helps you to focus on achieving something. It helps focus the mind to actually achieve what you set out to do. When we are left to our devices, no matter how much we ‘want’ to do something something else always seems to get in the way!

However for the way the course was set up and its rushed feel of direction it wasn’t worth the amount they are trying to charge. Although again time limits are often great encouragers. Especially if you will lose money if you don’t meet the time scale!

If you are interested in making chocolates or something similar an online course is a good idea. The time scale does motivate you to actually do it. But I would personally recommend that you look for a good deal such as from Wowcher or a similar site rather than booking direct with SMART Majority!

Have you thought about completing an online crafting or baking course? How did it go? Let us know in the comments!