How to be a Chocolate Artist: it’s just like clay, but you get to lick your fingers

Chocolate gets eggstra eggstravagant at Easter. Having made the move from his ceramics gallery to a career as a chocolatier, Francis Keane of Koko Kinsale has been turning the sweet stuff into a fine art since 2012.

Ceramics to chocolate? How does that work?

Obviously you don’t lick your fingers so much when working with clay. “Chocolate, like clay, is wonderfully forgiving. Make a mess or mistake? No problem, melt the chocolate and start again,” says Keane, whose Keane on Ceramics gallery had collectors beating a path to Kinsale, until the last recession bit.

A sweet change then?

Exactly. “Working with chocolate, and keeping customers happy – what’s not to like?” asks Keane, rhetorically. Alongside dreaming up new flavours such as ginger seaweed and honey, Keane works to commission, and when it comes to what you can do with chocolate, the sky appears to be the limit. “I’ve just finished a full-size electric guitar for a 50th birthday. A mad-looking thing, like you would have seen on the telly in the ‘70s, all angles and spangles.”

I’ve heard about being as much use as a chocolate teapot, but a chocolate guitar?

You never know, it could strike a chord. A little like working with ceramics, Keane says the skills you need for the more out-there commissions are “patience and a steady hand. Simple techniques,” he adds, “can be learned at home in the kitchen. Just work slowly and without too much heat!” Check out tips at foodandwine.com under their Cooking Techniques heading.

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Right, I’m all set to invest

It’s okay to start small. Don’t shell out on costly melting and tempering machines, grinders and guns until you (ahem) know you have a taste for it. Start with some moulds, which you can pick up from under a tenner at the likes of bakeworld.ie. For larger sculptures, Keane will often make a “former” with cardboard, lined with food-grade plastic.

You mentioned tempering?

Yes, it’s a chocolate-making basic. You heat then cool the chocolate to stabilise it, which makes sure it stays smooth and glossy. You can do this at home with a bowl of hottish water and a cold kitchen worktop.

Good ingredients make great chocolate

Do spend your money on good basics: Keane gets his ingredients locally, such as seaweed from a walk on the Kinsale coast; and from around the world, like Tonka beans from the Amazon rainforest. His chocolate is sourced from specialist suppliers. Kick off with a starter pack, such as the Raw Chocolate Making Starter Kit (€26.62 by Elements for Life at notonthehighstreet.com), or an organic, vegan Chocolate Truffles Kit (€37.99 at jiminy.ie).

I’m ready to get creative

You’re in good company. Keane studied history of art, and reckons that “Chocolate and Clay” sounds like it should be a theme for an exhibition. In fact, he’s working on a new line of chocolate bars with packaging designed by some of Ireland’s leading ceramists, which will launch later this summer. At this time of year, he’s busily hand painting special Easter eggs, inspired, he says, by everything from nearby sea caves to artists such as Jackson Pollock, Cy Twombly and Jean Michel Basquiat. “A well-made chocolate should last minutes, a well-made ceramic could last forever. Each egg is a small canvas: enjoyed visually, then purposefully smashed and eaten!”

See more at kokokinsale.com