Of Dubai bunnies and pink sweets

“Chocolaterie Stoffel” in the Palatinate region creates delicious and unusual chocolate delights in the fifth generation—and not just at Easter!

It is getting really busy in the sales rooms of the chocolate factory in Bobenheim am Berg right before Easter. During the season the roller shutters go up at 9 o’clock sharp in the Palatinate shop. And you are immediately surrounded by the pleasant, delicate aroma of fine cocoa. Tiny bunnies made of milk chocolate, extra fine milk chocolate or white chocolate, Easter bunnies on motorcycles with and without sidecars or entire long-eared families are on display in the shop window and on shelves and showcases furnished in warm wooden shades ready to fulfil their duty in the Easter nest. The largest bunny model measures a mighty 63 centimetres. Furthermore, you can find eggs made from light, dark, white or pink chocolate with a wide range of fillings. And for whom this assortment does not suffice, countless varieties of broken chocolate from chilli to caramel or decorated with all kinds of nuts are on offer, too.

They weigh between a feather-light 15 grams and a whopping 2.5 kilos—Jan Stoffel produces more than 120 different Easter bunny variants in all sizes. His family has been running the business for more than 125 years and is now in the fifth generation, with Jan acting as its managing director, chocolatier and creative mind. At the age of 80, his mother Ingrid is still behind the counter every day during the season. Here, she offers the sweet delicacies made by nine employees with great charm and vast expertise. The Stoffel family has also been selling its fine chocolates in the Heinrich-Vetter-Passage in Mannheim for 30 years now. One of the highlights there is the two-metre-high chocolate fountain in the shape of Mannheim’s famous water tower. Shop furnishings and cash register are more than 100 years old.

The various models of shiny, deliciously smelling chocolates and truffles are produced in the outbuilding of the great-grandfather’s former winery in the Palatinate. In addition to countless chocolate moulds, the most delicious ingredients are piled up there: candied and dried fruit, colourful chocolate lentils, marzipan, freshly roasted nuts or freeze-dried strawberries for colouring pink chocolate. Liquid chocolate flows continuously from a stainless steel chocolate fountain, used for coating chocolates and fruit by hand. Bunnies are also hand-painted here with white chocolate.

With over 5,000 shapes, there are hardly any limits to the motifs of the hollow figures. The famous water tower variant, which comes in two sizes, is likely the best-known one. Or the Stoffelian variant of “Mannemer Dreck”, a lebkuchen-style specialty of Mannheim. There are footballs, trainers and high heels, apples, a Porsche, cats, cameras and mobile phones in all stages of development, and even crosses for the holy communion—and all of these are made of chocolate.

I could open a chocolate museum any time

Jan Stoffel

When the production is up and running at full capacity, it starts to get loud in the chocolate factory. First, a mass of raw cocoa and cocoa butter is combined with sugar and milk powder in the mixer to form chocolate, heated to around 30 degrees and filled into the two-part chocolate moulds connected by magnets using a dosing machine. Up to 40 pieces can be spun simultaneously in one rotating machine so that the still liquid mass is evenly distributed. It is then put into the eight-metre-long cooling tunnel at 16 degrees, and there you are—the chocolate figure is ready. Theoretically, up to 10,000 chocolate bunnies could be produced like this per day. Nearby in Dackenheim, Jan runs another chocolate factory. Mainly couvertures and filled chocolates are produced there. Head of Production is Philippe Passeron, a chocolatier from Nizza.

Since the motifs are popular gifts and are suitable as gift vouchers, they change according to the season. Custom-ordered shapes such as landmarks of various cities, company logos or promotional gifts are highly sought-after. To produce these specialty creations, Jan cooperates with a mould-maker. He continually expands his own collection. He likes to acquire moulds, machines and shop furnishing from small manufactories whose owners had to terminate their businesses mostly due to their advanced age. An entire floor is now filled with them; here, you can find a wrapping machine for sweets from 1915, amongst other things. “I could open a chocolate museum any time,” the lively man from the Palatinate region says with a smile. Yet, it is impossible right now to realise this idea for lack of time.

Though the chocolate season might come to an end after Easter, the production follows on almost seamlessly from the turbulent Christmas business. Most recently, Jan developed his own Dubai chocolate Santa—but with his own pistachio crème. “That was a hit. We also produced variants with white or dark chocolate.” He is not in favour, though, of the latest trend: a pink version based on candyfloss. Dubai Easter bunnies, however, are very popular, well-accepted, as he explains. Before the company holidays between June and August, there is yet the Mother’s Day business to be carried out with lots of chocolate hearts and ladybirds.

But even during non-production time, the Stoffel family hardly has time to take a breath. The chocolate moulds need to be thoroughly cleaned, the machines to be repaired. There are only a few weeks usually for taking breaks before the season starts again in September—just in time for the grape harvest with wine bottles and grapes made of chocolate, Riesling truffles and chocolate pencils for the start of school. There are chocolate pumpkins, ghosts and even a skull for Halloween. “I traded for this one with a Mexican chocolatier at a fair.” With motifs like this, Jan expands his customer base, since skulls are popular also in the gothic scene, and words quickly spread about such creations. He likes that—putting new ideas into practice, flexibly and fast. The secret of his success? Quality and freshness. “Some products in our shops are only a few hours old”. 

www.stoffelschokolade.de