Desserts
Holiday Desserts: Chocolatier Steven Hodge Shares Some Favorite Recipes
Published on December 18, 2024
This article was originally published in our November 2023 issue.
Steven Hodge wants you to know that chocolate is more than just a guilty pleasure — it’s a holiday essential. The owner–head baker of Temper Chocolate & Pastry in West Vancouver, B.C., also hosts Great Chocolate Showdown on Food Network Canada. After graduating from the California Culinary Arts Institute, Steven moved to London and worked as a pastry chef at some of the city’s top restaurants including Le Caprice, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and The Wolseley. When he returned to West Vancouver, Steven worked at Thomas Haas Chocolates as the head chocolatier, eventually opened his own shop, and now he’s written his much anticipated first book; Chocolate All Day.
Scroll down to see Steven in his kitchen, learn more about baking with chocolate and watch him make his signature Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark!
HOUSE & HOME: How intimidating is making a chocolate recipe?
STEVEN HODGE: It’s not! Lots of people avoid chocolate recipes because they think chocolate’s too hard to work with, but it’s easier than you think. Even if you mess up tempering, you can just melt it down and try again.
H&H: What kind of chocolate do you recommend using?
SH: My favourite brand is Valrhona Chocolate from France. It comes in all different percentages and the higher you go, the healthier it is — especially 70 per cent and above. To get the best chocolate, reach out to your local bakery because they might sell it. Then, all you need is a microwave-safe bowl, offset spatula and a digital cooking thermometer.
H&H: What recipes from your new book are must-makes?
SH: For a healthy grab-and-go snack, the Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark is fun because you can add anything from cherries to hazelnuts and play around to find the best combination. It can be whipped up at the last minute to take to a holiday party.
Get the recipe for Steven’s Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bark here.
H&H: Speaking of the holidays, what does this time of year look like at your house?
SH: The holidays are crazy! My parents have 12 grandkids under 10, so it’s always loud but fun. I make Turkey Wellington with puff pastry and mushroom duxelles. This is the one time of year when I leave the baking to my mom, Nada Hodge (pictured, above). She makes pies, trifle and a variety of loaves.
H&H: What do you offer at Temper Chocolate & Pastry during the holidays?
SH: One of my favorite holiday traditions at the store is building and carving chocolate sculpture showpieces that we display and sell. I often get inspiration from my kids’ toys and decorations around our house at this time of year. Making those sculptures at Thomas Haas Chocolates is how I fell in love with chocolate and decided to open my own shop. I also love experimenting with flavours. Recently, I created a Pimm’s-flavoured chocolate inspired by drinking pitchers of Pimm’s when I lived in London.
H&H: Your career really took off when you were in London. Why did you move there?
SH: After culinary school, I knew I wanted to work in fine dining and London was the hub. I got a job at Le Caprice in 2006 making classic British desserts like Eton Mess and bread puddings. Then I wanted Michelin-level experience, so I got a job at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and made soufflés and tartes tatin, before moving to The Wolseley and making everything from petits fours to chocolate.
H&H: Where are your two favorite places to eat in London?
SH: You have to go to The Wolseley! It’s such an amazing, high-end experience. And then there’s The Fat Duck, just outside of London. It has delicious modern British cuisine.
H&H: What’s next for you?
SH: We’re working on creating a frozen line of Temper products, starting with our croissants, which will be sold in grocery stores. I think there’ll be another book in the future, too. Whatever I do, it will always be about food!
“The No-bake Chocolate Ganache Tart is so easy to execute, and it will wow your guests. It’s the same style of ganache we use at Temper to make our chocolates. If you want to pack a punch of rich chocolate, this is the dessert.” – Steven Hodge
Get the recipe for the No-bake Chocolate Ganache Tart here.
“In this light and airy scone, the sweetness of the white chocolate is cut by the acidity of the raspberry to make a perfect pairing.” – Steven Hodge
Get the recipe for the White Chocolate Raspberry Scones here.
“I created this brioche spin on the eastern European classic. The loaf is very moist and made even better with the rich chocolate filling that melts into the dough.” – Steven Hodge
Get the recipe for the Chocolate Babka here.
“Salty and sweet together is such a delicious combination! These caramels have the perfect density and a light chocolate coating, so they’re not too sugary.” – Steven Hodge
Get the recipe for the Salted Chocolate Chewy Caramels here.
Chocolate All Day by Steven Hodge is available for sale now.
Janis Nicolay (Steven's portraits, bark)/Jimmy Jeong (scones, babka, ganache tart, caramels)
Recipes from Chocolate All Day: From Simple to Decadent, 100+ Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Ingredient by Steven Hodge. ©2023 Steven Hodge. Photographs by Jamie Hodge and Jimmy Jeong. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved
Prop styling by Emma Reddington (bark)/Food styling by Jamie Hodge