Chocoholics, listen up! Sussex now has a chocolate and confectionery society

Although created only a month ago, the reese-ently founded ‘Choc soc’ is a growing, sweet-toothed community, with the founder, Dimitrios Theodorakis, taking it upon himself to educate us all on the intricacies of baking.

Dimitrios' love of chocolate and baking came from a combination of Raymond Blanc's desserts and the GBBO's many chocolate challenges.

This then inspired him to start the 'Chocolate and Confectionery Society', so that he could share his love of chocolate with other students, and hopefully impart some of his knowledge of baking onto others.

Having already held five previous events, including weeks making ‘Aztec Chocolate Bars’ and a ‘Giant Jaffa Cake’, this society is a delicious way to spend your Thursday evenings.

The events themselves vary from free baking lessons, to relaxing evenings spent playing board games and of course munching on your favourite chocolate or sweet of choice.

Cinnamon bun baking week

There’s also a weekly ‘Cookie Wars’, where members can participate by baking their own themed cookies – whether that’s to win the grand prize or to just spend a night stuffing your face with a buffet of sweets.

Last week for example, I attempted to bake a batch of triple chocolate cookies and, for someone that has never picked up a baking tray in their life, I can't explain the overwhelming sense of achievement that I received from not burning the house down.

The events are currently held at the society leaders home in Brighton, however, with the group growing fast, they are already considering applying for funding from the union to invest in an on campus oven, and hiring out a seminar room for future chocolate tasting evenings.

Aztec Chocolate bars

There are many creative ideas planned for the future, including a hot chocolate movie night, making molten chocolate/ganache cupcakes, and even getting into the Christmas spirit (it's never too early) by building a giant gingerbread castle to display in Falmer house.

We tried our own cookie making

The society is extremely welcoming, laid back and accessible to all -because who doesn't love chocolate, am I right? Considering that I entered the society with complete culinary ineptitude, and can now proudly make an assortment of confectionery snacks, I feel almost confident enough to submit my Bake Off 2018 application.

So if you think this society is for you, or just fancy broadening your chocolate horizons, their next meeting will be held on November 9 with a masterclass on traditional pulled sweets. To find out more, check out their Facebook page here.