Easter has special significance for some of us, while others are just looking for an excuse to binge on chocolate. Whether you’re a one square, post-dinner nibbler or a student of all things Willy Wonka, we’ve put together a list of artisan chocolatiers around the country where you can pick up something a cut above a Cadburys Dairymilk egg…
Shautany, White River (and now also Nelspruit and Dullstroom)
One of South Africa’s first artisanal chocolatiers, a fait accompli of Belgian Mary-Anne marrying a farmer in Hazyview, a subtropical fruit-growing area near the Kruger Park. Together they saw the potential to supply the lodges and hotels with fine Belgian chocolate. Quality chocolate was then unappreciated, but they kept to doing things the slow way, and eventually opened their first retail shop in White River’s Casterbridge shopping centre, which became a hit. The factory is now in White River, where 12 ladies work at creating each perfect truffle. They’re masters too at the elusive chocolate-dipped orange peel.
Torino’s Chocolate aka The Chocolate House, Cape Town
The Chocolate House is very mysterious, in that you can’t find any information online besides its address. Once you step into the boudoir-style room on Kloof Nek Road, however, the mystery dissipates in a puff of cocoa-flavoured smoke. The space may be small but the selection is rich and vast. This is the retail space of Roland Ramm, who has been supplying Cape Town with handmade chocolates since 1984. You’ll find anything you could dream up in the way of truffles, creams, pralines, ganaches and fondants.
Cocoafair, Cape Town
Cape Town‘s chocolatier du jour is something a little different. Not only do they make artisan chocolate that is organic and reasonably priced, it is also ethical. They’re the first organic bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Africa, based on social entrepreneurship. The factory produces chocolate bars and truffles in a way that improves the lives of many, not just the business – it’s people, profit, planet in the real sense of the word. What’s more, they make artisan chocolate accessible to all South Africans, using the shavings and ‘waste’ chocolate to produce organic chocolate bars which is sold cheaply in the townships.
Honest Chocolate, Cape Town
Health nuts get your diaries out, because you’ll want to make a date with these chocophiles. The Honest Chocolate Shop is known for the distinct feel and taste of their pure dark chocolate, owing to the headline ingredient – raw cacao powder (as opposed to cocoa powder, which is used in most chocolate). With a Chocolate Café and a gin bar right alongside, all conveniently located on Wale Street in the foodie zone of Cape Town''s city centre, you can make a day out your trip to sample their bonbon truffles and homemade chocolate spread.
Moniki Chocolates, Tulbagh
Nikki de Wolf van Kooij started her Belgian chocolate-making enterprise on her farm in Tulbagh. She has since moved to a charming little shop in the town centre to cope with demand. This is really the A to Z chocolate experience, as chocoholics can book tours of the complete chocolate making process, participate in a truffle-making workshop or enjoy wine and chocolate parings.
Huguenot Fine Chocolates, Franschhoek
It’s no surprise that South Africa’s culinary capital, Franschhoek, has a boutique chocolaterie – and handily located on the main street so you can pop in for pralines and truffles after a big lunch. You can even watch the chocolate being made. They have beautifully wrapped gift boxes with a selection of chocolates if you’re short on something to take home to mother-in-law at the end of your trip.
Le Chocolatier, Stellenbosch
These luxurious handmade truffles, pralines and chocolate slabs are known as much for their beautiful appearance as they are for their taste – their Swiss pedigree can be seen in the craftsmanship in their shapes. They’re made the Swiss way in Paarl, with no preservatives or filling ingredients, and sold on pretty Church Street in Stellenbosch. Banters will be excited to know that Le Chocolatier developed a chocolate which is suitable for the Banting Diet - completely sugar-free and free from any soy lecithin, and vegan-friendly to boot. We’re more inclined to try a little of everything, though.
DV Artisan Chocolate, Hermanus
As the bar to perfection is set ever higher, DV is described as a ‘bean-to-bar’ micro batch chocolate maker, one of just a few in the world. They roast their own beans and then slowly grind, refine and conch them using ancient techniques, where just the mention of vegetable fats, added vanilla or artificial colourings would have you thrown out. Look out for their distinctive colourful packaging at Newton Johnson Wines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, or take the kids to sample their flavours at Paarl''s Spice Route chocolate tasting.
GaBoLi Chocolates, Betty’s Bay 
Gaspard is the chef of well known restaurant The Whaling Station, and on the side he personally hand makes each of his sought after chocolates. He’s known by locals as the Willy Wonka of Betty’s Bay, but instead of a factory he operates from the kitchen of his modest facebrick house. His personal commitment to making each chocolate means they’re in short supply, which obviously makes them even tastier (GaBoLi stands for Gaspard Bossut Limited - because there’s only one of him!).
Von Geusau Chocolates, Greyton
Richard von Geusau’s elegantly packaged chocolate slabs are well known to South African foodies, but it’s worth a visit to the pretty village of Greyton in the mountains of the Overberg to see where they come from. All the chocolates are meticulously handmade, using fresh farm cream, roasted nuts, exotic liqueurs, spices and other ingredients. Recently they’ve been combining chocolate and wine, working with masterful Waterford Winery winemaker, Kevin Arnold, to develop a range of chocolates that match well with wines where each flavour enhances the other - such as Cabernet with a Rock Salt dark chocolate.
Chocolate Memories, Drakensberg, KwaZulu Natal
If the provenance of your food is important, it’s hard to find something better than chocolates handmade in a mountain cottage in the foothills of Champagne Valley in the Central Drakensberg. This is where husband and wife team Tammy & Edi make their slabs, hand wrapped in gold foil and rustic brown boxes. Look out for them at delis and Portfolio establishments throughout the Drakensberg area.
McKinley Chocolates, Clarens
Calen Thomas relocated from Alaska where he’d trained with Belgian chocolatiers to Ficksburg in the Free State, where they didn’t know much about chocolate making at all. The fact that Ficksburg is the cherry capital of Africa, however, is a useful ingredient for a chocolatier. He set about making confections using the finest Swiss and Belgian chocolate – and now he’s rightly famous for his handmade truffles. Look out too for his pralines and a range of nougats – and of course, the perfectly paired chocolate cherries.