You pass a small alleyway in the Carmel Arts & Design District. A rich, earthy aroma carrying sweet hints of vanilla wafts past you. Suddenly, you find yourself drawn into the alley and transported to a narrow street in Milan or Vienna. You see a set of French doors with one simple word above them — Chocolate.
Xchocol’Art was born in 2011 and debuted at the Carmel Farmers Market just a few years later.
“One of the things that touches me the most after all these years of making chocolate is the relationships I have made through the market,” Hofer says. “I call them my ‘chocofriends.’ It’s a very sweet business in that way.”
The Hofer family moved from Austria to Indiana in 2000 because of a job transfer.
“We thought we would be here for about three years,” Hofer says. “And here we are. I would never have imagined I would be a chocolatier now.”
However, she experienced a light bulb moment while reading an article about the entire chocolate process, starting from the plant.
“This magical plant only grows five degrees north and south of the equator,” Hofer explains.
She realized that the cycle of chocolate from origination to culmination mirrors her own life. Hofer spent her childhood in Colombia, where cacao grows, and she married an Austrian and moved to a place where chocolate is perfected in its preparation.
“I knew that chocolate would be my new medium,” she says. “I used to paint — acrylic, porcelain and oil. I love to cook, and I love elaborate recipes. So it really all began out of a love for art.”
Five years ago, Xchocol’Art expanded from farmers markets and events to opening a storefront near Anthony’s Chophouse.
Hofer says she wanted a location that would be in the Carmel Arts & Design District but off the main road.
“Our location has a lot of shade, and we need that to keep the shop cool, to always have the chocolate fresh,” she says.
A student at heart, Hofer has taken courses from well-known chefs throughout Europe and the US, and she puts what she learns to good use, reinventing and perfecting her creations. She has also traveled to source her chocolate, visiting the farmers and cooperative to ensure that her chocolate can be easily traced.
Hofer spends the early part of the week in her modern professional chocolate kitchen cooking and creating her beautiful, seasonally flavored chocolates.
“We make everything fresh,” she says. “I think the most precious products that we make are the truffle collections that we box for gifts in 9-piece or 12-piece boxes. We paint some of them. They are colorful and delicious.”
X'chocol'Art's Tea Truffle Collection and Chile Truffle have been acclaimed by the San Francisco Chocolate Salon. The Whiskey Honey Truffle and the Passion Fruit Caramel Truffle have been recognized by the Academy of Chocolate in London.
Xchocol’Art is open three days a week, Thursdays through Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m., and continues to maintain a presence at the Carmel Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
Hofer will be at the Carmel Clay Public Library on Feb. 3 to present “Travel Through Chocolate,” where she will introduce the process of cacao from the tree to the confection.
X'chocol'Art's Tea Truffle Collection and Chile Truffle have been acclaimed by the San Francisco Chocolate Salon, and the Whiskey Honey Truffle and, most recently, the Passionfruit Caramel Truffle have been recognized by the Academy of Chocolate in London.
Xchocol’Art is open three days a week, Thursdays through Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. and continues to maintain a presence at the Carmel Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
Hofer will be at the Carmel Clay Public Library on Feb. 3 to present “Travel Through Chocolate,” where she will introduce the process of cacao from the tree to the bar to the confection.