Imagine a world where everything is made of chocolate: people, trains, butterflies, flowers, shoes, vegetables, teapots and footballs.
This is the working world that Dave Ratcliffe inhabits. He is chief chocolatier at Choccywoccydoodah, a studio and shop in Brighton, and his colleagues call him Captain Chocolate. He’s a real-life Willy Wonka who turns chocolate into sculptures: Choccywoccydoodah even provided the chocolate treats for the Tim Burton film of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
He has made cakes for celebrities including Kylie and Madonna, and one of his favourite creations was a unicorn-themed cake for the TV presenter Davina McCall. But whoever it is for, he has one rule: “They have to gasp when they see it.”
Dave, 42, has been in the job for 11 years — but he was lucky to get it. When the company advertises for a trainee, it gets about 400 responses from as far afield as Japan and America.
The secret, Dave says, is treating the creations as artworks or fashion items rather than just food, so it helps that he has a degree from art school and has tried his hand at fashion design. He recently made a Marie Antoinette bust out of white chocolate, decorating her face as if he was applying real make-up.
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The team he works with includes a baker, Jim, and an ambitious assistant, Tom, who takes Jim’s cakes, layers them up using truffle as glue, and covers them in chocolate. Dave then adds the intricate decorations, while helpers whip up any “accessories” needed, such as butterflies or delicate chocolate fans.
What goes into all these is top secret: staff must sign a confidentiality agreement before they are told. But here’s one odd fact: they use brandy to stick glitter on to chocolate — dabbing on the booze, then flicking on sparkles from the back of a brush.
They have been asked to make some difficult things, such as chocolate giraffes, but so far there have been no disasters. “We’ve never actually dropped a cake,” says Dave. And that’s a relief, given that the average cake takes two days to make, and the most elaborate projects take much longer.
Does he ever get fed up with so much chocolate? Apparently not. “I absolutely love it,” he says with a laugh. “I’m addicted — I have to eat it every day. When I go on holiday I take a week’s supply of chocolate with me.”