Sweet success for chocolatier Shona

A Blairgowrie-based chocolatier is celebrating this week after winning a national prize.

Shona Sutherland of Taystful Cakes, won a number of medals at the Scottish Culinary Championships at Glasgow’s SECC last week. The local businesswoman won gold and silver medals, including the overall Best in Class prize, in the Works in Chocolate class, and bronze in the Food Photography class.

Shona used delicate garnishes and decorations to add the final touches to her chocolates, and was keen to emphasise the importance of local ingredients in her baking.

Some of her chocolate combinations included Scottish rhubarb with Chambord, pink grapefruit with fresh basil, lulo fruit with cardamon, and Perthshire raspberries with tonka bean ganache.

She said:“Knowing how much work I had put into the chocolates, I was completely over the moon that I received gold and silver medals. It’s definitely a dream come true.”

She added:“Overall it was a fantastic experience, and meeting so many other competitors and food businesses, as always, was inspiring.”