Bourbon balls, truffles, lemon crËme, fudge - hey, somebody has to make 'em, and that somebody is chocolatier Donna Gilbert, owner of Heavenly Confectionery. She learned to make bourbon balls when she was 16.
"My boyfriend's mother didn't want us in the den, so she took us in the kitchen and taught us to make bourbon balls," Gilbert said. Today, Gilbert's secret ingredient is a blend of different bourbons. "No one's ever guessed correctly," she said.
In addition to the popular bourbon balls and truffles, she creates barks in different flavors (mango, peppermint, lemon) and lactose-free and sugar-free candies. For an upcoming wedding, she is going to make a "cake" of bourbon balls.
"I love experimenting," Gilbert said. A friend in California wanted milk chocolate fudge instead of dark chocolate, and Gilbert created Colleen's Irish CrËme Fudge. The experiments don't always lead to success, though. She tried some Grand Marnier truffles that didn't sell well, and made fudge with sour cream that didn't work out.
One of her most successful endeavors is a line of wine truffles for Talon Winery. "They're selling like crazy now," said Gilbert. "I gained six pounds trying to create those truffles over a couple of months."
A native Kentuckian, Gilbert studied fashion design at the Art Institute of Atlanta. After graduation, she was a flight attendant for about 10 years until a workers' comp accident led her to biofeedback training and a meditation class. She discovered spiritual healing and aromatherapy and in 1990 opened a metaphysical bookstore in Lexington called Miracles. When she closed the shop five years later, she called the owner of Aroma Vera, who gave her a sales territory for the aromatherapy products. A couple of years later, he named her the company's national educator.
In July 1999, after Gilbert had bought a 19-acre farm in Rockcastle County, she was asked to move to California (or else no job).
"You can't just walk away from a farm," she said. She eventually did sell the farm and moved to Lexington in 2003, where she got a job at a private dining club as hostess, bookkeeper "and whatever else needed to be done." At Christmas, she took some of her homemade bourbon balls to work, and a guest chef asked, "Do you do this professionally?" Gilbert laughed it off. Fast-forward to spring of '04, when her hours were drastically cut and she found herself at a crossroads. "I was freaking out," she said. "I had given up my clients in aromatherapy. I was sitting in meditation, wondering what to do, and the scene with the chef flashed in my mind. Heavenly Confectionery was born."
She took a class in artisan chocolate at a French pastry school in Chicago and studied with a master chocolatier in Vermont and, yes, now considers herself a chocolate snob. Because she has to taste everything she makes, Gilbert eats "high protein and no carbs." Her frame of mind, or internal energy, is an important ingredient in her confections. "If I'm upset, I have to get out of that mood before I start working," she said. She plays uplifting music in the kitchen, from Andre Bocelli to Motown.
Gilbert uses a USDA-approved commercial kitchen in Madison, Ind., where the million-dollar insurance policy is covered. It's a two-hour drive twice a week and she is looking for something local, because to be a Kentucky Proud product she has to use a Kentucky kitchen.
She doesn't use preservatives in any of her products, so the shelf life of her candy is eight to 12 weeks. Chocolate melts in your mouth because its melting point is 90 degrees. When heat is applied to chocolate, alcohol dissipates. Gilbert's bourbon balls do have a kick because they're not heated. She uses a machine to temper the chocolate - the only machine she uses in the kitchen for her handmade candies. "I measure everything by weight to be exact." She measures to the eighth of a teaspoon.
To stay on top of trends, Gilbert visits European sites online. "I see what they have and I can generally figure out the recipes," she said. A client in New York requested a hot pepper truffle, which she created. A Connecticut woman called her in late April, frantic because she was having a Derby party and no one up there had ever heard of bourbon balls. Gilbert also has customers in Norway and quite a few local corporate accounts. Clients find her online and through her networking activities in town.
"I have no storefront and never will," she said. "At least for now, because I have too much freedom this way."
To learn more about Gilbert's candies, visit www.HeavenlyConfectionery.com.
Kathie Stamps is the co-founder of www.ISBO.biz, an online directory of independent/small business owners. Contact her at kstamps@isbo.biz.