One lucky Wellington teen’s ultimate chocolatey dream is becoming a reality.
16- year-old Emily Batty’s chocolate bar inspired by a love of flowers and lemon and honey drinks has been crowned the overall Chocolate Dreams Supreme Winner for 2024 by Wellington Chocolate Factory.
The winning chocolate bar ‘Honeycomb’ includes lemon, manuka honey and caramelised lemon zest. Emily will be handmaking 50 bars of the real deal to take home herself, and another 450 bars are to be sold instore at WCF later this year.
"Judges noted its cleverness in tasting like a lemon, honey and ginger drink, Emily’s original inspiration,” says head judge and WFC co-founder Gabe Davidson.
Her impressive packaging was also selected as the top pick in the Teen category, featuring a beautifully drawn flower garden with a single bumble bee looking up to honeycomb, highlighting the chocolate’s inspiration.
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Emily says she is “thrilled” on her win and was totally taken by surprise.
“I wasn’t expecting to win when I entered, but I like doing art, so I am very happy that I have won.”
The teen adds that she was encouraged to enter the competition after her mum spotted it on Instagram and thought it would be “a fun thing to do”.
While Emily isn't considering a career in the chocolate industry for her future, she has expressed interest in entering the world of design - she’ll go far if that’s the level she’s producing at such a young age.
Two others are being praised for their creative chocolate creations. 11-year-old Neveah Wendt’s flavour Gingerberry Explosion took out top spot in the Junior category, while Hannah Pett’s Spiced Apricot was the winner of the Open entries.
This is the first year the competition has returned since going on a bit of a hiatus back in 2020. And it marks the first year of entries being open to multiple age categories.
Previously, it was just the little ones who could get involved, but after interest was shown by all ages, WCF decided it was time to expand the competition and allow some of the older kids to have a turn at making their Willy Wonka dreams come to life.
Thank goodness they did, because I’m already counting down until Emily’s creation is on the shelves.
