Elizabeth Kuehne’s small business Sin Confections combines art and homegrown flavors to create unrivaled chocolate masterpieces.
If you smell a sweet mixture of fresh chocolate and homegrown fruits and herbs while walking down First Street, you’re not dreaming.
But you’re probably near the kitchen/workshop/home of Long Beach’s most unique chocolate creations: Sin Confections.
Elizabeth Kuehne is never satisfied with her work. Even after 20 years of growing her own ingredients, consuming books on the science of chocolate, grinding her own cocoa beans and hand-painting each of her crafty confections, she will tell anyone, “chocolate is the master.”
Her resolve to always improve has resulted in the most intricate and tasty chocolate figures in Long Beach. It’s a balance that’s uncommon, Kuehne says, but one that’s of the utmost importance.
“I think that you should have chocolate that tastes as good as it looks,” Kuehne said. “A lot of times, commercial chocolate or even the high-end stores, it can look really pretty, but it doesn’t taste good. And I think that’s disappointing because we taste first with our eyes.”
Kuehne made her first batch of chocolate over 20 years ago, when her husband (a chocolate lover) gifted her a recipe book. She “took the hint” and tried her hand at one of the recipes.
“I failed miserably and said, ‘Okay I’m hooked now,’” Kuehne recalled.
Hundreds of tests later, Kuehne was confident in her abilities. She began gifting her chocolatey creations to friends free of charge, and after hosting a spirit-chocolate pairing party and watching the attendees swarm the table, elbowing one another to grab their favorites, she realized she was creating something noteworthy.
Kuehne’s workshop is now filled with dozens of molds she’s either bought online or acquired from family and friends.
Since Kuehne went to school for horticulture, she was already equipped with a love for gardening. This made for a clear innovation that truly makes Sin Confections stand apart: she took her homegrown ginger, lemongrass, mint, lemons, oranges, grapefruits, pomegranates, mushrooms among many more fruits and herbs and incorporated it into her treats.
While most molded chocolate follow the same recipe, a chocolate shell filled with ganache, Kuehne prefers to challenge herself with uncommon combinations and allows customers to request their own flavors.
“I’ll never be perfect at it because I’m doing a lot of different things. I don’t find joy in repetition,” Kuehne said. “I do a lot of different designs and it’s a labor of love.”
Sin Confections made its annual return in November with its holiday menu: Wild West figures using over a dozen paints on each one, floral printed salted caramels, peppermint marshmallow snowmen, peppermint bark, hazelnut hedgehogs, a krampus peppermint chocolate shell that melts in coffee or hot chocolate and many more creative confections.
From November to May, Sin Confections will release seasonal creations, each more impressive than the last. Kuehne attributes her fearlessness while cooking to her upbringing in a German household and watching her mother make traditional and experimentative food.
“My mom is and was an amazing cook. She would raise her own pigs, slaughter them and make head cheese,” Kuehne said. “Nothing was off limits, and it was effortless the way she would make stuff.”
Though Kuehne said she would love to have her own storefront, she doesn’t think it would be feasible since her creations take so much time and money to make. The affordable cost of her chocolates doesn’t come close to breaking even, but she said that’s not a worry.
She likes to keep her business “old school”; customers learn about her sales through her mailing list and Instagram page.
Residents can purchase Sin Creations chocolate figures and bars Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. at 2827 E First St. Custom orders can be made by contacting sin@sinconfections.com.
Elizabeth’s accomplishments in the world of chocolate surpass the realm of chocolate itself. They are magical.