Chocolate and Valentine’s Day is as cliche as it gets, but that didn’t stop me from taking a chocolate-making class at Central Market last week on the eve of Valentine’s Day. It was taught by Annie Rupani, owner, chocolatier and founder of the local chocolate company, Cacao & Cardamom. A former Miss Pakistan World, 23 years old and well traveled, Rupani makes chocolates as diverse as her background.

They’re beautiful and whimsical with vibrant colors and unexpected shapes, like the green and yellow swirled Buddhas filled with a five-spice hazelnut praline, or the Jackson Pollock-esque tear-shaped Szechuan peppercorn chocolates airbrushed with yellow and splattered with black. Then there’s the swirly cylinder of purple and yellow filled with a tamarind guava ganache. They’re as much for the eyes as they are for the palate. Well, almost.

For the nearly three-hour class, Rupani covered every step in the process. First came the creation of fillings like banana pâté de fruit (Rupani calls this a fancy way of saying “banana jelly”), nutmeg ganache, balsamic ganache and Champagne ganache. Things were stirred, heated, stirred again and left to set or put into piping bags.

Next, Rupani brought out the molds, cocoa butter “inks,” paint brushes and a portable airbrush. Students spritzed blue ink into molds, splashed red into some shaped like hearts, finger-painted purple and green into yet another.

The third step of “shelling” required the most resolve. Tempered chocolate was ladled into the molds in which the colored ink had set. After banging it on the counter to remove all the air bubbles, it was then poured out, the only chocolate remaining stuck to the inside of the mold in a thin layer. This would form the shell for the bonbon. It’s harder than it sounds.

After these fragile shells had hardened, it was time for the fillings. For some, the banana pâté de fruit and nutmeg ganache were piped delicately into the molds, for others, the Champagne ganache. A few stuffed the balsamic ganache into fresh figs, taste testing every step of the way.

Finally, the “capping” was done by pouring one final layer of chocolate into the almost-full molds. The excess was scraped away with a spatula and the chocolates left to harden. In the interim, Rupani gave a quick demonstration of the arduous process behind her hazelnut five-spice praline filling, which involves caramelizing sugar, processing it into a paste with the nuts and crumbled feuilletine (crisp flakes) and mixing it with chocolate and cocoa butter. In what became my favorite moment of the night, the bowl of filling was passed around with tasting spoons, and I’m not ashamed to admit I dipped into the bowl more than twice.

At last the molds were emptied, some more ceremoniously than others, but all intact and without blemish, all through the guidance of Rupani, who flitted around the kitchen all evening from student to student, explaining why and how and where and when.

Eventually, we all gathered our chocolate souvenirs, thanked Rupani for her time and expertise and headed our separate ways. Some of the class members seemed to honestly entertain the idea of making more chocolates at home. Others, like myself, left with a better understanding of how temperamental, detailed and labor-intensive the process of making chocolate is, enjoying the one time experience, but knowing personal limitations would most likely prevent any individual projects of the sort.

All of us left in awe of Rupani’s talent, her impeccable palate and her youthful energy. And all of us left with a deeper appreciation for handmade chocolates, whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not.

Cacao & Cardamom chocolates are available at Central Market and Revival Market as well as online at www.cacaoandcardamom.com. The schedule of Central Market cooking classes can be found here.