About Beyond Cocoa
My Story
My name is Susie, founder and owner of Beyond Cocoa Chocolates and Patisserie. I was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, one of the cocoa growing countries. I am the sixth of seven children: four brothers and two sisters. I live in the United Kingdom with my husband and three children.
The cocoa tree was something I saw almost every Saturday when I spent time on my late grandma Comfort's farm. I had a very rich childhood experience, some of which reminds me a lot about my grandma and the care she put into ensuring her cocoa beans were dried well before the men from the Cocoa Board come to buy from her.
My grandma loved milo (a hot chocolate drink) and thought that was all there was to cocoa. Having tasted the fresh cocoa fruit as a child and seen the process of harvesting the fruits when ready, extracting and drying of the beans, I now truly appreciate cocoa farmers as a chocolatier. Beyond Cocoa is in honour of my grandma’s memory, for inspiring me to be who I am today and on whose farm I learned about cocoa. This basic understanding of cocoa has helped me to appreciate the fact that there is more to cocoa than it being just a tree whose fruit I enjoyed on my grandma’s farm.
As a child I watched other people bake, including my late dad who used to bake delicious corn bread and my older sister a teacher, who taught cookery in schools. At the age of twelve when I figured out how to use my big sister’s oven and her expensive ingredients, I took over the kitchen and started to bake all sorts of “edible” treats for my family’s enjoyment.
I didn’t stop there, I also baked for sale! During a time of famine in Ghana, I baked and sold cookies made from corn meal and earned a bit of money. I decided to take foods and nutrition (cookery) at O Level and my fascination with cooking and baking hasn’t stopped.
Growing up, my dream was to become a chef one day. Well, that did not go according to plan! I became a nurse instead and followed this career path for over 27 years. My passion to bake continued until one day, a friend presented my children with a Christmas cake she had decorated herself from attending a course at the Adult Education College. This motivated me to enrol at the same college where my cake decorating took off.
To further improve my skills, I attended courses at the Squires Kitchen International School, and Le Cordon Bleu London where I added to my patisserie and cake decorating skills. My fascination with cocoa and it's sustainability took me to the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Banbury, Oxfordshire and under the expert hands and guidance from the trainers I learned the fine art of making chocolates and chocolate patisserie.