To celebrate World Chocolate Day (July 7th), we’re shining the spotlight on Cadbury World’s Donna Oluban and Dawn Jenks, two chocolatiers doing what many would consider the dream job!
Donna Oluban (59) and Dawn Jenks (54) have worked at the Birmingham-based attraction for almost 20 years – starting work on the same day in 2004.
As key members of Cadbury World’s Chocolate Making team, the duo’s primary role is to handcraft and decorate a variety of exclusive chocolate treats such as chocolate teapots and shoes and create chocolatey showstoppers from moon landings and giant Easter eggs to a tribute to William Shakespeare.
Donna says, “Being a Cadbury World chocolatier isn’t like any other job. We’re able to get creative every day, designing and decorating handmade items for sale in the shop, as well as personalised gifts that guests pre-order and collect on the day of their visit. It is lovely to make chocolatey gifts that are part of our guest’s special days.
“Seeing our creations make a visitor’s day is a really special feeling. Plus, we get to work with chocolate all day, and who wouldn’t want to do that!”
Dawn added, “One of my favourite parts of the job is designing the showstopping chocolate creations. We’re always tasked with weird and wacky things to build, and we’ve created some amazing things over the years.
“My personal favourite was our chocolate baby diplodocus, which we created to celebrate the Birmingham-based leg of ‘Dippy on Tour’. We crafted him to poke his head around a cracked shell as though eager to take in his new surroundings.”
Meticulously handcrafting the designs can be tricky, Donna said, “The first thing we have to do is break down the idea into shapes in order to create the main elements of the showstopper. Then we get our magical box of tricks out!
“An insider secret is that we actually use all sorts of household items and packaging, from yoghurt pots to biscuit trays which can be filled with liquid chocolate and set. All our designs require a lot of intricate hand-piping to bring the piece to life”.
However, not everything always goes to plan; Dawn said, “In 2015, we created a chocolate aeroplane for Birmingham airport, and on route, unfortunately, a rather sudden speed bump caused the wings to fall off the main structure. Back at Cadbury World, we had to quickly mastermind something to support the wings, which wouldn’t spoil the overall look of the creation.
“Taking a look around the attraction, by chance, we found cloud shapes used for themed lighting in our Cadbury World Café, which worked perfectly to mould chocolate cloud shapes to fit underneath the wings. These were then taxied over to the airport where we quickly fitted the pieces back together using chocolate ‘glue’ along with the new supporting clouds, just in time for the launch.”
For further information and to organise a visit to Cadbury World, please visit the website: www.cadburyworld.co.uk.
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