Belcolade’s marketing executive Lydia Baines (pictured) holds aloft a chocolate dessert, made especially to celebrate the company’s 20th birthday.

The birthday party took place at Whittlebury Hall at the end of a golf and spa day out for many of its largest buyers. The event was hosted by Dan Oakley, managing director of parent company Puratos, who was joined by Gert De Boever, regional director for Western Europe.

The dessert, made using dark, milk and white chocolate, was created by Ernst Bachmann, Puratos’ award-winning Patissier of the Year at last year’s Baking Industry Awards. Belcolade was established in 1988 and produces dark, milk and white real Belgian chocolate, which it exports as liquid, drops, blocks, chips, chunks and grains, to over 90 countries worldwide.

Included in the range are chocolates using cocoa from Fairtrade or Rainforest certified farms.