Annie Rupani may have been Miss Pakistan World in 2010, but she’s Houston’s reigning queen of chocolate. The owner of the new luxury chocolate boutique Cacao & Cardamom launched her handcrafted truffles and bonbons biz in 2012—sans storefront. In 2014, she opened her sharp-looking 1,400-square-foot shop near the Galleria, where she offers a rainbow of exotic cacao-based delicacies in flavors like lychee basil and coco curry. For Valentine’s Day, expect aphrodisiac-inspired star anise and honey, champagne and Pop Rocks and balsamic ganache-infused figs.
Truffles and bonbons
“It gives me great joy to watch customers enjoying these uniquely infused chocolates and experience spices and fruits they’ve never tried before,” she says. “It inspires me to push the limits a little further in creating inventive flavors, while still retaining the ultimate flavor of chocolate in each bonbon.”
Rupani also holds classes in her “Chocolate Laboratory” at the back of the store, where she walks guests through her chocolate-making process, from creating the ganache to shelling each confection—all served with bubbly.
Cacao & Cardamom
5000 Westheimer Road, Dallas
cacaoandcardamom.com
