Pastry chef Katherine Clapner’s new Oak Cliff sweet shop Dude, Sweet Chocolate isn’t really all that sweet—it’s dark, luscious and exotic. After a 10-year stint working with celebrity chef Stephan Pyles, Clapner has struck out along with business partner Redding May to create her world of “chocolate cool”.

 

Here’s just a taste of some of Clapner’s inventive combinations: the Marrakesh with fresh dates and razal hanout, Great Depression with roasted beet and Texas olive oil, and Provencal with dried pear, basil and rosemary salt. “A lot of people love toffee and sugary fudge. I hate them. Things that are musty, earthy, balance out the sugar,” says Clapner. “I like choosing products from different cultures, and I usually go with my gut. It hasn’t let me down yet but I’m waiting, it will.”

 

There’s been an explosion in the market of chocolate varieties, but Katherine Clapner knows how to select the best. “Basically any country that grows coffee grows good chocolate beans. I prefer single origin chocolate, beans from one country, because the taste has a different clarity than blended chocolates,” Clapner explains. “I also prefer chocolate with less sugar. Dark chocolate is healthier. Even diabetics can have chocolate of 70 percent or higher.”

 

The chocolate selling like a house on fire is the blue cheese fudge. It should have a warning label on it for its addictive flavor. But true to Clapner’s creativity, she prefers a chocolate she makes that includes fermented Louisiana tobacco. Hey, down it with a cup of coffee and you’ve got your caffeine-chocolate-nicotine fix for the day.

 

Even though she swears that the whole business planning stage was pretty loose, there was a method to Clapner’s madness. Why open a chocolate shop? Because she says she’ll never get bored of chocolate and it’s an essential confection. “It’s the go-to pastry when you really need to pull a rabbit out of a hat.” Why her location in Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts? “Bishop Arts matches my unconventional personality. It made sense because it has an artistic element and fun, funky vibe. You drive in and you have no idea that you’re in Dallas. It just runs to the beat of a different drum,” says Clapner.

 

And where is Katherine Clapner’s drum leading her next? “I may take up creating abstract sculptures from chocolate,” she says. “It’s all art, from blending the perfect taste combination to showing the beauty of chocolate in out-of-the-box ways.”