Our Story

Bokeh Chocolate was founded in 2019 by me, Angie Birkley.  Our chocolates are visually stunning with a taste to match. They are edible pieces of art!  Each chocolate is perfectly balanced in both taste and texture. We offer a variety of different flavors to appeal to every palate. 

Bokeh is a popular photography effect that makes photography visually appealing where the subject is in focus and the background is blurred. The word comes from Japanese language, which literally translates as “blur." Our chocolates are not only beautiful but are gone in a blur. 

I'm the founder and owner of Bokeh Chocolate. I've been married to my husband since 2007. We have one son and one daughter and a Boston Terrier. I'm a former 1:1 aide forchildren with autism. I left the paraprofessional field in 2019 to pursue Bokeh full time. I love music, photography and desserts, especially desserts with chocolate. I'm that person who doesn't buy desserts for parties or gatherings, but always makes something homemade. Seeing people's eyes light when they eat what I've created brings me great joy.  

I used to follow recipes exactly. I was too afraid to “mess” them up. One day, I was making a dessert for a family party and I realized I didn't have all the ingredients. Without time to go to the store, I improvised. I looked through my pantry and my fridge and started adding different things in the batter. Tasting it at every step. Once it tasted good to me, I put in in the oven and hoped for the best. After it was pulled out of the oven and cooled I poured chocolate ganache over the top. My family loved it! It was gone by the end of the night. It was then that I realized I didn't have to follow recipes. That's when I started making up my own recipes.

So, what inspired me to leave a career I love and start a chocolate business? One word...CHOCOLATE! OK, it's not that simple. My husband would get gift baskets for his 150+ clients for Christmas. These baskets took over my dining room every December. In 2017, I told him not to buy them that year. I was going to make candy. With no chocolate or candy making experience, I learned off of Youtube, Google, and also trial and error by making them.  I would get home from work and make truffles until midnight or 1:00AM every day in December. Everyone seemed to love my truffles, but once the holidays were done, it seemed the buzz about my truffles was done as well. I was ok with that. I was busy enough to worry about it. 

Late summer 2018 I thought it may save me time to use chocolate molds instead of hand rolling and hand dipping each chocolate truffle. I ordered some molds, an airbrush, some colored cocoa butter, and the best tasting Belgian chocolate. I read and watched more videos about chocolate tempering and using molds. Guess what? It didn't save me time because I hand paint or airbrush every piece of chocolate. I was still awake until midnight or 1:00AM making chocolates, but unlike the previous years, the buzz about my chocolates didn't stop when the holidays were over. I started getting orders from my friends, family, coworkers, and my husband's clients. It has just snowballed from there and Bokeh Chocolate began its journey.