The Chocolate Caper

Specialties

The Chocolate Caper & QuirkE’s Custom Bakery specialize in high quality, handmade chocolates (and coming soon, baked goods!). These include prailinés, truffles, caramels, peanut butter bars, chocolate dipped apricots, chocolate drenched pecan caramel clusters, chocolate bars and a variety of other confections.

Swiss Pralines are a combination of a tradition from Switzerland and an imaginative use of American ingredients. We use ground hazelnuts, natural peanut butter and pure almond butter combined with milk, white, or bittersweet chocolate, all made by hand in small batches. One of our customers’ favorite pralines includes ground toffee and roasted almonds, giving the praline a wonderful crunch! Then we top it off with a layer of pure, solid chocolate. Finally, we cut each piece by hand. The sophisticated flavor and texture are so irresistible, some of our customers wonder if it’s legal…

All products are hand made in small batches from the highest quality ingredients and sourced from US-​based small businesses and cooperatives whenever possible. The products are made to excite the palate, allow customers to indulge themselves, create moments of happiness and whimsy and make special events and moments for our clients and their families a bit more magical.

History

Established in 1982.

The Chocolate Caper was founded by Ellen and Claude Marendaz in 1982. Ellen had made chocolate as a hobby, and Claude had worked for a chocolatier in Switzerland when he was young. They began making chocolate out of the basement of their home and selling at the Farmer’s Market in Madison, where they sold chocolate for 15 years. After a few years at the market, customers began asking where they could find their unique twist on chocolate in the winter as well, and The Chocolate Caper shop in downtown Oregon was born.

The Donoghue family took over the Caper in 2014, committed to carrying on the traditions Ellen and Claude had started of making great chocolate at an affordable price and giving back to the community. They also were excited to add their own twist to the business, including adding new confections & baked goods. Not wanting to fix something that wasn’t broken, they continue to focus on making the Chocolate Caper’s specialty: swiss praline.