An Eerie Creation

Wonder what Evander Holyfield’s ear tasted like? After all, Mike Tyson took two bites.

A Glendale entrepreneur is encouraging buyers to indulge in some cannibalistic curiosity with a milk-chocolate knockoff called the “Evander Holey Ear.” The ear’s creator, Carlos Sepulveda, a 32-year-old artist, decided to capitalize on this small piece of boxing bizarreness.

“When he bit him once, we were shocked,” Sepulveda said. “When he bit him again, we thought Holyfield must have been tasty.”

Sepulveda said he and his brother immediately rewound the fight videotape for a close-up of Holyfield’s bloodied ear. Sepulveda made a quick sketch and then sculpted a life-size mold.

The fledgling business was started with two 5-pound bags of milk chocolate tablets from Jane’s Cakes & Chocolates, a baking supply firm in Montrose. The ear design is “unique as far as body parts go,” said Susan LeFever, owner of Jane’s and something of an expert on specialty candy molds.

Sepulveda said he was inspired by his mother, a dilettante cake decorator who was “constantly fiddling with chocolate and molds.”

The Sepulveda brothers’ first prototypes were flops: they cooked the chocolate too long, giving the “ears” a charred brownie texture. In grand American tradition, however, they kept at it, learning the chocolatier’s secret of melting “slow and low,” LeFever said.

Several pounds ended up in the dumpster before they finally perfected the recipe for the “Evander Holey Ear,” a life-size chocolate replica with four tooth marks.

The chocolates are made at a friend’s restaurant after hours, thereby meeting health and safety requirements, he said.

The candy is sold in clear plastic bags with a label sporting a drawing of Tyson, glove raised, licking his chops and declaring, “You can’t just have one!” He is trying to sell them for $3.50 retail.

Sepulveda said the Temptations chocolate shop in Pasadena sold out of the 200 samples he delivered last week, prompting the owner to secure a franchise deal.

“A lot of people say, ‘This is disgusting!’ but they buy them anyway,” said clerk Patricia Judacheski. Charlie Brown Farms, a candy and gift store in the Antelope Valley town of Littlerock, has placed an order for 50 more.

“We get a lot of the Vegas crowd coming through here,” said owner Jackie Hallgren.

Sepulveda said he figures he has about two more weeks to capitalize on the notoriety of the Tyson fight before the incident fades away. So far, he said, the brothers have made about $1,400.

“We’re not going to quit our day jobs or anything,” he said.