Oh dear. I did a bad thing. I started taking chocolate blocks to meetings at work, breaking them up, and putting them on the meeting room table. My day job is heavily male-dominated, so it was interesting to see the reaction to this. The chaps who might say they don’t like / don’t eat much chocolate end up wolfing it down. What they say and what they do can differ a little.
So anyhow, after doing this for a while, the boss fella was travelling overseas and brought back a whole lot of chocolate from Croatia – not for himself but for putting on the meeting room table; one per week.
Of course, faced with something like that I threatened to bring in a camera to photograph the packs and take notes. I don’t think anybody took me seriously. Until last week. When I did. Unfortunately I missed doing this for the previous weeks sample of a really excellent lemon and black pepper chocolate.
The most recent sample is SchneeKoppe Bittersweet. The label is in English and what I find kind of amusing is that this is made in Germany, and it has an over-sticker applied by the Croation importer in Zagreb; just like all the imports I see here which need additional labelling to meet local regulations.
This one makes the claim of no added sugar (sucrose), and is supposed to suitable for diabetics. Such things make me dubious / suspicious. This one uses fructose instead of sucrose, to make it “healthy”. The trouble is, unless it’s one of those frankenfoods, fructose is still a form of sugar and something that diabetics need to be careful of. On the positive side, it is perceived as sweeter than sucrose (so you need to use less of it), and it has a lower Glycemic Index. Nevertheless – fructose is not a “Get out of jail free” card.
In spite of my dietary rant – what’s it like?
When a colleague broke this up into decent meeting-size pieces, there is quite a strong rich chocolately aroma. In spite of being only 54% cocoa, it is quite dark in appearance. The taste is a little slow to develop. There is a quite pronounced vanilla overtone, and the flavour and intensity develop if you let this sit on the tongue and slowly melt. Five minutes into tasting this, and I could not believe it was only 54% cocoa – it has a similar flavour to many chocolate that is in the 70% region.
The universal opinion around the table was that this is pretty good. The whole lot was scoffed down, and those not in the meeting hoping for the leftovers were both disappointed and slightly annoyed that a greedy bunch of pigs did not bring anything back.
Considering my excitement over Casey’s Cupcakes in California last year, I finally decided that it was about time I stopped by the Arizona location of Sprinkles Cupcakes; since it is in my own city of Scottsdale, I really do not know what has taken me so long. Sprinkles takes the praise for starting the gourmet cupcake craze. The chain began in Beverly Hills in 2005 with the intention of using quality ingredients to achieve a simple and sophisticated effect. Before I go on, I must give credit to their aims at sustainability. They use recycled material bags, boxes, etc., buy local when they can, and commit themselves to other such focuses.
I was a little disappointed, though, when I walked inside the store. The design is clean and natural, but felt too sparse to me. I believe my first impressions carried through my whole experience.
I was with one other person at the time, choosing a total of six cupcakes to take to share with a couple of other people; the final tally was four Dark Chocolate, one Vanilla Milk Chocolate, and one Chocolate Coconut (which is the only one I didn’t try). I started with the Vanilla Milk Chocolate, which happens to be the flavor equivalent to the Casey’s cupcake I had. One difference is that I could see the vanilla specks in the Casey’s cake, but not in the Sprinkles. I don’t pretend to remember the exact taste of the former, but the Sprinkles cupcake struck me as something from a mix. Simple, measured, formulaic–nice-tasting, but exemplary? I’m not sure. It is obvious, though, that these are made with quality ingredients. The butter, in particular, is highly noticeable, especially in the frosting. I think the Casey’s frosting gave more of an emphasis on sugar than butter. Another difference is that, while my Casey’s cupcake had shavings of milk chocolate, Sprinkles, naturally, sticks to the traditional sprinkle form. That is, they do for the Milk Chocolate; the Dark Chocolate sprinkles are in a flat, square shape. I wrote down in my notes that this seemed definite quality dark chocolate, and while the Sprinkles website only says that they use Belgian chocolate, I read somewhere else online that it’s Callebaut chocolate. That fits.
The main differences between the Vanilla Milk and the Dark seem to be the sprinkles’ shape and the cake flavor; although the frostings are listed, respectively, as “fudgy milk chocolate cream cheese frosting” and “bittersweet chocolate frosting,” I can’t say I recall big variations in the two. My general comments for the chocolate cake are the same as for the vanilla: it was good, fresh, slightly moist, fluffy, but didn’t thrill me. I want desserts to thrill me, especially couture cupcakes; otherwise, what sets them apart from ones I can make at home? The frosting and sprinkles I certainly give a passing grade to, though–they were the part that really started to suggest chocolate truffles to the Dark cupcake. The cake itself leaves me wanting just one further edge.
It may just be the simplistic style I’m having trouble with. Goodness knows the little store was packed with customers. So I’ll say that if you’re by a store and want a treat, step in. If you like simplicity or the natural ingredients thing (Sprinkles also serves Red Velvet cupcakes in both gluten-free and vegan options), give them a try. For myself, I’m sure I’ll end up in the store again since it’s so close, but I will probably be going for less plain flavors like Peanut Butter Chocolate, Chocolate Marshmallow, and Mocha; maybe these will better satisfy my need for something extra.
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Marc Demarquette is one of my favourite chocolatiers, so I was excited when he invited a group of bloggers & journalists along to his shop to sample his new Christmas range.
But as much as I enjoyed the festive flavours, these simple Royal Merina ganaches are some of my favourite chocolates around at the moment. Named after the Merina Madagascan Monarchy, these simple chocolates are something a bit special. Marc has managed to come up with a way of ‘volumising’ the ganache, not just to make more of it, but also to enhance the flavour of the chocolate.
The chocolate in question is a 68% Madagascan dark chocolate, and it’s used for both the ganache and the shell. The ganache itself is infused with Madagascan vanilla before being combined with the chocolate and undergoing the ‘volumising’ process, so this really gives you’re really getting a true Madagascan flavour.
I’m not sure what the volumising involves – the chocolates are sizeable, but that’s a choice that’s been made by the chocolatier. It’s not the lightest ganache I’ve ever tried, but it’s incredibly smooth in texture.
But it’s the flavour that sets these chocolates apart. The subtle fruitiness of the Madagascan cocoa beans combined with the delicate vanilla make them almost irresistible. It’s the vanilla that comes through first, then as the chocolate melts, the flavours develop in your mouth. There’s a pleasant sweetness, but they’re never sickly… just sweet enough to leave you wanting another… then another…
These chocolates won three gold stars at the Great Taste Awards, and it’s easy to see why. They’re elegantly simple and utterly delicious. As with all of Demarquette’s range, you know you’re getting quality chocolate made with etichically sourced ingredients.
If you’re looking for an understated Christmas gift for a true chocolate lover that really shows how much you care, then this should be top of your list.
