I have neglected to mention one of the chocolate sweets I brought back from the Disneyland Resort (there were also chocolate cookies and fudge that were never going to last long enough for a review.)
Now, to understand my feelings toward this particular line of candy boxes, you must first understand in what mood I was when my eye first alighted on them. There I was, slinking around in silent circles through the never-ending rooms of the World of Disney store, observing most everything and deciding what I would take with me…
Ah, the candy section is here. Hmm, there seem to be more chocolate choosings than before. Oh, what’s this? Ha, Chocolatear, that’s perfect! Oh, this one’s good, too. And this one…
For those who neither remember nor are aware, The Mickey Mouse Club was a TV show Walt Disney put together in the fifties with a cast of children called Mouseketeers. Hence my excitement at the collision of worlds occurring in the line on the box: I’m a Chocolatear.
As you can see, the boxes (not all with chocolate-related candies) all worked off of a theme, either a Disney character or line or some such thing. My other favorite among them featured a vintage-looking Monorail with a pun on the English/Spanish audio recording cautioning you to keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle. The Mood Chocolate based on the seven dwarfs that someone else in my party chose wasn’t one of the best, but I show it here, such as it is.
I suppose I must make a note on the candies themselves, though it’s no surprise what I’ll say. The milk chocolate raisins from the Chocolatear box are incredibly sweet, and I don’t use the word “incredible” lightly. In fact, they almost taste more like caramels than chocolate raisins. The raisins are certainly more like a chewy, slightly fruity center than real raisins.
The Mood Chocolate is in the same format as M&M’s, but no more special than the raisins. Not that it matters too much by any account. The casual tourist won’t care much, and the strange people like me care more about the box than what’s inside, anyway. And I really did enjoy looking at these boxes: there were variety, originality, and nostalgia on the 6×3 inch covers.
One of the best parts of Paul A. Young’s new Soho shop is the huge basement kitchen which extends under two neighbouring shops. That not only allows Paul and his expanding team to make more chocolates, but also gives him more room to experiment and create new products, practically every week.
So where last week we had a Soreen Malt Loaf truffle (which Paul tells me are coming back), this week we have Bakewell Tart ‘dessert chocolate’ domes. Paul calls them dessert chocolates, because they’re big enough to eat as an entire dessert. Which is just how all chocolates should be, of course.
As you can see, the format is not very tart-like.
Paul has created a dark chocolate dome topped with toasted almonds. Inside is a marzipan ganache with more toasted almonds and a raspberry reduction base.
Sounds great, but these things are designed to be eaten rather than photographed, which is why mine looks a bit of a mess…
But we’re used to making a mess round here. It’s the taste that’s important, and it doesn’t disappoint. The ganache is fresh and soft, with just a hint of marzipan, and the raspberry reduction is sharp and fruity.
The almonds add a bit of a crunch and some flavour, but it’s the combination of fruit and marzipan ganache that really makes this for me.
The catch is that it doesn’t quite capture the essence of a real bakewell tart. Perhaps that’s because I’m so used to the idea of a cherry bakewell that the raspberry flavour doesn’t bring back quite the same childhood memories. Thorntons have a bakewell tart flavour chocolate coming out soon that really does capture that essence, albeit in a solid block of chocolate.
But regardless of how close it is to the real thing, this is another chocolate worth seeking out. Just make sure you have a napkin to hand when eating one, as they’re kind of messy to eat! And if you really like Bakewell Tart, stay tuned as we’ll be reviewing a completely different take on the old classic later this week!
It is always fun to find something strange lurking in a local shop, and these circular Taza bars really do fit the bill.
Taza’s bars are notable in that they are stoneground, giving them an unusual texture which is a bit of an acquired taste. Instead of the more conventional smooth bar that slowly melts away, stoneground bars are granular because they are made of roughly ground cacao nibs and sane sugar pressed together to make something that looks chocolate-like, at least at a distance.
That’s because the chocolate discs that Taza make have a nice sheen to them, unlike Soma’s attempt at a similar bar (The Old School) which looks more like a chocolate brownie. Take a bite, however, and everything changes.
Rather than a familiar clean snap, there is a muted crumble as the chocolate slowly disintegrates. The texture is actually not too crunchy compared to the Soma bar – Taza grind things up much more although it still doesn’t melt in the usual way. It still needs a little help, meaning it requires a bit of chewing to get the flavour out. And in the case of this particular variety, that translates into some saltiness and an unexpected amount of pepper although the spices are unevenly distributed making each bite a bit of a rollercoaster.
I’d never had a bar with both salt and pepper before, and I like it. The salt highlights the earthiness of the 55% chocolate and the pepper ensures you don’t forget what you’ve been eating until a few minutes after it has gone. A very nicely balanced bar, or disc if you want to be more precise.
I should also point out that the whole thing is organic, with an impressively short ingredients list that is gluten, soy and dairy free. It also has some lovely old school packaging too – nice, thick wax paper which is held together with a sticker that states the contents can also be used to create hot chocolate too.
I didn’t bother with that – diluting chocolate always seems wasteful to me – but I will be picking up some of the other nine varieties in the range next time I go out shopping. Good stuff.
This intriguing box of body parts was sent to me by Rococo’s lovely PR people as a kind of ‘get well’ gift after a recent illness. I have to say, it did the trick and helped cheer me up the moment I opened the box. It’s not every day somebody sends you nipples.
As it turns out, these nipples are very tasty indeed. Inside each white chocolate dome is a dark chocolate ganache flavoured with Tia Maria and vodka. The ganache is firm, but smooth and delicious with just the right amount of flavour. The alcohol is definitely there, but it’s never overpowering.
The coffee bean on top is actually solid chocolate, but it is coffee flavoured. I’m not a big fan of coffee flavoured chocolate, but there’s so little of it here I quite enjoyed it as a contrast to the other favours.
It did leave me wondering quite how the idea for alcohol and coffee flavoured nipples came about, but I thought it best not to investigate this question too deeply.
Halfway through munching on my second nipple, I realised it may have been more appropriate to start with the lips. After all, they were what grabbed my attention in the first place.
But underneath that ruby-red lipstick, they’re just not quite as exciting as the nipples. These are solid dark chocolate with a painted white chocolate outer layer. There’s no fancy flavours going on here, just an average dark chocolate of unspecified origin or cocoa content dressed up in fancy clothes.
But they are, of course, fun to stick in the front of your mouth while pretending you’re a harlot. Everyone does that, right?
In summary, this is a fun little gift that you’d probably buy for your partner rather than your grandmother. The lips will draw you in, but the nipples are where the action is at. Luckily you get six nipples and four pairs of lips per box, so there’s plenty of chance to share and come up with your own innuendos.
They’re available from Rococo’s three London shops or to buy online from their website.
