It’s been a while since I’ve had my hands on some Australian Homemade chocolate, probably because it’s been a while since I was in the Netherlands. Yes, Australian Homemade is in fact a Dutch company which was started by a Belgian who left Australia with his great Aunt’s recipes in is pocket. Crazy.
The company actually started in ice cream, but in 1997 they started producing chocolates in Amsterdam. The range has expanded but all of the chocolates continue to be made by hand. There’s quite a lot of information about the company history and development on their web site which is worth checking out. I particularly liked the company mission statement.
So to the chocolates. as you can see from the photo they positively dwarf the Chocablog 20p piece. Perhaps it’s because the Dutch are statistically the tallest people in Europe, because they are an impressive size. I selected six individual pieces, which were placed in a three-sided cardboard tray and sealed in the silver bag with a sticker reading ‘Love Inside’. The ganaches are known as ‘Dreamers’ while the one nut chocolate I selected comes from the ‘Bonzers’ range, and as you can see, the decoration on the top of each piece continues the Australian theme very neatly.
I started with the Milk chocolate with Macadamia & Cocoa Nibs. It’s a fairly densely packed affair, as you can see. The chocolate is quite sweet, and there appear to be small crystals of sugar in the filling as well, which I could have done without, but the combination of that most Australian of nuts and cocoa nibs was an inspired choice and put aside memories of the sugary ganache as I chewed on bittersweet cocoa and smooth nut pieces.
The Cranberry & Currant ganache was a smooth, rich affair. The depth of the currants were neatly lightened with a hint of cranberry, and the fruits sat well atop the dark cocoa flavours of the ganache. I really liked this flavour combination and looking back I realise I’ve not tasted too many currant chocolates, and it makes me wonder why there aren’t more out there.
The Chocolate and Red Fruit was, unfortunately, another slightly sugary ganache, only this time it was sat atop a lighter layer which was obviously home to the red fruits, which blended in well with the chocolate. I still wasn’t a fan of the slightly crunchy ganache though.
The chocolate and tea ganache packed a fragrant punch. It had a light, quick melting centre which seemed to be home to a few surprising fragments of nut or nib, but it was the tea that really shone through. Another well balanced piece which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The only white chocolate in my selection was the coffee and caramel ganache, and the centre was similarly light. The centre was whisper light and melted quickly and the caramel smoothed out the coffee, resulting in quite a rich, deeply flavoured mouthful.
My Cashew Nut and Lemon Bonzer turned out to be a layer of chopped nuts sitting on a lemon mousse, all held together with a thin dark chocolate shell. The nut layer was generously proportioned and the lemon layer was suitably bright and natural tasting.
All in all these chocolates are a pretty good showing. Not only are they physically large, the flavours were natural and subtle enough to allow the cocoa in the chocolate to come through. I didn’t like the fact that a couple of the ganaches had a little sugary ‘crunch’, nut other than that I’d be more than happy to make further purchases from Australian Homemade.
If you’re a regular Chocablog reader, you’ll probably already know that we quite like Paul A. Young’s brownies around here. In fact, we’d argue Paul’s brownies are some of the best in the world.
Of course as a chocolate reviewer, it’s my duty to try each and every variation of Paul’s original recipe. And so it was, this little number came into my possession.
This Easter themed brownie is a collaboration with Billingtons, makers of unrefined sugars. It’s flavoured with vine fruits, cinnamon and nutmeg, and the surface is littered with pieces of marzipan.
It’s so rich, soft and sticky that biting into it is something like launching yourself from a five meter diving board into an Olympic sized swimming pool of ganache. This is nothing like other brownies you may have tried. It’s not remotely cakey.
I don’t know if it’s even softer and gooier than Paul’s other brownies, but I think it certainly seems like it is. Make sure you have a good supply of napkins to hand before you attempt this beast, because it’s impossible to keep clean while eating it.
The flavour is as amazing as the texture, and reminiscent of a Christmas cake with all the vine fruits, spices and marzipan, inside. Yet somehow these flavours are subtle and light and make it easier to get through the intense, sweet chocolate. It’s difficult to describe the sensations of devouring this, it’s something you really need to experience for yourself.
There’s no question in my mind that this is the best brownie in the world. If you don’t manage to get hold of one between now and Easter, then you’re missing out.
Paul doesn’t have an online shop, because it’s so hard to send out fresh chocolates. But this is a little more robust than the average chocolate, so if you’re in the UK and can’t make it to one of the shops, drop them an email, there’s a good chance they can arrange delivery. Do it now.
A slightly larger than average Easter offering from James Chocolates comes in the form of this 70% Ecuadorean cacao chocolate egg. It’s a fairly minimalist affair – the dark egg has a drizzling of milk chocolate across one hemisphere and the egg sits in a clear plastic box, held in place by a couple of silver card supports. The only flash of colour comes in the final decoration – a silken ribbon in James’ signature purple and pink livery. Separate the two halves and you’ll find a cluster of James’ dark truffles hiding inside.
Although this is a 70% cacao chocolate, it doesn’t pack a big bittersweet punch. James’ chocolates have always tended towards the softer, sweeter end of the taste spectrum and this is no exception, although I will say it’s definitely one of the more ‘grown up’ James products I’ve tasted, with less sweetness and more of the delicate flavours of the cacao coming through. It’s fragrant, full flavoured chocolate with a hint of spice at the finish.
While I managed to prolong the life of the egg for quite a long time, the truffles’ time in my company was distinctly brief. The fresh cream truffle filling was lovely – and excellent balance between cacao and cream, and to be honest I could happily have had another batch.
At £17 pounds this isn’t going to be in everyone’s budget but it’s competitively priced with other hand finished eggs, and it’s an impressive looking egg.
Knead Bakery is a new company offering allergy friendly baked goods in a similar vein to Sugargrain. Knead was started by Sim Smith, who is herself allergic to gluten, yeast, dairy and cane sugar and all kneads products are completely free of these.
Sim sent me some chocolate chip cookies and a brownie to try, but they sell cakes, muffins and other non-chocolate products, and also have a bespoke baking service for allergy sufferers.
First up, the cookies. For those interested, the ingredients are:
Gluten Free Flour (Rice, Potato, Tapioca, Maize & Buckwheat), Agave Nectar, Grape Seed Oil, No Added Sugar Chocolate (Cocoa Mass, Xylitol, Cocoa Butter, Sunflower Lecithin), Vanilla Essence, Bicarbonate Of Soda, Salt.
For me, the most interesting things of note there are the use of Xylitol and sunflower lecithin in the chocolate, where you’d normally have cane sugar and soy lecithin.
They taste pretty good. They’re not as sweet as a conventional chocolate chip cookie (which many people will like), and although they’re soft, they’re still a little crumbly rather than chewy. I can’t say they’re my favourite ever cookie, but I enjoyed them and my 100g bag soon disappeared!
The ingredients list on the brownie is longer, but contains many of the same things – gluten free flour and that same no added sugar chocolate.
It’s quite a ‘cakey’ brownie, with a moist but crumbly texture. It’s not as dense as many of the brownies I’ve tried, including the Gü Brownie I just happened to have on my desk at the same time. The flavour is good, but as with the cookie, it’s not as sweet or rich as a more conventional offering. But this one also disappeared very quickly.
All in all, I enjoyed these. Being completely sugar and dairy free as well as gluten free, they’re clearly aimed at people with quite severe allergies, so it’s good to know the rest of us can enjoy them as well. I’m looking forward to seeing Knead develop they’re range and experiment with new ideas in future. They have an online store coming soon, but in the mean time I suggest dropping them an email if you’re interested in finding out more.
