Having never received cake in the post before, it was lovely to be sent a batch of brownies from Sugargrain (aka Caroline Aherne). What was even lovelier (and for reasons that will become apparent, really lovely) was that about a week later I received a second box containing two more Brownies, made ‘in the cooler months’.
First up was this impressive looking chunk of cakey loveliness – a Beetroot brownie. My first introduction to Sugargrain was when a mutual friend told me about these brownies. She waxed lyrical about how moist and delicious they were, and we went off to the market at Covent Garden to try one. Well sitting here with my reviewer’s head on, I am still very impressed with this rich, moist slab of cake – but is it a brownie?
To my mind, a brownie should have that slightly drier ‘crust’ which serves as counterpoint to the moist, chewy cake that lies beneath. This ‘brownie’ doesn’t have that. Instead, it’s a rich, gooey, melt-in-the-mouth confection with the beetroot adding texture andsubtle flavour to themix. It’s loaded with chocolate, sweet, sticky and delightful, but I’m still not sure it qualifies as a brownie.
No such qualms about Brownie number two, however. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Brownie Nirvana.
This little beauty is Caroline’s Spiced Milk Brownie, made with cardamom. It has that classic crust on top, slightly lighter in colour and concealing a rich, chewy interior. And what an interior – it’s like chewing milky chai. The subtle blend of spices, the milkiness of the cake, the richness of chocolate, and the delightful tang of cardamom make this one of the best (if not the best) brownie I have ever tasted. It’s just made for afternoon tea, and I didn’t want it to finish. As someone who doesn’t eat a lot of cake, I would have to come right out and say that if I could eat one of these every afternoon, I would be a very contented person indeed. It’s sublime.
This is one of those things that really puts a smile on your face – not just because it’s a joy to eat, but also because it’s being made by a woman who up until a year or so ago was baking in her own kitchen and selling part time on markets, unsure of whether to take the next step and go ‘full time’. Well luckily for us, she bit the bullet and now everyone can get their hands on little marvels like this.
Brownie fans take note – you’ve not lived until you try the Spiced Milk Brownie.
This is perhaps the simplest bar of chocolate I’ve reviewed on Chocablog, right down to the packaging – a thin silver pouch, sealed with a single ‘Bojesen’ sticker. This is clearly a bit different from your average chocolate.
The chocolate is made in Denmark by Rasmus Bo Bojesen, and sold in the UK, exclusively through our friends at Chocolate & Love.
Once you’re inside, it doesn’t look quite like your average chocolate either. Partly due to the lack of solid packaging, and partly to the way it’s been made, the chocolate looks a little the worse for wear. It’s a bit battered and doesn’t have much of a glossy shine to it.
But then, there’s only two ingredients in this. Wild, organically grown Criollo cocoa beans and cane sugar. There’s no emulsifiers to bring it all together and no vanilla to hide any bad flavours. Any flaws in this chocolate are going to be immediately obvious.
But aside from the initial appearance of the chocolate, I can’t find anything bad to say about it. It has a beautiful snap, and being a thin bar, it easily breaks into small pieces. At £9.50 a bar, you’ll want to savour this chocolate, so small chunks are good!
It’s a 70% dark chocolate and obviously not the smoothest or most refined chocolate in the world, but it melts beautifully on the tongue, and releases flavours that I can only describe as…. chocolatey!
It reminds me of when I first had dark chocolate as a child, after only having known the sweetest milk chocolate. The fact that I could actually taste the chocolate, rather than just sugar and milk powder was a revelation. The actual flavour in this bar is, of course, much more refined, but the experience of tasting it is the same.
Sure, it’s light, sweet and subtly fruity, but the overwhelming feeling I get from eating it is that this is how I always wanted chocolate to taste as a kid. It just makes me happy.
Of course, by the time you get your hands on a bar, it may be completely different. With chocolate produced in small quantities like this, every batch is going to be subtly different from the last. But I have no doubt that what ever he comes up with next, it’ll be worth trying.
Cookies are a bit of a departure for Thorntons, but a very welcome one. I had a taste of these at their Christmas launch back in July and I’ve been looking forward to reviewing them. I finally got my hands on a box at Chocolate Unwrapped the other week, and somehow I’ve managed to devour most of the box before getting around to starting this review.
What can I say? They’re yummy.
Half dipped in milk chocolate, with dark, milk and white chocolate chunks, they’re substantial and chocolatey enough to satisfy even me.
I usually prefer soft cookies, but these have a firm crunch to them. I found that to be a problem easily rectified by judicious dunking into a mug of tea… or hot chocolate.
There really isn’t much else to say about them. They’re hardly “posh”, but they are tasty, crunchy and moreish. My only problem is that the 200g box with eight cookies just isn’t big enough.
As I was recently stumbling about in my favourite Vietnamese Butchery (yes, the one that seems to stock the entire Wawel range, brought to us direct from Sunny Poland) I stumbled upon a block of Wawel Dark 90%.
Regular readers will know that I’m a bit of a fan of the dark side – though I do admit to having been beaten by the Lindt 99%. I also find that the Lindt 85% is a pretty tough beast, and usually only eat it in small quantities. But by way of comparison, the rather excellent Cote d’Or 86% is a tiny, cheeky, bit higher in cocoa but is a much easier chocolate to eat. So the rule of thumb: “More cocoa = more bitter = a bit harder to eat” does not necessarily apply. It just depends on the chocolate.
With all that in mind, the finding of the Wawel 90% was one of those times when just trying it didn’t seem right. Instead, it presented another opportunity to do a side by side comparison. The closest I could easily come to about the same cocoa percentage going up against the Wawel is the old faithful – the Lindt 85%. Both are 100 gram blocks; the Wawel is slightly cheaper than the Lindt.
Opening them both, I’m struck by the similarity of aroma. They are both rich, and slightly earthy. The aroma isn’t strong though – in wine-speak, you’d say they are both a bit “closed” – they don’t leap out and grab you.
Time to move on to tasting: I started with the Wawel because it’s one I’ve not had before. The only way to taste is to pop in a small piece and let it s..l..o..w..l..y.. melt. And slow indeed it is – there does not seem to be a huge lot of cocoa fat. This is a deeply rich, complex, and slightly bitter chocolate. There are some strange early flavours that seem have slightly tart fruity hints, my very first impression was a slightly mushroomy flavour. As it melts the flavour develops and noticeably changes. Mushroom and tart fruitiness seems an odd combination, but they are subtle and the bitterness is far from excessive. This turns out to be quite an easy-eating little chap.
Next up – the Lindt 85%, tried immediately after. First impressions: the Lindt has a sharper “crack” when breaking a piece off. This is rich, very powerful, more noticeably bitter, but does not seem to have quite the same changing and complexity of flavour over time. It leaves me with a slightly grainy feeling – probably from bitterness or tannins or something mouth puckering, because I don’t think the chocolate is grainy during the eating – only after.
This comparative tasting turns out to be one of the hardest I’ve done. In the interests of fairness, I’ve had both blocks by the desk while I’ve been working, so for the last three days I have sampled both and compared again and again. First impressions continue to be confirmed: The Wawel 90% seem to have a more complex flavour, and is slightly less bitter. I find it less of a challenge to eat. But I do like them both – a lot. So which is better? Hard to say – really hard. I think though, the Wawel, by only a hairs breadth.
