I have a bit of a history with Godiva. With their message of luxury inside golden boxes, they were a helping hand when I began to think of chocolate as beyond indulgence. But when I’ve had some of their chocolate more recently, I get lost in the sugar and can’t find what I once did. (Keep in mind that this is the U.S. Godiva). So I had some trepidation about picking up these chocolates at a Godiva store, yet I couldn’t walk out with nothing.
As you can tell from the name, this set was part of the spring display. Its clear case allows you to see the lively colors of the chocolates themselves; the green label and pink bow bring them out more. A minor annoyance is the lack of any flavor labeling. Not outside, not inside. I took the names down from the store’s glass display case instead.
Black Raspberry – A dark chocolate with a purple design. The purple filling tastes more like currants than raspberry. The texture is good – not a jelly, not liquid. The dark chocolate is sweeter than it is, but fits in well.
Lemon Chiffon – A dark chocolate with white coloring. I normally don’t like lemon chocolates much, but this one has the right balance of tart and sweet, with a little creaminess. I just don’t see it meshing well with the dark chocolate.
Mandarin Orange – Milk chocolate with yellow. The orange is very light, though it does have some of that gelatin/candied orange peel taste. Paired with the milk chocolate, it’s surprisingly blissful. Creamy, mellow like soft spring grass just growing in.
Green Pear – Milk chocolate with white. It has a cinnamon, apple pie smell and gets that halfway-scented-candle taste like the Signature Harvest’s apple truffle. But it’s better here – you can taste the cinnamon, the pear. With the chocolate, it’s warm-tasting; this one would be the feel of the sun on your skin.
Pina Colada – White chocolate with pink. Can definitely taste the pineapple here, which is a welcome, unusual flavor. Sticking to white chocolate means sweetness and a semi-chalky texture, but I like the result. The white, after all, is less sugary than the dark.
What did I learn from my return to Godiva? There is a reason why Godiva is around. Maybe every product won’t be a match for everyone, but this collection is quality. The Pina Colada and Mandarin Orange were my favorites; the Lemon Chiffon my least favorite, and it wasn’t bad. The flavors and colors all fit the season, along with a pretty and bright look. I may need to go back and see what else there is to try.
Update: This competition is now closed!
Perhaps one of the silliest things I’ve written about on Chocablog recently, this iPhone case from MobileFun is probably not the kind of thing you’d want to eat.
Made entirely from rubber, you simply stretch it over your iPhone and it make it look… almost.. like a bar of chocolate. It’s almost-milk-chocolate-colour, and each of the 20 ‘segments’ have a logo on them that kind-of-vaguely-ish makes it look slightly like a chocolate bar.
I’m not sure that it offers a huge amount of protection to your phone, and it is somewhat bulky, but it’s functional – provided you only ever intend to drop the phone so it lands face up.
With cutouts for the camera, headphones, buttons and dock connector, you can use the phone while it’s in the case, providing you don’t mind being laughed at.
At £13.47, it’s not particularly cheap, but if you want to win this very case (iPhone not included!), simply leave a comment below and I’ll pick someone at random to send it to. UK residents only this time though, and just one entry per household!
I’ll pick a winner on Monday 24th May
One of the good things about being the biggest confectionery company the universe has ever seen, is that you get to do fun crossover things with your brands. That’s exactly what Kraft have done with this Milka & Daim bar mashup.
The result is exactly what you might expect. Creamy, smooth Milka chocolate with small pieces of crunchy Daim caramel distributed throughout.
The Milka chocolate is 30% cocoa solids (that’s about half as much again as Dairy Milk), and although it’s a mass produced ‘candy’ rather than a sophisticated chocolate, it’s one of those guilty pleasures that could quite happily munch away on all day. It’s comfort food.
I almost feel guilty for liking this so much, because it’s so sweet and creamy that it can’t be doing me any good at all. That sweet Milka taste combined with the crunch of the Daim pieces means that once the bar is in your hand, there’s no way it can ever be replaced on the table. And of course, I can never go to Waitrose again either, because I know that I’ll be drawn into buying more. It’s addictive.
Of course, this whole ‘crossover’ concept from Kraft becomes even more interesting when you add the recently acquired Cadbury into the mix. I’m sure there’s all kinds of fun co-branded products they could make.
I don’t think I can ever be truly happy until I try a Dairylea and Daim Creme Egg. Please? Anyone? No?
You can buy Milka & Daim Bar online using the links below.
My recent trip to Montreal for a conference was also a good excuse for a guided tour of the city’s best chocolate shops, and one of the first stops of the day was to Suite 88 Chocolatier. The shop is just lovely, almost like a jewellers with its glass cabinets holding samples of their gorgeous chocolates. It is almost like they know that by putting everything out of reach makes it even more desirable, and it was hard to settle on just one thing to buy – I was trying to pace myself because it was the start of the say – but I decided on a set of their artisan truffles.
The truffles fall into the “small, but perfectly formed” category, plus the eight varieties really appealed to me for their flavours. And it turned out to be a good choice. Here’s the breakdown.
Praline – the texture of the praline itself is more crumbly than I’m used to, but not in a bad way. It still has a lovely smoothness and strong nutty flavour, plus the little bits of caramelized hazelnuts and sugar on the outside gives it all a nice crunch.
Grand Marnier – it’s hard to believe that such a healthy kick of Grand Marnier could be hidden within such a tiny little chocolate. And even more impressive is the way that it slowly creeps up on you, letting the sweetness of the chocolate take the initial spotlight. Subtle and lovely.
Miel – or honey, for the Anglophones out there. The milk chocolate and honey together gets pretty close to being just a little too sweet, especially with the way that the honey sticks around on the palate for far too long afterwards. Not my favourite.
Thé Vert – a surprisingly refreshing green tea truffle that was a lovely green colour all the way through. Exactly what the name says and not much more.
Caramel – in theory, the dark chocolate and caramel should be a match made in heaven but the chocolate completely dominates, leaving the caramel to lurk in the background. Plus there is none of the now expected salt to provide a contrast to the caramel’s sweetness, making this the other disappointment.
Crêpes Pralinées – it turns out that the crêpes are on the outside, or at least little crispy bits of them, with more of their wonderful praline inside. I must admit that I liked the straight-forward Praline better though.
Chili Cayenne – I was warned by the person in the shop that this was a little on the hot side and she wasn’t joking. This is the hottest chilli chocolate I’ve ever had, yet it wasn’t unpleasant. It starts off with a slow building chilli and by the time the cayenne pepper races in, your entire mouth is dancing. Not for the faint-hearted.
Menthe – it was suggested that this follows the Chili Cayenne because it would help to cool things off. But it deserves more of a mention than that, because the almost chewy dark mint ganache melts away with no effort at all. Very refreshing.
If everything else they have lives up to these standards, I will have to leave them until later in the next tour because there’s a good chance I would spend the entire day there.
