My latest finding at that lovely store, World Market, is this Swiss Army bar they import from none other than Switzerland. It’s one of the things that when you see it, realize it’s chocolate, you just have to try out of curiosity. An “energy bar” dark chocolate with “cornflakes and guarana” isn’t something I see every day, at least. The guarana extract, which comes from a berry, is the main energy contributor, though the 20 grams (out of 50) of sugar could ostensibly have an effect, too, couldn’t they?
The six rectangles of this small bar are dark in color, with a heavy or solid smell, as of a substantial substance. It’s of that thick-tasting chocolate breed I generally don’t care for; in this case, however, it’s more of a brownie taste. The sweet/dark combination you get at 55% goes off well, instead of the all-too-easy awkward direction it can go in.
Now, the cornflakes are quite interesting. The light cereal crunch really has nothing comparable — it isn’t like nuts or puffed rice in the least. the lightness adds a unique touch, as does the taste. That not quite sweet taste isn’t blaring, yet it lends an apparent flavor.
It’s a rather sweet chocolate. That addictive cornflake crunch would make me want to eat it faster, but the sweetness means that one or two pieces are enough. Hence, if you do want to try out the whole bar for energy, be warned. And don’t forget the amusing warning they put on the back: “contains caffeine – do not give to children.” But they can drink soft drinks day and night without a similar statement on those labels? Okay…
Really, I don’t think everyone will pay the “warning” any mind — it’s easy to see the design of this bar and think it will be something kids might find cool. Make your own choices, and I’ll say that it works on the slight-novelty and snacking taste levels.
Time for another strange import from the depths of the stash.
We picked this up a while back in a supermarket, or continental store – it’s hard to remember where. Kras chocolate comes from Zagreb, in Croatia. So to reach us in Australia this really has come a long way.
A quick reading of the web site (and a reading between the lines) shows an interesting history – including a number of earlier companies and what seems like a period of state ownership – hardly surprising in what used to be Yugoslavia.
Chocolate and orange can go very well together, so I took this from the stash with hands trembling with anticipation. I could barely wait to photograph it, but I was able to restrain myself for long enough to dash off a quick pic of the package. I was very surprised to then open it, and find two things that stood out. Firstly – the chocolate is sealed in a silver plastic wrapping (no surprises there), but it sits on what seems to be a piece of plasticised card. I guess that’s to give some rigidity to the package, but it is a little unusual. And secondly, the aroma. Or rather, the lack of aroma – for while there is a bit of a smell, its not very strong.
Checking the ingredients shows the filling comprises 47% of the total, and the chocolate is 48% cocoa solids. Number 1 on the list is sugar, and number 3 is hydrogenated vegetable fat. I have no idea if that goes in the filling, or the chocolate. There is also lemon-orange fruit base 0.3% (that’s not a typo), and natural fruit flavour at some extremely low amount. And they include / use, or add lactose! That gets me quite grumpy. About half the population of the world don’t tolerate lactose very well (me included) so adding lactose to food products is something that gets me hot under the collar. There is no need for it.
In spite of the lactose, I pressed on diligently – enthusiasm waning somewhat – for the taste test.
Its OK. If you can buy this as a cheap chocolate, it would fit the bill for being cheap. If you pay more than about $1.50 Australian (or around about £1) then you are paying too much. This is an acceptably made, mass produced, filled chocolate with an orangey flavour. No more, no less. . I’d never rush out and tell anybody they had to buy this, not would I recoil in horror. It’s not terrible, nor is it outstanding. Just ordinary.
For Chocablog’s 4th birthday, I decided to buy an off-the-shelf chocolate cake, simply because it’s not the kind of thing we normally look at. Us Chocabloggers tend to work alone most of the time, so it’s difficult to justify shelling out for an entire cake just for a review. Of course, since mentioning this in Twitter I’ve had offers from proper cake makers to send us their wares, so it may be something we do more of in future.
After a brief scan of the cake shelf in Tesco, I opted for this Flake cake for a couple of reasons. Firstly, being Cadbury, it’s likely to be widely available for you guys, and secondly because at £6.95, it was one of the cheapest.
The cake itself weighs 855g and according to the packaging serves 12 people (or one soon-to-be-diabetic Chocablogger). It’s a simple chocolate sponge covered in chocolate, topped with white, milk and dark chocolate shavings and small pieces of Cadbury Flake.
The first thing I noticed was that probably 25% of the chocolate shavings had fallen off the cake in transit. I’ll admit I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to how I was carrying it home, so it could have been my fault. Suffice to say, you should probably be careful to keep this fully upright if you do buy it.
After I’d attached four birthday candles, lit them, blown them out and removed them again (yes, yes, I know…) I cut myself a slice.
I was quite surprised that the cake itself was soft, light and moist. There are thin lines of chocolate cream running through the sponge itself which add to that moistness – as well as giving it an added chocolate hit.
Not that this needs any more of a chocolate hit. I had thought I’d easily get through a few slices in one go, but as it turned out one slice was about all that I could handle. While it’s not bad tasting, it really is very sweet. But then for something that’s designed specifically to be shared, that’s probably a good thing.
To my surprise, I find myself on the verge of recommending this. Make no mistake, it’s not a quality designer birthday cake – serve it at a sophisticated dinner party and you’ll probably be laughed out of town. But that’s not the market Cadbury are aiming at here.
If you’re planning on feeding a bunch of chocolate-hungry kids at a birthday party though, it does the job rather well – and it just 58p per child, it isn’t going to break the bank either.
Apparently German company Hachez are making a bid for world domination. That can be the only explanation for their rather imaginative bars showing up all over the place because even my little corner of Canada has an impressive range of their products to choose from. I had tried their Strawberry and Green Pepper bar before and enjoyed it so when I spied an unfamiliar one, Raspberry and Balsamico, I grabbed it with high expectations that I feared it couldn’t live up to.
Their Cocoa D’Arriba line are good looking bars of chocolates. Their matt black boxes with gilt highlights looks elegant and I also like that fact that the bar inside is merely wrapped in foil instead of sealed into it because it makes it feel like a classic way to present the chocolate.
The chocolate is nice and dark – 77% and worth the price of admission on its own. It has a nice rich flavour, with just a touch of vanilla to smooth off the bitterest edges. But when Hachez adds its inventive combinations of ingredients to that lovely base, things really start to happen. Just like their strawberry bar, they use freeze-dried fruit to give the raspberry flavour and it really works. They might not be as obvious as the strawberries when it comes to the aroma of the bar, but when those little red pieces drift away from the melting chocolate in your mouth, there’s no doubt that this is a raspberry bar.
The balsamic vinegar is handled with more subtlety than expected, but that is a good thing because it would have been very easy for that flavour to absolutely dominate the bar. Instead it lurks in the background, playing off the darkness of the chocolate and just adding enough acid to make the raspberry explosions even more exciting when they burst through. The balance between the acidic fruit and vinegar is just great and works so well with the chocolate.
So what’s the downside? Nothing. Nothing at all. Definitely my favourite in the Hachez range that I’ve tasted and one I’ll be coming back to again and again.
