Something else we were given at the Academy of Chocolate Awards this summer – a stick of pure cocoa from Hotel Chocolat’s St. Lucian plantation. It comes with a recipe for a hot chocolate drink, but since it’s still relatively warm outside, it’s a bit soon for cocoa – for me at least.
So what to do with it? A nibble at it gave me some idea of its character – light, fragrant cocoa flavours, slightly bitter but not tongue-shrivellingly harsh, and obviously lacking in sweetness, it set my mind to thinking about desserts, and this is what I came up with.
I started with a trip to the fridge, wherein I located raspberries, cream, and a tub of Galler’s 85% Noir chocolate spread (other chocolate spreads are available, but probably not 85% cocoa). Having decided on a biscuit base, Hob Nobs were crushed and mixed with melted butter (other biscuits are available – I just wanted something a little more crumbly than a standard cheesecake base). I also decided to include a banana for extra fruitiness and to balance the fat and sugar in the rest of the dessert. Once the biscuits had been crushed and blended with the butter, I used them to create the base in some ramekins I had saved from some desserts made by another well known dessert manÜfactÜrer. Off they went to the fridge while I did some whipping of cream.
The cream was whipped until firm, and then half was put aside. The remaining half was blended with a generous dollop of the chocolate spread.
Taking care to incorporate the cream gradually, I ended up with a smooth, creamy mixture.
Next, the banana was sliced thinly and laid over the biscuit base.
After that, I spread a layer of my cream and chocolate mix over the bananas, and then made a layer of halved raspberries.
All that remained was for me to take the rest of the whipped cream and top off the ramekins. Now at this point the desserts could be said to be finished, but I discovered a curious thing. Grating a generous amount of the Hotel Chocolat stick over the cream transformed the taste. The light cocoa flavours blend amazingly well with the cream (much as they will with hot milk, I imagine), lifting the overall taste to new heights. I was surprised that such a seemingly minor addition could do so much, but it did.
And the desserts? Universally praised and consumed with gusto. They took about twenty minutes to make, cost a lot less than ready made puds, and the fruit cu the cream and chocolate perfectly. A neat alternative to just grating this lovely cocoa into hot milk.
Yesterday, the UK Chcoablog contingent all headed down to the Chocolate Unwrapped show at London’s swanky May Fair hotel.
Many Chocolate Week participants were in attendance, and despite everything being in a single function room, I still managed to spend three hours there. I blame a combination of free samples and lovely people to talk to!
It really was a fabulous show, but rather than go on about it, I thought I’d just show you some photos and a short video. Apologies for the poor video quality – it was a dark room and I was high on chocolate!
One of the things I like best about this job is discovering products, manufacturers and ideas that are completely new to me. These chocolate bars from UK-based Australian-Italian chocolate maker Rocco DeAngelis are definitely new to me.
For a start, the standard dark chocolate bar has just two ingredients; Fair Trade Single Origin Cocoa and Organic Cane Sugar. Sound good, right? Well just wait until you see the bar…
You probably need to click through to see the full sized photo to get a better idea of what this bar looks like, but the appearance is almost that of snakeskin, because rather than undergoing lengthy industrial processes, the cocoa and sugar are simply forced together in a cold press.
But what’s more amazing than the look is the texture. What you end up with is a dry, crumbly, crispy, almost biscuit-like texture that’s quite unlike anything I’ve ever tasted.
The flavour is the really surprising thing though. For a product that contains only cocoa and sugar, it’s neither too sweet nor too bitter. The sugar simply takes the bitter edge of the cocoa and allows you to experience the rich, deep cocoa flavours in a way that shouldn’t scare anyone off.
Here we see the pistachio flavour bar, that’s made exactly the same way, but has Bronte Pistachios added to the mix before pressing. Once again, incredibly simple but effective.
At £20 per bar, these are not cheap at all. In fact, even for a quality product like this I’m concerned that they may be pricing themselves out of the market – or at least preventing the average person from trying it in the first place.
But I do think all chocolate lovers should seek it out and try some. It manages to combine the most basic and natural chocolate ingredients in a way that shouldn’t scare away even those with the sweetest of tooths. Just don’t approach expecting a smooth, glossy bar of mass produced chocolate, and I think you’ll love it.
This is my first Artisan du Chocolat bar, one of a range producd under the name ”Fusion’. As you might imagine from both the theme of the packaging and the name, this chocolate is based on the famous Mexican sauce Mole.
The back of the box has some tasting notes from Gerard Coleman (Mr. A du C).
“It is believed that Mole was created by the nuns of the Order of Santa Clara in the 17th century Mexico. Mole Poblano is now a popular sauce prepared with dried chiles (mulato, ancho, pasilla and chipotle), ground nuts, ground tortilla, cocoa beans and a long list of spices such as aniseed, coriander, allspice, clove and rosemary- all ground into a thick, rich and chocolate color paste. It traditionally accompanies poultry. This bar made by conching and refining South American cocoa beans with Mole plays on the tastebuds. It has depth, body and a mild pungency culminating in a pleasant heat. It is the balance of the multitude of ingredients in Mole that gives richness and sophistication to this bar.”
Multitude indeed – there are at least eleven ingredients in the ‘Mole’ part of this bar, including ground tortilla, thyme, numerous chillis and hoja santa, otherwise known as the Mexican pepperleaf. With so many ingredients and yet a promise of subtle flavours, I was intrigued.
The underlying spiciness is evident as soon as you sniff the chocolate. It has a warm, almost cake-like aroma sitting in there with the smell of the cocoa. If you’ve ever had Lebküchen (German gingerbread biscuits often sold around Xmas) then if I say that some of the underlying spice notes are very similar you’d probably understand.
The surprise was that as I began tasting I wasn’t assailed by a multitude of spicy flavours, and certainly no gingerbread/cake. There is a gentle warmth, that’s for sure, but the blend of spices never becomes overpowering, and certainly not enough to cause anxiety. The heat does build gently but it’s never a fight between chocolate and spice. One can always pick out the woody, deep cocoa tones from within the overall taste. Unusually for me I demolished most of the bar during the tasting process. Okay, so it’s only a baby at 45g, but still it’s unusual for me to eat so much in a sitting. I found myself enjoying the warmth and loving the mouthfeel and cocoa flavours.
When I visited the Artisan website I couldn’t help but notice that they’ve opened a cocktail bar in west London. I can feel a Chocablog Christmas party coming on!
