Ah, Cadbury Heroes. Miniature versions of everyone’s Cadbury favourites. Perfect for not-sharing around Christmas time. And at least thirteen times better than the TV show of the same name.
If you’ve never seen Cadbury Heroes, here’s what you get in the box:
*pause for breath*
Twirl, Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk Whole Nut, Dairy Milk with Caramel, Time Out, Fudge, Dream, Picnic and Crunchie.
*phew*
And yes, with the exception of Dairy Milk Whole Nut, we’ve reviewed the full sized versions of all the Cadbury Heroes. Cool.
All the chocolates in Heroes are pretty much the same as their full sized counterparts, with the exception of Crunchie, which contains small pieces of honeycomb in milk chocolate, resulting in more chocolate and less crunch, and Whole Nut, which consists of a single Hazelnut in Dairy Milk.
As is often the case with these kind of mixes, you can always tell which ones people like and don’t like by looking in the box when they’re half gone. You may not realise it while you’re actually eating, but subconsciously you’ll always pick out your favourites first.
In my case, the Fudge and Caramel Heroes disappered first and I was left with all the solid Dairy Milk and Dairy Milk Whole nut chocs. There’s something incredibly cute about a tiny bar of Dairy Milk, but I find them just a little dull as ‘sweets’.
Personally, I’d like to see the Whole Nut in particular replaced with something a little more interesting from the Cadbury range… Starbar maybe?
All in all though, I love Heroes. They’re cheap, fun and made for sharing over Christmas. But it must be noted that Mars make a very similar product with miniature versions of their top selling chocs called Celebrations… so I guess I’ll just have to go out and buy a box to compare them. Oh it’s a hard life.
You can buy Heroes online using the links below.
Sometime last week I was getting ready to go to work when Postie knocked at the door. Instead of the parcel I was expecting I was delighted to discover that I had been sent this. . .
.. and equally pleased to see the words ‘Exclusive Edition’ on the box. When I checked the Hotel Chocolat website, I found that this box might be so exclusive that you cannot currently buy it – either that or I have been given a ‘review copy’, rather like music journalists receive advance copies of new albums. I can only assume the latter, as it wouldn’t make much sense for them to have me review something they weren’t trying to sell, would it?
Despite my inner Fat Bloke yelling at me to crack open the box and at least try one chocolate before I left for work, I refrained. Of course, most of that day was spent trying to second guess what Hotel Chocolat might have come up with THIS time.
The ‘menu’ described this box as containing “mellow, warming chocolate recipes that perfectly capture the changing of the seasons” and a glance at the names of some of the chocolates suggested that these were going to be nutty, fruity (and in a couple of cases slightly boozy) choccies. As you can see, the presentation of the contents is excellent, with a branded centrepiece chocolate on each layer.
Something I noticed right away (aside from the slightly rude looking Raspberry and Prosecco Truffle) was that a couple of old favourites are included in this selection. The Blackcurrant Bombe and Lemon Truffle were part of the contents of the Signature Easter Egg, and to my mind they are excellent examples of the way that Hotel Chocolat have managed to bring together citrus and chocolate flavours. I can’t think of any other manufacturer (to date) who have produced a Blackcurrant truffle, and this one bursts with exuberant berry flavours. On a similar note, the Lemon Truffle has a zesty, tangy taste which almost makes you pull that ‘lemon face’, it’s so zingy.
Aside from being delicious in their own right, Hotel Chocolat’s products always seem to have been made with a great deal of thought regarding the look of the finished item. Take, for example, the Chocolate Walnut.
Now, anyone could take a walnut and smother it in fine dark chocolate, but Hotel Chocolat have created a beautiful ‘half egg’ look which offers a tempting peek at the contents.
Similarly, the Caramel Canape has a topping which lets you know that these are indeed hand made items. There’s even a Praline Filled Acorn, something which immediately put me in mind of the box of John Lewis chocolates which were recently reviewed by Dom. Honourable mention also has to be given to the Crispy Pancake and Pecan Praline (and no, it doesn’t come in minced beef or cheesy flavour). This delicious square of dark chocolate conceals a filling of wonderfully crispy, wafer thin pieces of pancake held in a light, moussy praline, and there are two in each layer!
I’d have to come out and admit that it’s hard not to like Hotel Chocolat. They obviously have a great passion for what they do, and it shows, There isn’t a ‘bad’ selection to be had here. There’s no ‘padding’, nothing second-best. Every one of these chocolates offers a unique flavour combination, and while they may not veer off into the more eccentric or unusual, they’re all winners.
This is definitely a great box of chocolates. Give this as a gift and you can’t go wrong. First off, the recipient will know that you love them enough to buy them what will undoubtedly be a rather expensive gift, and secondly if they love their chocs then this box will have them loving you even more with every one they eat. To cap it all, the chocolates are made from cocoa grown on Hotel Chocolat’s own estate and they have a great attitude to what they call ‘Applied Ethics’. My advice to you is to keep an eye out for this becoming available and to buy it for someone you love, especially if that someone is you.
Update From Dom
I don’t know if we’ve mentioned it before, but Hotel Chocolat now have a US web site – and yes, you can buy online…
After giving Cadbury a good old bollocking for their disastrous ‘Desserts’ range, it is nice to be able to do a complete 180-degree turn and review their dark chocolate range.
Here in Oz it is released under the ‘Old Gold’ label and, compared to the mundane ordinariness of Dairy Milk, it really is a quiet achiever and good value for money.
However the plain ‘Old Gold’ dark chocolate isn’t spectacular by any means, but it goes particularly well with another flavour combination. The perennial favourite of Aussie Dads everywhere, is Old Jamaica – Rum’n’Raisins. This is a real ‘winter’ chocolate best eaten after dinner over a game of Scrabble or whilst out camping.
The dark chocolate is on the sweetish side but somehow ‘sings’ to the rum-soaked (or artificially flavoured if I have to be nit-picky) raisins, ensuring a perfect combination. The chocolate takes its time to dissolve in the mouth before leaving the Scrabble-playing Dad with one last burst of rum when chewing the soft raisins. This bar is an Aussie favourite, and deservedly so.
Old Gold Macadamia is a brash newcomer to the Old Gold Old Fellas stable and holds its own amongst the Old Gold Original Old Gold Rum’n’Raisin war horses remarkably well. Kind of like a ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ to Old Gold’s ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ if you permit my foray into sci-fi nerdiness.
Once again, the sweetness of the dark chocolate complements the soft buttery flavours of the Macadamia*. If you didn’t read the label, the nuts almost taste like solid dollops of white chocolate which, in my opinion, wouldn’t be a bad flavour due to try some day.
A person with some self-control would probably consider this chocolate a bit too sweet to have much of, but that person isn’t me. This block is dangerously more-ish and by far the cheapest way to enjoy the money-making Macadamia nut than if you bought them on their own.
* The Macadamia nut is grown in tropical state of Queensland, Australia, often right alongside pineapple plantations. These nuts are not only renowned for being delicious, but hideously expensive, even down under. If you see a packet or tin of Macadamias in your hotel room’s mini-bar fridge, on no account eat them – with their base cost coupled with standard mini-bar mark up rates, they will end up costing you more than the room itself.
If you’ve ever seen an Arnold Schwarzennegger movie, you’ll know that when you see a man wearing shades carrying a 2 foot long cardboard box under his arm and walking toward your house, it’s time to hide behind the sofa.
A box that size only ever contains a shotgun, and the man with shades has one mission: to blow you away. So, you’ll forgive me for being a little hesitant when the doorbell rang this morning.
On peering through the peep hole, I was somewhat relieved to see the words “Royal Mail” on the man’s shirt.. but still not entirely happy. I mean, I’ve dealt with these postal service types before.
Luckily, the postman was benign and the box did not contain a shotgun. Oh no, this was something far more bizarre.
The “Rather Large Christmas Cracker” is exactly that. A huge, functioning cracker stuffed full of 40 Hotel Chocolat chocs and 12 party hats. It even has that little strip to make it go “bang” when you pull it. The web site claims this cracker also contains “mottoes”. I’m not quite sure what a mottoe is, but my cracker didn’t contain any. But we’re here for the chocolate, right?
The chocs are a good mix of dark, milk and white Hotel Chocolat chocolates. As you’d expect from Hotel Chocolat, the quality is excellent. All three chocolate variations taste wonderful and the fillings are exciting and packed with flavour. Compare this to something like the Thorntons collection I reviewed recently, which mainly consisted of ‘safe’ (and a little bland) praline type chocolate.
Which brings me to a potential flaw. At least half of these chocolates either contain alcohol or strong fruit flavours, and that means they’re probably not going to appeal to kids. But it’s the kids who will get the most enjoyment out of a christmas cracker bigger than any they’ve seen. I would really like to see a child friendly version of this next year. I don’t think it would be too difficult to create one version for the grown-ups and another for the kids.
There’s a couple of other minor design flaws here too. Firstly, the paper strip that makes that ‘bang’ noise is a standard-sized one. When I pulled it, it went “click” rather than “bang”. I had been hoping for industrial explosives and was a little disappointed. Also, the chocolates themselves are packed quite tightly into a nondescript plastic bag inside the cracker. A lot of thought has clearly been put into outer packaging, but inside it looks like someone just stuffed the chocolates inside. I’m sure this could be improved.
All in all though, this is a fabulous centrepiece to a Christmas dinner table. It has the wow factor, wonderful chocolates and clearly demonstrates Hotel Chocolat’s sense of humour. And that’s one of the reasons I love what they do. They make great quality products, but don’t take themselves too seriously – and it takes great skill to get that balance just right.
