After one of my recent reviews where I waxing lyrically about a bar with mint and cocoa nibs, I received an email about how someone else had been smart enough to make that particular combination. Naturally, I was interested. The person in question was Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt, and her company Rite Chocolate adds an unusual twist to their product – it comes in a jar. She calls it “spoonable decadence” and that turns out to be a pretty accurate description.
Basically, this is like a gourmet chocolate spread, except it is good enough to just eat straight out of the jar with a spoon. And I did. There are quite a few varieties available, including the mint and nib one (which goes by the name of “Innocence” ) and the one thing that they all have in common is that they are made with natural, raw and organic ingredients. Nothing wrong with that at all. The base of all varieties is made with cacoa powder, virgin coconut oil, honey, vanilla, sea salt, plus some mesquite and maca thrown in because of their supposed beneficial effects.
I was sent a jar of The Churning Point which uses ghee instead of the coconut oil, and that adds some additional richness and depth to something which is already rich. Or to put it another way, I didn’t need too much of this at one sitting. Just one spoonful by itself was enough to satisfy my cravings, but when I spread it on ice cream or biscotti when I was able to munch my way through more. The little four ounce jar lasted longer than I expected it to, but all too soon I was trying to scrape out every last remnant – basically, I licked the jar clean.
While it isn’t possible to say what percentage this is the equivalent to, the predominant flavour is chocolate – it isn’t sweet by any means and also has a wonderful depth of flavour that presumably comes from the mesquite. So there’s an earthiness that sticks around at the end, and suggests just a hint of heat as it all fades away.
The Rite Chocolate website has all kinds of suggestions of how to enjoy their product, including a few strange ones, although the cooking ones make the most sense – this could be a great way to add a concentrated dose of chocolately goodness to any recipe. But it is the uniqueness of these jars which makes them so appealing because it isn’t every day that you find something yummy that you haven’t come across before.
Baker Days sell personalised cakes for delivery that are specifically designed to be the perfect size to fit through your letterbox.
Anyone who gets a lot of deliveries will know how annoying it can be to arrange for re-delivery of a package that happened to arrive while you were out, so when you’re buying a gift for someone online, the last thing you want is for them to have to go through that kind of hassle. Knowing that whatever you’re buying will easily fit through the letterbox is a huge selling point.
We’ve seen letterbox chocolates before of course, and frankly we weren’t impressed. So while I was excited about the prospect of a cake with my name on it, I wasn’t getting my hopes up.
As it turned out, the Baker Days cake had me smiling the moment it popped through my letterbox and landed with a thunk on the floor. How can anyone resist a package marked ‘Private & Confidential CAKE’?
On opening the box, I was presented with some balloons, a birthday cake, a card, and a tin containing the cake. The tin is unbranded and re-usable, and perfectly protects the cake inside. The packaging is simple, but it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into making sure that your cake arrives in one piece.
The cakes themselves are all a standard 12cm diameter x 2.5cm high. You get 4-5 little servings from each one, which turns out to be perfect either for sharing with a friend of keeping to yourself.
The personalisation takes the form of printing on the soft white icing that covers the entire cake. The icing comes down over the base, so the cake inside is completely sealed in. This helps to keep the cake fresh as well as providing a large flat area for your design. You can choose from one of Baker Days’ many templates when designing your cake, or even upload a photo.
Think carefully before choosing a photo though. There is something mildly disturbing about eating your own face.
The cake inside is good – certainly higher quality than I was expecting. I went for the double choc-chip cake, and it was chocolatey and moist. There weren’t many chocolate chips in my cake, and of course you’re never going to replicate the quality of an artisan or home made birthday cake, but I was very happy eat all mine.
The best part about Baker Days cakes though is the pure fun factor. They may be a little silly, but they’re also sure to put a smile on someone’s face.
Cake in a jar, you say? Cake in a jar! Yes, that’s right! Lucky’s, our favourite makers of chocolate enrobed cakes have come up with these cute little Alice In Wonderland themed creations.
They come in four flavours; Cocoa Bros, Dreamy Lemon, Tropical Breeze and Toffee Groove. The Dreamy Lemon flavour is made with white chocolate, and the others have 60% Valrhona dark chocolate.
It has to be said that the most noticeable thing about these little cakes is that they really are very little indeed. Each cake is just 40g, but they are exceptionally cute. I’d love to see a bigger version, although this size is perfect for a little treat that you don’t have to feel too guilty about.
The cakes are divided into two layers, with the cakey bit on the bottom and a thick layer of topping above it. Each box of two comes with a couple of spoons, so you can share them on the spot, or just put one in your bag to take to work as a mid-morning treat. I particularly like the fact that the jars are very simple, with an easy peel sticker being the only branding. This means they’re also great for serving at dinner parties (and pretending you made them yourself, of course).
The cakes themselves are rich and sweet, and if you have more than one, you start to see why they’re so small. They’re delicious, but all you actually need is one little jar. My personal favourite was the Toffee Groove, which has a very nice salted caramel topping. The cake itself was a little dry, which may be by design, but I’d love to see a really dense, moist cakes used in these.
I guess you can consider Lucky’s Tweedle Twins cake in a jar to be an upmarket, handmade alternative to something Gü might make. At £4.95 for two jars, they’re a little expensive, but I’d still consider them for a special occasion or an extra indulgent treat. And you do get to keep the jars.
I’ve raved about Delicasey’s before about these hand-made chocolates. And now, Casey sent me some samples of his new flavours.
These new flavours are made using dark chocolate, but not as dark as some of the others. In this case, they are all 54% or 58% cocoa solids, depending on the flavour.
As you will gather – I’m impressed. Clearly, a properly trained chef knows all about flavours and it shows in these new additions to the range. Without further ado, let’s rip into a description of them.
F And N
A modern dark chocolate take on the old standby Fruit-n-Nuts. In this case, the Fruit part is Inca Berry, the nut is Pistachio, and the chocolate is 58% cocoa.
My first question: what the heck is Inca Berry? Mr Wikipedia helped out: also known as Cape Gooseberry and many other things, but this doesn’t tell me much about its flavour.
Anyhow, the F&N has a very nice crunch in the nuts and actually tastes of Pistachio. A common failing in fruit / nut chocolate is that the nuts are often soggy, not toasted properly, or perhaps are old and nothingy. This one is not like that, there is a decent crunch and a decent nutty flavout. I’m not sure about the Inca berries; because I don’t know what they taste like by themselves I don’t know what to look out for. There is a general kind of sweetness / fruitiness which seems to be more than just the chocolate, so I think that’s them. The choice of a 58% cocoa solids chocolate here is good – less cocoa and it would be too sweet; as it is there is a good balance of sweetness and bitterness.
This puts your standard big-brand supermarket fruit-n-nut to shame. I could eat the whole pack in a single sitting. But I won’t – I have to share it around or the family won’t talk to me for a month.
Karamel
Soft caramel chocolates must be difficult to get right, because there are so many examples of bad ones. These days, it tends to be a flavour I avoid because many seem to lead to disappointment. Crunchy caramels seem to be the opposite – there are quite a few good examples you can buy cheaply in the supermarket. Of course, crunchy caramels are cheating, they make it easy for the manufacturer and last well in storage.
In this case, the chocolate is wrapped around a soft, luscious caramel centre that is sweet, and seems to be slightly buttery. Unlike some, this is soft but not sticky or horribly gooey, and it tastes really good. A common failing in caramels is some kind of unpleasant strange flavour, which I call “chemical”. That’s unfair to all the chemical process engineers out there, but many have something a bit harsh / metallic / unpleasant. This has none of that – it is really good example of a DECENT soft caramel centre. How you get it into these chocolate drops and keep it there is a mystery – where I don’t want to know the answer, just be amazed at the success.
This is definitely one for those with a sweet tooth. At 54% cocoa, I think it could have gone to a slightly higher cocoa amount, just to help offset the sweetness. But I’m a dark side dweller. Ignore me. This is good. Really good.
And although not for sale (yet), Casey also sent a version of this using a chocolate (not caramel) which is very lightly salted. This was stunning – all the normal flavours and then at the end, a small lick of saltiness to complete the flavour, enhance it and make it linger on and on. He should add this to the range as well.
Sour Cherry Brandy
I can only go WOW at this. I was expecting more sourness – from the name – but the flavours of cherry brandy are all there, the cherry inside is soft and juicy. The chocolate at 54% is just right, it has enough hardness and crunch to hold in the insides, and gives just the right chocolatiness (yes there is such a word… now) that the mix of flavours with the cherries and brandy scream out “Black Forest Cake”. I just need a big dollop of cream.
There won’t be any issues of these sitting around for too long waiting to be eaten. I think this one is a real winner, it’s really clever getting that soft juicy cherry inside the chocolate case, and the mix and progression of flavours is incredible.
Hint of Mint
I’ve written before about minty chocolate. Those 1980’s-and-beyond after-dinner-mints have left me fairly jaded when it comes to mint. I’ll take it if its really well executed, and want to run a mile from the ordinary or overly sweet muck. Apart from sticky goo, my test of a mint chocolate is: when the chocolate has melted and gone, how is the after-taste, about 2 minutes later? Many minty chocolates seem to have a harsh or slightly unpleasant taste after, the good ones don’t.
This is a good one. Simple as that. The mint is not too strong – there is no monster aroma to knock you over when opening the pack, and the flavour is restrained but minty enough to let you know it’s there. There is no nasty after-taste, it just lingers and slowly fades away. Oldest son (a harsh critic) keeps coming past and stealing pieces, which pretty much tells all you need to know. My faith in good mint chocolate is restored.
