Delight Chocolate Truffles

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on February 22 2013 | Leave A Comment

Delight Chocolate - Box

Toronto’s Delight Chocolate is a chocolate shop which puts the focus firmly on wholesome. Owners Jennifer Rashleigh and Jeff Brown only use Fair Trade chocolate and everything else put into their chocolates, ice creams and baked goods is certified organic. That translates into lots of local ingredients and even some vegan options for those who are that way inclined.

Their truffles are large enough to qualify as two bite for anyone with a normal sized mouth, and they all have a substantial outer shell that means they need to be bitten with a certain amount of force. And it does help that in the majority of cases, the chocolate in question is a robust 70% organic variety that has an equally robust flavour, so even if the centre isn’t very good there’s plenty of solace to be found on the outside. That wasn’t much of an issue though. The decoration is mostly functional – usually some kind of white chocolate design to allow it to be identified on the map with the occasional nut but nothing that really impacted the taste.

Delight Chocolate - Open Box

The box I got my hands on had a dozen chocolates, with some of the usual suspects that everyone seems to have and a few surprises too. Here are the highlights:

Orange Espresso

I always pair espresso with dark chocolate in my head, but this goes in the opposite direction trying to balance out the deep coffee flavour with creamy milk and just a hint of orange. A surprisingly successful pairing.

Chili Cinnamon

It starts off as being all about the cinnamon than chili but then completely changes direction at the halfway point as the heat begins to build. I’m a big fan of this particular combination of flavours and so I didn’t need much convincing to make this one of my favourites in the box.

Delight Chocolate - Pink Peppercorn

Pink Peppercorn

This one is really clever. It starts off with a very bitter chocolate shell which is washed away by a light, creamy centre before a rush of pepper swoops in for the finale. One of the best pink peppercorn chocolates I’ve ever had because it really delivers on its promise.

Cardamom Rosewater

Rose is one of those flavours which is easy to either go overboard with or no put enough in, and this leans towards the latter. Even with the addition of cardamom, the centre struggles to be noticed when dark chocolate in thrown into the mix.

Single Malt Scotch

@ark chocolate, dark truffle and a very generous splash of an unnamed single malt. Not subtle at all and all the better for it.

Chocolate Caramel with Smoked Sea Salt

This, for better or worse, has become the yardstick by which boxes of chocolates are measured simply because of its ubiquitousness. This one is a good one – it goes with the less runny caramel and even though there is some chocolate in there, the primary flavour is a rich, buttery caramel. Using smoked salt also boosts its profile and cuts right through the sweetness. Yum.

Delight Chocolate - Toasted Hazelnut

Toasted Hazelnut

One of the vegan chocolates in the box, not that you’d know. A nice rich, nutty ganache which slowly fades into dark chocolate. Nothing new, but well executed and preferable to the vegan Burnt Almond which was a bit on the dry side.

Delight Chocolate - Blue Cheese

Quebec Blue Cheese

Before even tasting this, I knew this would be one of those chocolates which people would either love or hate, much like Paul A. Young’s Marmite truffles. They really don’t hold back on the blue cheese, which happens to be an award-winning variety called Bleu D’Elizabeth. There’s absolutely no mistaking the flavour at all, and the saltiness of the cheese works well with the dark chocolate because the boldness of both complement each other. It is really unusual and I’m not sure I’d want to eat a whole bunch of them, but I’d consider it very successful for what it is.

All in all, I was rather impressed. Although they weren’t the most exciting chocolates to look at, they more than compensated in the taste department and that is much more important. Delight Chocolate are another reason for those with an interest in all things chocolatey to spend some time in Toronto.

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