March 25th: Hotel Chocolat The Sleekster Egg Box Selection - Part 2

If you missed Part 1 of this review I suggest you scroll down to yesterdays post before you spoil the surprise of the final score big reveal.

Today I firstly bring you my thoughts on the last five flavours from this selection box - as yesterday working left to right, and using the Awful-to-Superb scoring system. At the end I will sum up my thoughts and give you the overall score.


Orange Truffle Egg - This egg was formed of a white chocolate outer coating with a Valencia orange essential oil centre that had a splash of Cointreau. Woops .. when I say a splash I really mean a throat burning shot! The white chocolate was creamy and sweet, and the orange element was suitably juicey and natraul tasting. Unfortunately this solid foundation was somewhat spoilt by the overwhelming alcohol hit - I would have much preferred it without. Poor.

Caramel Egg - This without question was my favourite from the entire selection. This egg was amazing in every sense - everything from the super creamy outer milk chocolate, to the runny salted caramel centre was nothing short of phenomenal. You see those Cadbury and Galaxy bars on the leader board!? Well they should be quaking in their boots if Hotel Chocolat finally pull their fingers out and make a box full of these. Super-Duper Superb.

Zesty Praline Egg - This is egg was pretty much the same as the white chocolate orange truffle above, but obviously with a dark chocolate coating and thankfully no Cointreau kick. The combination was simply superb - the chocolate was rich tasting and full of cocoa flavour, whilst the centre had a delightful juicy orange fruit taste. Both my mother and sister really loved this one. Very Good.



Caramel Praline Egg - This egg combined hazelnut praline and caramel for the inner truffle filling and just as I expected it was delicious. I perhaps would have liked the outer chocolate to have been dark, but there was still no denying that the milk chocolate did more than adequate job. The praline and caramel played off each other nicely with the nut element coming through the stronger out of the two. This egg wasn't as good as the praline or caramel eggs separately but it was still extremely tasty. Very Good.

Amaretto Truffle Egg - Out of all the liqueur egg truffles this was the best out of the three. The milk chocolate again did it's job nicely melting smoothly into the soft ganache that lay below. Compared with the other liqueur truffles the hit of the alcohol was far less jolting and this allowed the taste to maintain it's soothing nature. Whilst this was of course favourable, again the Amaretto spirit flavour wasn't that obvious and it could of really been billed as any liqueur as it was quite a generic alcohol taste. Standard.


Overall if you look across the two days of this review, I think you will understand my reasoning for giving this selection such high marks. Starting with the 'gimmes' that come with the majority of Hotel Chocolat products the presentation and concept was first class. The idea of using eggs as the theme isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it was well executed and the eggs were well crafted and were a great size to consume in two bites. Selection wise, like many selection boxes that have gone before the variety wasn't perfect, but it offered a great amount of assortment and all four members of my family had their favourite flavours represented. The real standout chocolate for me from this collection was the Caramel Egg, but there must be notable mentions for the Milk/Dark Praline, plus the Berry Mousse flavours. If you are looking for a box of chocolates that has a varied and great tasting selection, I would suggest these as a terrific option for you this Easter. Hotel Chocolat are quickly establishing themselves as kings of the selection box sector.

8.9 out of 10

Fancy trying this Hotel Chocolat The Sleekster Egg Box Selection for yourself? Click HERE.