July 9th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 79 - Kellogg's Pop Tarts Frosted Ice Creme Sandwich

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

It's been another great week on the site with reviews from some of my favourite brands. Below are the links to all three of them just in case you managed to miss out on reading them first time around:

Hotel Chocolat Summer Slabs 2011
Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream + Competition
Browne's Hand Made Chocolates Assorted Truffles

The Twitter competition that is currently being run from the Ritter Sport midweek post is going get guns so far and entries have been flooding in. Remember to enter all you have to do is start following @Chocmission, Retweet one of my reviews and then finally correctly send me your answer to which of the three Ritter Sport wrappers I liked best from the review Wednesday - A winner will be announced next Saturday - Best of luck - Full details HERE.

Next week on the site we have more Hotel Chocolat summer chocolates, a long awaited return for 'Bits n Bobs', and lastly whatever I feel like posting on Friday :D

Have great weekends and remember to visit the NEWS PAGE.

JIM


SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the weekKcal 190 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 33.0g (per pastry)
'Chocolate toaster pastries with an ice cream flavoured filling'

My friends at AmericanSoda have just recieved their latest shipping container over from Stateside, and they sent me over another parcel full of American sweets and treats to share with you all for my Snack of the Week feature. During the course of the last 5 days I've once again replaced my usual ultra healthy bran based bowl of Kellogg's cereal with these rather less wholesome Kellogg's Pop Tarts Frosted Ice Creme Sandwich toaster pastries - here's what I made of them.

If you recall my previous reviews of Pop Tarts you will have noticed a common theme of me finding them a none to satisfying breakfast option due to the limited amounts I felt I could consume and any one given time. To my surprise this Ice Cream Sandwich variant made a bit of headway on this issue, and for the first time ever I felt a degree of comfort eating two of the pastries in a sitting. This was mainly due to the usual Pop Tarts throat burning sensation being all but absent here, in comparison to other past reviewed flavours these were noticeably less sharp and poignant in their sugary sweetness - [hew! The outer chocolate pastry was a little on the bland side, but when heated it did deliver a chocolate flavour hit to a decent enough standard. The inner filling was surprisingly less sugary than I expected and had a sweet milkyness that had just a hint of vanilla. All in all I still won't be replacing my usual cereal with these, but as an alternative every now and then I could be convinced to get some of these in the toaster.

7.7 out of 10



CHOCOLATE NEWS

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July 8th: Browne's Hand Made Chocolates Assorted Truffles

This is a review that I thought for the life of me would never happen! A long, long time ago, dedicated ChocolateMission reader Thea posted a message on the request page asking me to review some chocolates from one of her all time favourite chocolate makers Browne's - a company hailing from Devon who make handmade produce.

I have to admit I wasn't the quickest off the mark with this particular request (naughty Jim!!), so it came to both my surprise and immediate disappointment when I read in March that the company had been put into the hands of administrators (See HERE) i.e. they were closing down - DOH! At this point I believed I had failed Thea and was destined never to try their chocolate.

.... That was until I was given these a few weeks ago ... a 180.0g assortment of truffles from none other than Browne's!?? .... So what did I do next? Well I did what any person would do in this 21st Century! I Googled it!! Here's what I found (See HERE). Indeed, Browne's had been saved by two local entrepreneurs who had just sold their brewing company - HURRAH! Browne's were saved and I had a box of chocolates to make my way through! All was right with the world :D

Pictured above - Orange & Kirsch

As I mentioned above these Assorted Truffles were gifted to me by a friend, and I was straight away impressed by the clean cut design of the box and the inner truffles which were similarly immaculate. The decision to include a menu in hindsight was probably not the best idea as it was inaccurate, but the thought was there at least and this is something that could be easily addressed in the future.
Pictured above - Rum & Raspberry

So what's going on with me randomly placing the chocolates throughout the post and not going into specifics on them? Well to save you all the feeling of wanting to reach through your computer screens and strangle me, I've decided not to write 'great tasting outer chocolate, superb mouth feel with the inner fillings, but poorly flavoured' six times in a row.

I could have honestly cut and pasted that for every single one of the six flavours on offer here. It was unanimously agreed by all that tried these (my old man and mother helped me out here haha!) that all three of the chocolate types used, the milk, dark and white were all fantastic and contributed exactly what was desired from each. The milk was creamy in it's cocoa flavours, the white was even creamier and vanilla noted, and the dark was richer and offered fine tasting unsweetened coffee hints. This was all fantastic, and it got even better with the revelation of the truffle centres which were all as soft as can be and melted luxuriously in the mouth. The issue with every single one of the six chocolates however was that the filling was just so under strength and lacking in flavour. This was made all the more disappointing as the mild taste contributions that were offered showed great potential - especially the fruit flavoured ones. For the record I would awarded all of these chocolates a Standard rating.
Pictured above - Strawberry & Champagne

Overall as glad as I am to see Browne's back in business I have to say I wasn't blown away by my first experience with them. Taking things from a positive point of view, there are a number of things that show they are a brand with massive potential. The presentation of the chocolates, the actual chocolate coatings and textural mouth feel of the chocolates were all superb, and lead me to believe that with a few minor tweaks they could produce something very special. Unfortunately there were little blemishes such as the inaccurate inner menu, which alongside the significant issue of the mild flavoured fillings made these more of a mediocre chocolate assortment offering than they needed be. I would be over the moon if you guys were not to be put off by my this review - please do try their chocolates and let me know what you think. If only to get behind a small British firm that has had it's troubles recently.

7.7 out of 10

July 6th: Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream + Competition

Listen up ChocolateMission readers!! Today you not only get a brand spanking new review of the latest Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream bar, but you also get the opportunity to enter a prize drawing to try it your very self!!

This Ritter Sport Cookies & Cream has been long in development and was created off the back of a 'Create your own flavour of Ritter Sport' competition that ran in Germany early this year. As part of the competition, Ritter also asked their fans to create packaging designs for the wrappers - and the three winning bars are displayed throughout below. All you have to do today is to pick your favourite out of the three, and hope it matches my own!! :D ... simple eh!? All you have to do to enter is to start following me on Twitter and to send a tweet to @ChocMission with your answer and a '#competition' I will announce the winners in the next '7Days of Chocolate Reviews Post' .... shall I talk chocolate now :D


This latest offering slots into Ritter's existing range of 100.0g bars and comes described as 'white chocolate filled with a vanilla cream filling with pieces of chocolate cookie' - yumtastic I thought!

As you can see above the chocolate looked attractive on the eye, and as ever the filling appeared plentiful sandwiched between the outer clean cut white chocolate. After allowing for a brief cooling time in the fridge, myself and the rest of my family split the bar into four-by-four quadrants and tucked in with high expectations. After consuming our servings, thoughts were then shared, and our opinions were oddly unanimous. We all thought the mouth feel of the chocolate was sensational with the crisp out chocolate playing off nicely with cooling sensation brought to the party by the softer inner filling that was lined with crunchy cookies pieces. The taste was concluded to be pleasant, but not all that engaging with the vanilla and sugar flavours proving to be more one dimensional than expected. It must be reiterated that the sweet milky bourbon taste was liked all well round, but I think more was expected from the cookie element which didn't provide much in the way of flavour.

Overall the general consensus behind this chocolate was that it was enjoyable, yet could of been better. It was one of those chocolates that you could happily eat all day long without getting much satisfaction from it. From a personal point of view I thought it needed more of a flavour input from the cookie pieces to give the taste an extra dimension. It wasn't far off being an exceptional chocolate, however it's lack of depth in the taste and subsequent satisfaction credentials have left it more of a mediocre chocolate offering. Who cares what we say though eh!? Get yourself in the mix to see if you are lucky enough to try it yourself by entering the competition above.

7.6 out of 10

July 4th: Hotel Chocolat Summer Slabs 2011

Over the past few weeks I've had a number of readers requesting that I review some of the new summer themed flavoured slabs that Hotel Chocolat have produced for 2011. Having been kept busy by the Hotel Chocolat Summer Dessert Peepster Slection for the last couple of Monday's, I thought it best to give you my full run down of the larger slabs in a 3-in-1 special.

All of these chocolates came in 200.0g sizes and in the traditional single piece thick slab Hotel Chocolat form. Just so no one complains about me leaving off the prices (Richard haha!), these are currently priced at £7.00 on the Hotel Chocolat website. Here's what myself and my family thought of them:

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Hotel Chocolat Neapolitan Nibble - 'Stripes of milk chocolate, white chocolate and strawberry flavoured white chocolate studded with cookies'. Expectations are normally sky high when Hotel Chocolat chocolate is about our household, but after trying the Hotel Chocolat Neapolitan truffles to big success earlier in the year (HERE), hopes were really quite high. On the face of things the slab looked nice with the clearly defined chocolate types nice and evenly distributed which we all thought was pretty cool. This design not only brought variety to the party, but also a good bit of fun breaking it apart (which has to be said was a whole lot easier thanks to the cookies bit in the bottom!). Speaking of the cookie pieces, we also all thought these were a clever addition to the chocolates, as they created an 'ice cream cone' like effect once the chocolate had melted. With the variety of the 40% milk chocolate, vanilla toned white chocolate and wonderfully real tasting strawberry this was a slab that was given a big thumbs up by one and all. It was certainly a great product for sharing with people what with the fun there was to be had with it's separation.

8.6 out of 10



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Hotel Chocolat Fizzy Lemonade - 'A milk chocolate slab fused with lemon flavoured white chocolate and cracking sherbet. Decorated with solid lemon flavoured white chocolate drops'. This was certainly a very good looking slab on the eye and the fragrant lemon scents that wandered out the packet when opened were a pleasant reminder of the flavour theme at hand. Any reader who has been reading this site for any long duration of time will know that I have a severe dislike for anything along the lines of 'popping candy' or 'cracking sherbet' as Hotel Chocolat so elegantly put it. Well what can I say!? The lemon sherbet didn't do anything for me here! The usual thick melting luxury mouth feel and progressive cream based cocoa tones were all made negligible by the one dimensional, placid lemon flavours, and the horrid fizzing sensation going on at the back of my throat. It was commented on by other family members that the lemon influx was not as suited to the milk chocolate as it has proven to be in similar white chocolate alternatives. This was a fair opinion from my perspective, and was a point I thought best underlined by purely decorative lemon pieces, which were non-enhancing of the taste apart from the most subtle of lemon volume. I'm sure some of you are thinking this slab was in for a tough review before I even tasted it, though I can assure you it got a fair ride thanks to it be test driven by the rest of my family. Certainly not a bad chocolate, but nowhere near one of their best.

7.2 out of 10



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Hotel Chocolat Cherry Pop - 'Solid milk chocolate and cherry flavoured white chocolate slab, with popping candy and naturally coloured white chocolate swirls'. In a change up from the norm, I've saved the WORST until last :D Indeed the worst scoring slab has the job of going last today and this honour falls to the Hotel Chocolat Cherry Pop chocolate. I'm sure all your eyes are being drawn to the rather poor presentation score this slab has scored (see graph below!). It looked beautiful with it's swirled chocolate design and smelt wonderfully fruity when the pack was unsealed! ... so what was the problem? Well my hatred of 'Popping Candy' got taken to new levels today. The ghastly stuff not only ruined the perfectly melting mouth feel textures of the chocolate, but it also caused the slab to have the most annoying and disgusting sticky layer on it's outer sides. This made it nigh on impossible to handle without creating a mess, which came at great frustration to everyone that tried it. This was such a shame as the chocolates were as usual fantastic and the cherry influence was real tasting and nicely implemented. The inclusion of the 'Popping Candy' was understandable given the flavour theme they were going for, though part of me thinks it would have been much more wise to implement it in a far smaller volume. I wouldn't buy this one again - Hotel Chocolat have such far greater things to offer.

6.8 out of 10



Overall the scores pretty much tell the story here. If you want my recommendations then I say the Neapolitan Nibble is your best bet. Personally I would be more inclined to buy the Hotel Chocolat Summer Peepster Collection what with it offering the glorious Eton Mess, Tiramisu and Mississippi chocolates. I hope you enjoyed the reviews today - let me know what you think of these yourselves.

July 2nd: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 78 - Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolatey Orange

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

It's been another good week on ChocolateMission with a lot of feedback attracted on all the reviews. If you have missed out on any of the reviews please let me point you in the direction of them here:

June 27th: Hotel Chocolat Tiramisu
June 29th: Lucky's Honey Time - New Flavours
July 1st: Zotter Peanuts & Ketchup

In terms of what's coming up this week we have the obligatory Hotel Chocolat review, a Ritter Sport competition, and whatever I fancy posting on Friday :D If you guys have any suggestions as to what you want to see then please don't hesitate to get in contact. There are a number of sporting events happening this weekend - good luck to David Haye and Andy Murray (who could well be out by the time this appears!!).

Keep an eye on the Twitter feed - HERE ... you never know when a cheeky competition might appear :D

Have great weekends and remember to visit the NEWS PAGE which has been updated with the latest news on Thorntons closing down some of their stores. Make sure you join the debate.

JIM


SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the week

Kcal 149 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 13.0g (per bar)

Take a look at your supermarket shelves this week and you should find these new Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolatey Orange sitting there on some sort of launch deal (£1.00 for a four bar multipack in most retailers!). Yes for no apparent reason other than for giggles, Kellogg's have decided to make another limited edition flavour of their Rice Krispies Squares, these Totally Chocolatey Orange - 'crispy grains of chocolate toasted rice cereal and orange milk chocolate chunks with a chocolate flavour coating'.

I've been making my way through my four bar multi-pack this week and ultimately I'm giving them the thumbs up. On the face of things they looked no different whatsoever from the standard Totally Chocolatey flavour, however upon tasting the things it came to light that Kellogg's had done a nice job integrating the orange flavouring. It was real tasting, not too sweet and just about the right intensity, adding depth to what can sometimes seem like a rather mono-flavoured snack. If you like chocolate orange and Rice Krispies then you would be silly to let these pass by. They should make them part of the permanent range if you ask me!

7.8 out of 10




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July 1st: Zotter Peanuts & Ketchup

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

After showcasing the famous Zotter Chocco Shot to you guys a few months ago, I thought there might no longer be anything from these people that I could really shock you with. Whilst I might never be able to get that sort of reaction from you guys again, what can I do is try cover off some of your Zotter requests. This Zotter Peanuts & Ketchup bar has been one that been sat on the ChocolateMission requests page for nearly two years now. I have to admit whilst I love fulfilling all reader review requests, this was not one that I went out of my way to track down, and had it not been for the kind people at Zotter it would probably be one to remain their a while longer :D What can I say!? Chocolate, Peanuts & Ketchup?? Oh come on surely not - this had to be disgusting!?

After my brief flirtation with Zotter's chocolate injectors (See HERE) it was very much back to the more conformitive handscooped format today, with this bar coming in a 70.0g form. The presentation to me was impressive with the American themed wrapper a sensible choice given the flavouring of the inner filling. As you can see in my cross-section picture above, the bar was beautifully devised into three distinct looking layers with the dark chocolate shell exterior sandwiching the distinct looking peanut and ketchup layers in the middle. The initial fragrances emanating from the sleek golden wrapper confines were largely cocoa led, though more subtle roasted nut and fruity scents could be detected upon closer inspection.

Before tasting the bar it did cross my mind to look at the ingredients list to check to see how the ketchup and peanuts experience was intended to be delivered, but that just wouldn't of been fun would it :D Indeed, I tasted this blind without looking at it, and I was left with mixed feelings once I had done so. Anyone who has read any of my previous Zotter reviews will be well aware how much I rate their chocolate, so it will come as little surprise to you that I loved every last bit of the beautifully balanced 70% dark that coated this bar. The unsweetened, coffee noted cocoa flavours were a nice initial lead in to the peanutty element that came to the party next. The peanut layer brought a great roasted nut element to the taste, bringing a savoury edge that had a nice touch of salt. Sat below this smooth peanut bit, the mouth feel was somewhat changed in the latter stages of the melt with the arrival of the ketchup constituents. This layer was drier, and more crumbly in texture, and brought a sweet twist to the flavour development. This sweetness came off as more of a slightly oddish fruity taste rather than a pure tomato one, and for my money it wasn't entirely desirable. Ultimately I didn't think the tomato development was a spoiler in any sense, but in my opinion it was neither an enhancer to the experience.

Overall this was a hard bar for me to score as it did so many things correctly, but just wasn't entirely to my liking. I'm sure you have gathered that the dark chocolate and peanut layers were both simply exquisite, and it was both of these two things that made me come back for more with the end of each mouthful. Whilst I would love this to be one of those Zotter reviews where the weired ingredient comes good, I unfortunately cant make a case for the ketchup here. As I have alluded to above, it wasn't in any way repulsive, but neither did I feel like it contributed positively. One nagging feeling that I had in the back of my head throughout was that I wanted it to provide a truer, fruitier twist to the taste - I think my brain wanted Peanut Butter & Jelly, yet was getting confused with the Peanuts & Ketchup. As with every Zotter bar I can recommend this one with the caveat that it is great if you are looking for a unique chocolate flavour experience. As for it being a great tasting chocolate!? Hmmm sorry - the jurys still out for me on this one. It was fun, but just not particularly great tasting.

6.8 out of 10

June 29th: Lucky's Honey Time - New Flavours

The last time we saw Lucky's on ChocolateMission I gave you all my thoughts on the new Mad Hatter Bar flavours just released (See HERE). In those reviews I constantly referred back to my first ever post about Lucky's, where I reviewed the Lucky's Honey Time Gift Selection (See HERE) where I awarded a very impressive 9.2 out of 10 rating. Well in addition to the new Mad Hatter Bar flavours, Lucky's also decided it appropriate to update their Honey Time offerings, the three of which I will showcase for you today.

As you can see from the photos these came to me in a very fancy looking gift set box that was decorated beautifully with the Lucky's branding and Alice in Wonderland themed patterns and logos. Inside the chunky 95.0g cakes were held in place by a bizzare, yet still rather cool furry shelf. The packaging was altogether odd in style, but ultimately very premium looking. This uniqueness is something I can only imagine will benefit Lucky's as they grow as a company. I'm not sure the style is going to be to everyone's taste but one thing that is for definite is that it will make them stand out from the crowd.

Unlike before I have decided to review these cakes individually as they are also available to buy in this manner. You can see them on the Lucky's website HERE for further details.

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Coco Rush - 'Spiced honey cake with coconut cream covered in dark chocolate'. I probably needn't remind you that all these cakes featured today were made with Valrhona chocolate exteriors and Luckys's top secret recipe spiced honey cake. This dark chocolate cake was one that took my fancy from the off and I couldn't wait to get stuck into it. Whilst doing the photography the awesome coconutty smells that greeted me nicely set my expectations for the taste test that quickly followed. The dark chocolate was every bit as good as expected, and it's thick shell implementation nicely established a grand set of unsweetened cocoa flavours which complimented the sweet cake and filling quite superbly. Not to be outdone by the chocolate, the cake was sweet and spicy in taste and was nicely moistened by the coconut cream that lay on top. The coconut filling itself delivered what it promised with it's milky sweet nut flavours, though it did come come across my mind that it wasn't quite the standard of William Curley's Bounty Bar coconut ganache. Altogether this was a delicious cake and one I got a great deal of satisfaction from. Recommended for you coconut fans.

8.4 out of 10


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Lazy Rabbit - 'Spiced honey cake with Bailey's & walnuts covered in milk chocolate'. Out of all the three cakes this was probably the one that had myself and my tasting panel most intrigued. My last experience with a Bailey's flavoured cake product was a Christmas themed McVitie's offering which proved to be a tad underwhelming (See HERE). If you have learnt anything about Lucky's so far, you will understand that 'underwhelming' isn't a word that is often suitable for this brand - this cake was far, far superior! The thick outer shell of milk chocolate broke with a beautiful elegance, and I didn't have to wait long for the expected creamy, silky cocoa flavours to make themselves known amongst the cinnamon spiced flavours of the honey noted cake. Hopefully you can see from my photo that the Bailey's and Walnut layer was very generously portioned. This was especially so at the centre of the cake where the filling oozed out uncontrollably as I bit in to it (messy business :D ) - oh my was it delicious! Adding further to the creaminess of the chocolate, the Bailey's element came through with just the slightest boozieness that combined with the surprisingly strong savoury butteryness of the walnuts offered a simply sensational flavour experience. The Bailey's contribution to the taste was for me spot on - neither too dominant or too weak. Highly recommended for any Bailey's lover.

8.9 out of 10


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Hurry Bunny - 'Spiced honey cake with blueberry covered in white chocolate'.chocolate'. Being a big fan of fruit flavoured chocolates (especially blueberries and white chocolate!) I was never going to get this one past my mother who I drafted in especially to help me review this one. Just like the other two above this was the most perfect looking cake and looked stunning when cross-sectioned with it's clean cut glistening chocolate shell and ruby red compote filling just begging to be released. As we all know, I'm not great lover of white chocolate but even I appreciated the subtly of the milky vanilla flavours of the hefty Valrhona 35.0% coating. The chocolate was great, but this Hurry Bunny was all about the way the different components combined. The creaminess of the chocolate, the slight spice of the buttery cake and red fruit flavours of the blueberries made for the most sensational taste. The mouth feel created by the sticky, cool tempered jam compote was just another bonus within what was all round a sensational cake. Suffice to say Mummy ChocolateMission was rather pleased with this one and gave it a massive thumbs up :D

8.9 out of 10



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Overall these were another very fine selection of cakes from Lucky's that I whole heartedly recommend. The feedback left from people in my last Lucky's review was that they were over expensive, and though I can't disagree that they are very, very dear, I believe that as a one off treat you can't find a more unique cake experience than what these have to offer. It's worth remembering that Lucky's don't position themselves as an everyday cake brand and thank heavens they don't - we have enough of them already. Lucky's want to be known for luxury, and judging by these cakes I can't deny them that.

June 27th: Hotel Chocolat Tiramisu

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

My trawl through the Hotel Chocolat Summer 2011 Peepster range finishes today with me taking a look at their new Tiramisu slab offering. Long time readers of the site will know that I make very little effort hiding my love for coffee flavoured chocolates. You only need to look at my previous reviews of bars such as Lindt's Excellence Coffee Intense See HERE (now shockingly out of distribution in the UK!!!) to understand just quite how much I love coffee chocolates. Suffice to say the prospect of Hotel Chocolat finally having a go at this terrific combination had me literally salivating. The on-pack description of 'milk and mocha chocolate, cookie pieces and enrobed coffee beans only further fueled my excitement. My expectations for this slab were sky high, it was always going to be hard living up to them.

Just as all the rest this Tiramisu slab came in a 100.0g portion that I consumed slowly over the course of a few days. I would love to say that I had some second opinions on this one but this was a chocolate that I wasn't going ever going to be sharing with anyone haha :D In terms of aesthetic impression the slab looked attractive on the eye with the two tone milk chocolate and decorative white chocolate swirls complimented nicely by the biscuit and coffee bean pieces. Again the same issue about breaking the slab into smaller pieces reared its ugly head, however I was too overcome by the glorious roasted coffee scents being emanated by the chocolate to really take much notice of that.

I feel in no mood to beat around the bush today, so I will let the 'cat out the bag' straight away by revealing this was every bit as great as I hoped it would be. The majority of the bar was comprised of Hotel Chocolat's 40% milk chocolate which of course brought all the usual cream based, fresh cocoa flavours to the party. Across the entire slab, generous portions of lighter coloured, speckled milk chocolate signified the presence of the mocha chocolate - gosh was it nice! The mocha chocolate built upon the base cream flavours with a smooth, roasted coffee influence. The coffee element surprised me with it's strength - it certainly didn't hold back in getting the coffee across in the taste. Whilst the taste was to be marvelled at, the differentiated textures created by the smooth melting chocolate and crunchy biscuit and coffee beans pieces were also fantastic. Speaking of the devils, both the biscuits and coated coffee beans were tremendous additional flavour enhancers. The biscuits brought a lovely shortbread flavour input, whilst the coffee beans brought further big bursts of coffee in every bite where present. Altogether this all made for a delicious and moreish coffee chocolate - at times I just couldn't put it down.

Overall this wasn't the perfect coffee chocolate but it definitely came mighty close. The mocha flavoured chocolate included in this slab was nothing short of phenomenal. It almost became a game breaking off chunks of the plain milk chocolate around it, just so I could save those 'best bits' until last (yes I am one of those weird people haah :D). The other coffee element to this slab, was also inspired - Hotel Chocolat should seriously look into releasing a stand alone coated coffee bean product they are that good! Do I have any minor criticisms!? Well of course I do :D First off I think the 'Tiramisu' name given to the slab is slight misleading given that the chocolate lacked the cheesyness of mascarpone and the boozie influence without any liqueur. Secondly I think it would have been better if the embedded coffee beans had been more spaced out across the slab. Lets not dwell on the negatives :D ... this was one heck of a delicious chocolate that I would recommend to anyone who considers themselves a coffee flavoured chocolate fan. This one gets a big ChocolateMission thumbs up.

8.9 out of 10

June 25th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 77 - Thorntons Gold Award Winners 2011

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

It's been another really great week for the site with record amounts of visitors and some really good chit chat on the reviews. If you are one of my readers who doesn't look at the comment threads on the reviews I would strongly suggest you start doing so. There are a great bunch of regulars and the discussions can get very lively.

Whats gone on in my world this week!? Well not that much to be honest with you folks. I have recieved deliveries from Thorntons and Ritter Sport, but apart from that it has been all rather quiet.

Next week you can expect to see more Hotel Chocolat, Lucky's Cakes and AmericanSoda. Make sure you are signed up to the ChocolateMission Twitter feed HERE. You never know I might have the sudden urge to hold another competition if I get the chance. As ever if you have any products you want to see reviewd please just leave them on the request page.

Have great weekends and remember to visit the NEWS PAGE.

JIM


SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the week




Hands up if you have seen these doing the rounds on the Chocosphere this week :D .... Yeah, you and me both! There I was thinking I was all special this week after recieving these 'Academy of Chocolate 2011 award winning chocolates' through the post from my pals at Thorntons.

As part of their attempts to reshape their somewhat troubled brand image it appears that Thorntons are attempting to remind people just how good some of their chocolates are by sending out some PR samples to us so called 'chocolate experts'. Included in these packs Thorntons included three of their chocolates that won awards at the latest Academy of Chocolate awards ... here are my thoughts on them.

Crunchy Praline - This was a great chocolate that combined a soft yielding hazelnut filling with small crunchy rice cereal pieces dispersed throughout. In terms of taste the woody nut flavours were forthcoming and the outer chocolate had a pleasant creamy sweetness. The rice cereal specs offered little flavourwise, though they brought pleasant addictions texturally. Good.
Raspberry & Rose - This piece was suitably coated with a less sugar intensive dark chocolate which I thought matched the highly sweet centre well. Once again the mouthfeel of the soft filling was pleasant against the crisp outer chocolate, though I wasn't all that taken by raspberry and rose flavours. Though distinctive I thought they were highly reminiscent of Thorntons' standard Turkish Delight bar which didn't make it feel like an altogether 'special' award worthy chocolate. More could have been done with the raspberry. Standard.
Vanilla Caramel - Given the amount of caramels I have tried in my time this was probably the one they were going to have most problems impressing me with - to my surprise they did! This was a delightful caramel that had both a wonderful mouthfeel and a terrific flavour delivery. The filling was soft and slightly viscous in texture, whilst the taste had elements of butter, salt, vanilla and cream all in one. It wasn't the best ever caramel, but it was still highly enjoyable. I wouldn't mind a box of these. Superb.

So where can you get some of these 'award winners' yourself? Well you can head over to Thorntons HERE and keep an eye out for the £100 'Wonder box' that these will be included in to celebrate their 100 year Jubilee year. Here's hoping they also come out with a more realistically priced offering eh!? :D

8.3 out of 10




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