August 22nd: Hotel Chocolat Coffee Truffles

It's Monday so we all know what that means! Yes indeed the 'spotlight' is back on Hotel Chocolat - apologies I know it's too early in the week for cheesey puns :D Dipping in to the new 'Spotlight On' range again, today I'm posting my review of these Coffee Truffles. I'm starting to think Hotel Chocolat may have just designed this new line of boxed chocolates entirely around my own favourite flavour combinations, as they have managed to cover off my two favourite ones in what is only a line consisting of eight variants. The Salted Caramels I tried a few weeks ago were flawlessly executed - I was expecting similar things here.

As I mentioned in the last 'Spotlight On' review the range is line priced at £13.00 a box. These truffles were formatted a little differently to the Salted Caramels as they came in a 165.0g box consisting of 14 truffles. Suffice to say, between myself and my Old Man this was more than enough for us to spread our taste testing over a week - generally consuming them alongside our post meal coffees. In fear of me boring you all with my repetition, I needn't say anything more about the packaging and presentation other than it was again heralded as mega classy by one and all.

These truffles came described as 'Cappuccino balanced with the flavours of deep tasting, super smooth, milk chocolate truffle'. On the face of things they looked a lot like some of the chocolates from previous Hotel Chocolat selections. In terms of aromas these truffles emanated strong roasted coffee scents as soon as they outer cellophane wrapper was removed - boy did they smell sensational. Each piece was suitably edible in two bites - best served from the fridge. The outer chocolate was a bit of a halfway house between dark and milk - I would hazard a guess at a 50.0% cocoa recipe!? Whatever, it created a delightful cracking sound when bitten in to and then proceeded to melt like a dream when left on the tongue before transitioning to the even softer filling which lay inside. Flavour wise the coffee element was evident from the outset, with a strong roasted bean influence beautifully combining with the rich, fresh tasting cocoa flavours immediately. The inner filling did little to progress the taste aside from adding supplementary cream tones, though it's sensational mouth feel creation was not to be denied - glorious.

Overall I was expecting great things from Hotel Chocolat again and I thankfully wasn't denied. These truffles were both delicious and satisfying - you can't really ask for anything more than that. The chocolate was unsurprisingly of an outstanding quality, whilst the coffee element was integrated seamlessly to create flowing smooth truffle experience. For my taste the coffee influence was just about the perfect strength - a little richer than your average cappuccino/latte experience but not overly so like an excessive espresso shot which undoubtedly would have masked the contribution of the chocolate. With this americano like coffee strength, this ultimately made for some of the best tasting coffee chocolates I've tried. I can't recommend them enough to fans of this particular flavour genre. Another gold star for the book of Hotel Chocolat.

9.2 out of 10

August 20th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 84 - Cadbury Twirl Mini Bites + Kit Kat Mini Pop Chocs

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

After last weeks uproar when I said I was stopping the weekend comments you will be glad to hear that I have reconsidered my decision. Please feel free to throw in your two pennies worth on the review today, I've even made SOTW extra special today by giving you all a heads-up on not one, but two, yes TWO of the snacks that have made it down my gob this week.

The week may have died off in terms of the high scores with the Prestat bars and most of 'Bits & Bobs' on Wednesday and Friday, but lets not forget how brilliantly Hotel Chocolat kicked off proceedings with their Hotel Chocolat Le Grand Crunch offering (See HERE).

There's not much else to report ChocolateMission side, but please be sure to check out the news page (See HERE) as there have been several interesting product announcements this week

I hope you all have great weekends. Bring on the sunshine!

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

The two products taking centre stage in my 'Snack of the Week' are two of the latest market releases from our UK confectionery behemoths Cadbury & Nestle. Due to these 'New products' being so alike their original concepts I didn't it necessary to attribute them with scores. I thought you guys might just appreciate some photos of what they are and the details on where I got them. You can see my original Cadbury Twirl review (HERE) and my Kit Kat Pop Choc review (HERE)

Cadbury Twirl Bites
Kcal 220 Fat 12.5g Fat(sats) 7.7g Carbs 23.1g (per 1/4 bag)
First up we have these Cadbury Twirl Bites. After hearing the their trade announcement (See HERE) last month I found these on sale in my local Co-Op on a BOGOF offer for £2.09. These went down terrifically well with all parties that I dished them out to at work. Suffice to say both packets were polished off in double quick time - warning they are very, very moreish!

Kit Kat Pop Choc Mini Bag
Kcal 109 Fat 6.3g Carbs 11.4gg (per 9 pieces)
Another snack that has been doing the rounds in our office these week are the new Kit Kat Pop Choc Mini bags. Indeed Nestle have followed up the original large sized pouches with these conveniently sized 40.0g packs. The person who bought these in somehow managed to acquire what must have been 10+ bags, but like the Twirl Mini Bites above the office locust soon made mincemeat of them :D

You know I'm always keen to hear what you guys are recommending/getting your lips around this week. Drop me a line I'm interested to hear from you.

CHOCOLATE NEWS

Visit the ChocolateMission news page for all the latest developments in the Chocolate market ... Click the banner below ....

August 19th: Prestat Choxi+ 70% / Dark Chocolate with Stem Ginger

"Choxi+ is an exceptional chocolate that's naturally good for you - a truly positive indulgence" ... those are the words you are greeted with if you log on to Prestat's website. If you are reader of my '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' posts you probably be familiar with my ongoing joke of finding news articles that talk about 'health benefits' associated with chocolate. I have to admit that I just cant buy in to the idea at all - I'm stubborn in my views that chocolate is one of those things that can never be classed as a 'healthy food' and should be eaten as a treat or indulgence. Despite my scepticism Choxi+ was still a brand that intrigued me, and granted it was more the proposition that caught my attention rather than the garish looking packaging.

After seeing them whilst browsing the shelves of my local Waitrose, I decided to give both of these dark chocolate varieties a try - one plain 70% bar, and the other flavoured with Stem Ginger. As I have mentioned above the wrappers weren't to my liking, and I didn't think they did a very good job of reaffirming the premium price proposition, they both looked a little cheap and tacky to me. To make matters worse when I opened both bars the chocolate inside had dusty, bloomed surfaces which sapped my confidence of the product quality even more. Below are my thoughts on each variety.


Prestat Choxi+ 70% Dark Chocolate - Kcal 514 Fat 39.5g Fat(sats) 24.8g Carbs 29.7g (per 100.0g)

Although it may sound strong to the average chocolate consumer, 70% cocoa is a recipe that has seen a lot of success on this site (check out Lindt, Hotel Chocolat etc) so I had my fingers crossed this Prestat offering could hang with the big boys. Cutting right the chase the taste test went on to prove that this was simply just not the case. Just as the appearance of the chocolate suggested the melt was lazy and transcended in a slow, chalky dry fashion. In comparison to the textures the taste wasn't quite as poor, but it suffered as a consequence as the flavour generation was equally slow to develop. The eventual taste was surprisingly mild given the strength of the chocolate, and the unsweetened cocoa flavours were largely forgettable and lacking in definition. On a positive note the aftertaste did have a welcome suggestion of vanilla, however this did little to heighten my overall enjoyment.


Prestat Choxi+ Dark Chocolate with Stem Ginger - Kcal 485 Fat 34.0g Fat(sats) 21.4g Carbs 36.3g (per 100.0g)

Having been totally and completely uninspired by the previous dark chocolate offering it would have been all to easy to settle in to a way of thinking that this Stem Ginger flavoured bar was going to be equally as bad. Well I'm glad to say it wasn't as poor as the plain 70% offering above, but being frank it was still a hell of a way off being a good quality dark chocolate. As you will see in the photo above this bar had small bits of orange ginger distributed throughout the bar. The portioning may not look overly generous, but the ginger flavours came through quite strongly which thankfully gave the bar the desired flavour dimension that the one above was so severely lacking. Once again the cocoa flavours were mild and not as flavoursome as desired, but the ginger did somewhat make up for this with it's sweet and spicy play on the taste.

Overall I was pretty disappointed with both of these chocolates and with health benefit guff aside they were fundamentally just not the quality I was hoping they would be. The textures and mouthfeel that both these chocolates generated was pretty poor in comparison to the likes of Lindt, Hotel Chocolat, Galler etc - all those brands manage to make chocolates that almost caress your mouth and really feel great in their transition of state. Prestat can talk about the health benefits of their cocoa until the cows come home, but the flavour generation within their dark chocolate here was poor, and certainly not up to scratch with any of those brands I have just mentioned. It is never nice to have to write a review that is so downcast and negative about any brand, but I just cannot recommend you buy these chocolates under any circumstances. It would be great to hear some second opinions on these, as I know Prestat is a brand that normally associated with very high quality produce - why not tell me what you think.

Prestat Choxi+ 70% Dark Chocolate - 5.6 out of 10
Prestat Choxi+ Dark Chocolate with Stem Ginger - 7.0 out of 10

August 17th: 'Bits n Bobs' Chocolate Cakes, Biscuits, & Brownies

Here a few random 'Bits n Bobs' that I have eaten over the last few months and felt compelled to give a ChocolateMission rating. For those new to the 'Bits n Bobs' format, let me inform you that these posts contain multiple, short snappy product reviews. Be sure to let me know whether you agree/disagree with any of the ratings I've dished out.

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Jacob's Club Chocolate Cake Bars - Kcal 98 Fat 5.2g Fat(sats) 2.5g Carbs 11.7g
'Moist sponge cake with a chocolate flavoured cream, covered in smooth chocolate'

"If you like a lot of chocolate on your cake bar" .... then don't buy Jacob's Club Chocolate Cake Bars :D Haha I don't think Jacob's will ever be using that line on any further media communication but it was sadly the reality of the situation.

I bought these cake bars from a OneStop convenience store priced on a £1.00 promotional deal for a pack of ten. I guess you could say the price was pretty much the only thing these had going for them, however retrospectively thinking I would have much rather have spent £1.00 on several other of the round pound deals going on in store. So what was wrong with them!? The outer chocolate was flimsy, thin and poorly flavoured just like the inner sponger and chocolate cream layers. The sponge was especially disappointing with it's light as air texture and relative tastelessness. The chocolate cream took the highly sugary milk flavours of the outer chocolate and failed to do anything with them in a way of taste progression. I would avoid if I were you.

4.6 out of 10


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GU Brownie - Kcal 178 Fat 10.7g Fat(sats) 5.7g Carbs 20.0g (2/3rds of a brownie)
'Chocolate brownie with pecan nuts'

This was always going to be more of a FYI (for your information) post rather than a whole new product review - those of you with long term memories may recall my reviewing GU Brownies back in September (See HERE).

I thought you guys ought to be made aware that these brownies are now available in 60.0g individual packs, this one cost me £1.00 in Sainsbury's. Taste wise this was unsurprisingly exactly as it was all those months ago with the dark chocolate cakey, doughy base nice complimented by the buttery nutty goodness of the inner pecans. What with this brownie being 60.0g in size the whole thing was very rich to eat in the single sitting. This was a feat I didn't quite manage and consumed it by nibbling away at it throughout a working day on my desk. Like I said before, this isn't the best brownie in the world but If you like them it's a decent option as a quick fix.

7.8 out of 10


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McVitie's Temptations Belgian Milk Chocolate Praline - Kcal 50 Fat 2.8g Fat(sats) 1.3g Carbs 5.8g (per biscuit)
'Bite sized biscuits topped with hazelnut and chocolate cream, covered in Belgian milk chocolate'

Working in a busy office environment the turnover of biscuits can reach extraordinary levels and there is always a wide variety on offer in our tea making area. One of the more commonly featuring biscuits these past few weeks have been these new McVitie's Temptations - unsurprising given they are currently being heavily promoted at the magic £1.00 a pack biscuit introductory offer pretty much everywhere.

For the review today I thought I would feature this praline variant as it was the one I was hearing most positive things about. Although I should have probably guessed from the nutritional information and on-pack description, I was really quite surprised at just how small each biscuit was. To me it made no sense packaging them in twos - these alone wouldn't settle the smallest of stomach rumbles. These grumblings about the size are probably more frustrating as they actually taste rather nice. Although the presence of the hazelnut in the chocolate made the chocolate a little slimey and waxy feeling in the mouth, it tasted pleasant and the woody nuty influence of the nuts were complimentary of the sugary cocoa flavours. What with the biscuit being nice and buttery I really couldn't complain about the level of flavour creation despite the small size. I would happily say give them a try if they tickle your fancy.

7.1 out of 10


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The Fabulous Bakin' Boys Coconut Star - Kcal 320 Fat 16.1g Fat(sats) 15.0g Carbs 41.1g
'Star shaped chocolate and coconut flavoured macaroon'

This was one hefty cake I tell you! I'm not too sure of the actual catch-weight of the thing, but to say it felt heavy in hand would be somewhat understating the matter. You may also wish to take note of the saturated fat content stated above - yes indeed those NI values are for just one cake and that is no typo! I'm not one for usually caring too much about these things but at 15.0g of saturated fat for a single cake I wouldn't promote these being a 'one-a-day' snack :D

On to more important matters - the taste. It's a delight for me to report that when I ate this cake alongside a hot chocolate late at night I loved every bite of it. I've had a few hit-and-miss flirtations with the FBB range, but these Coconut Stars get a ChocolateMission thumbs up. The cake base was very dense and perhaps a little on the dry side on the outer crust, however the inner portion was a delightful treat of moist cakey coconut flavours. Despite the chocolate drizzle appearing to be criminally thin, the sheepish looking underside coating was surprisingly forthcoming in with it's unsweetened chocolatey flavours and counter balanced the sweet, sugary coconut inner contents rather splendidly. Coconut treats are few and far between here in the UK - this is a nice option for those that enjoy them.

7.6 out of 10

August 15th: Hotel Chocolat Le Grand Crunch Dark

It's been such a great summer of outstanding chocolates from Hotel Chocolat, it's easy to forget that all this time in the background they have also been making new additions to their standard range. Don't you go worrying yourselves ChocolateMission fanatics, luckily for you Hotel Chocolat have sent me a few samples of their latest chocolate slabs - suffice to say I'm all over it :D The first one of these new slabs I will be showing you today is one called Le Grand Crunch Dark. This slab is available both instore and online - the latter of which you can See HERE.

As time goes by Hotel Chocolat seem to be getting increasingly generous with the samples they send across to me. They must be pleased with the nice things that generally appear in my conclusions as they were so kind to send me this one in it's 500.0g form. There was plenty to go around, and many second/third/fourth opinions offered to me from my family and friends. Packaging wise this slab came in a single layered thick paper based like folder. It wasn't the most conventional material for keeping the chocolate fresh (a potential issue for the more greedy person!), however this wasn't a problem for me as aforemenioned I shared this amongst many a friend.

On the packaging this chocolate came billed as 'Dark chocolates blended with pieces of feuilletine, decorated with solid milk chocolate domes and milk chocolate drizzles'. Removing the seal at the back, it became immediatedly apparent that this was going to be one heck of a tasty chocolate. The rich cocoa scents that filled the air when the chocolate was removed were incredible. The chocolate smells were so incredibly forthcoming and indicative of the taste that confidence in it's quality were never in doubt. Breaking my first piece off and placing it on my tongue I was straight away treated to a lovely set of earthy, coffee noted dark chocolate flavours. These rich, unsweetned cocoa flavours strong, yet never ventured in to the world of bitterness due to an ever present fresh double cream taste. The cream flavours were increasing prevelent amongst the chunks I had where there were the sold milk chocolate balls. This sensational taste was complimented by an equally impressive mouthfeel, with the miniescule pancake particles surprisingly not upsetting the smooth melt of the chocolate, but more leaving a nice biscuitty aftertaste for every mouthful.

Overall this might not sound like one of Hotel Chocolat's most exciting propositions, but if you are looking for a kind flavoured dark chocolate offering from Hotel Chocolat then you needn't look any further. The sound of 70.0% dark chocolate may put some folk off trying this Le Grand Crunch Dark, but I think that to be a real shame as this is not a chocolate I felt ever bore a taste that I would deem excessively strong or threatening to an in experienced dark chocolate consumer. When I first read about the 'bolt-on' elements to this slab, I have to admit I really wasn't too impressed. The truffle balls sounded like they might be ineffectual on the taste, whilst the panacake pieces struck me as the sort of thing that could ruin the free flow melt texture. I shouldn't of feared as both were highly complimentry to the dark chocolate and total experience. The record may sound like it's broken, but I refuse to apologise as I can't deny being truthful about quality when I come across it - highly recommended.

8.9 out of 10

August 13th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 83 - Kellogg's Pop Tarts Unfrosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon

SITE UPDATE + COMPETITION WINNERS

Hi All,

Welcome back to '7days of Chocolate Reviews'. I have a few announcements starting with our competition winners from last weeks Thorntons Cloudy Lemonade draw. The Three winners are ....

Claire Snowey from York
Ian Lesbitt from Worthing
Colin Sanders from Maccesfield

Congratulations to all of these guys who correctly identified the three bars as the Twix Fino, Cadbury Starbar and Kinder Bueno White. Your chocolate is in the post, please let us all know what you think of it.

My second announcement is that for the minute I will be disabling comments from the weekend post. Unfortunately as things are comment moderation isn't something I can adhere to doing at the weekends. If you wish to contact me at the weekend you have these options ...

1. Via e-mail - Jim[@]Chocolatemission.net
2. Via the News Page (See HERE)3. Via Twitter @ChocMission
I hope you enjoyed the reviews this week - there are changes coming to the site :D Stay tuned!

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 weekKellogg's Pop Tarts Unfrosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Kcal 200 Fat 7.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 34.0g

Snack of the Week makes a triaumphant return today with the product of focus once again supplied by the merry folk over at www.AmericanSoda.co.uk Yes indeed this week my usual cereal based breakfast was again replaced by a Kellogg's Pop Tart variety - Unfrosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon.

At first I have to admit to being a little scpetical about this flavour. My common complaint with Pop Tarts in the past have been that they have been overly sweet and sickly. The explicit call out of brown sugar in the product name itself had me a little a cautious, however it was to prove to surprisnly inconsequential in the taste. The toaster pastries might not have looked as exciting without any icing, but believe me they smelt gorgeous once toasted and filled my kitchen with sweet, freshly baked pastry scents. Taste wise these also get a thumbs up. Without the icing, the outer pastry had a saltier, more savoury emphasis and this contrasted beautifuly with the sweet, slightly spiced centre. Unlike most Pop Tarts I felt more than happy eating these two at a time so collectivelly they came across as a pretty satisfing breakfast. As Pop Tarts go I would rank these up there amongst my favourite flavours.

8.0 out of 10

You can buy Pop Tarts HERE HERE at AmericanSoda

CHOCOLATE NEWS

Visit the ChocolateMission news page for all the latest developments in the Chocolate market ... Click the banner below ....

August 12th: 'Bits n Bobs' Chocolate Biscuit Superpost # 2

Earlier this year I broke my all time promise of not reviewing chocolate biscuits and opened the floodgates for several reader requests to come my way. It may have taken me a while to do, but I took all of your suggestions seriously and with the aid of my work colleagues have slowly but surely made my way round the supermarket biscuit shelves. Below are some very short, concise reviews on numerous different chocolate biscuits that were suggested to me. I hope you enjoy the photos etc. I may regret saying this but again if you have any further suggestions please send them through.

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McVitie's Caramel Chocolate Digestives
Kcal 80 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 5.0g (per biscuit)

It was an education to learn of the existence of these but given my love of caramel chocolate it was an offering I certainly had no qualms trying out. The 300.0g pack cost me £1.40 in my local Tesco - on a £/Kg basis these were at a price premium versus standard McVitie's Chocolate Digestives.

In size these Caramel Digestives were smaller in hand at around two thirds the stature of the normal digestives. I was hoping the that the caramel integration was going to involve some sort of liquidy centre, however I was to be disappointed by more a chewy toffee like substance that ran between the thin chocolate layer and the biscuit base. Ultimately the caramel layer was more disappointing than it was poor, it was fine for what it was, but it only offered an extra added dose of sweetness to the taste which negated the usual saltiness of the biscuit to a degree. Not horrible, but not a pack of biscuits I would rush out and buy again.

6.8 out of 10


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Mcvitie's Quirks Chocolate And Hazelnut
Kcal 61 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 1.0g Carbs 4.0g (per biscuit)

The majority of the reviews today are ones that have been asked for by readers but these new McVitie's Quirks first caught the eye when I saw them announced in the trade back in July - See HERE. You got to love the marketing spiel: "Our research has shown this launch will be accepted extremely well by consumers" ... oh really now eh :D

I bought these again in Tesco on an introductory £1.00 offer - this got me a pack of about 16 biscuits that had a catch-weight of 175.0g. In terms of packaging and presentation everything to me cam across as very lazily designed. The outer foil wrapper was overly plain and simplistic (boring!!!), whilst the unbranded biscuits themselves looked horrendously generic and unexciting. Taste-wise these tested a little better than they looked. The biscuit portion offered a generic set of floury, sugar noted flavours, though the inner hazelnut hinted chocolate cream at least went some way to taking them on further and adding a little more interest. These biscuits were 'accepted extremely' averagely by this consumer :D

6.6 out of 10


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Fox's Melts Chocolate Vienesse
Kcal 83 Fat 4.9g Fat(sats) 2.9g Carbs 8.8g (per biscuit)

According to a good few people who fedback after my classic chocolate biscuit bits and bob post, Chocolate Vienesse biscuits were a shocking absentee from my original selection. Personally I wouldn't bracket them in alongside those all time greats, though I was more than happy to give them a ChocolateMission airing.

Chocolate Vienesse come ten-a-penny in this country so I wasn't lacking options when it came to choosing which to review. I was initially keen on the the Marks & Spencer ones, though I thought I would settle for the ones I think the British public know best, which are these made by Fox's. The current packaging and presentation was all fair from my perspective though, I did get a niggling sense that the size of the biscuits had been slimmed down since I last had them. Taste wise nothing seemed out of place with the buttery shortcake like biscuit a nice light foil for the inner sticky layer of milk chocolate. The chocolate cut through in the taste was of a sound quality, however the light biscuit and chocolate flavour hit were both a little short-lived for my liking compared to other more substantial biscuits reviewed recently.

7.2 out of 10


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Mcvitie's Hobnobs Medley Caramel Milk Chocolate
Kcal 134 Fat 4.8g Fat(sats) 2.1g Carbs 20.9g (per bar)

I know this isn't strictly a chocolate biscuit but hey the rules are pretty lax around here :D The McVitie's Hobnobs Medley bars have been out for almost a year and I since that time I have tried all three of the original flavours - Raisin (HERE), Hazelnut (HERE) and Peanut (HERE). In April 2011, McVitie's announced they would be bring a £2m advertising campaign to further push the Medley range (HERE).

If you read that article above you will notice there was no mention made of this new Caramel Milk Chocolate flavour which I found in my local Sainsbury's store. As far as I'm aware this flavour has replaced the Peanut one, though it wasn't as if that flavour had great distribution anyway. In construct this bar was a mirror image of the others in that it was an oat and wheat flake bases bar which was fused with a sticky honey tasting like glaze. On the underside of the bar a caramel flavoured chocolate was coated reasonably thickly and provided a better than fair chocolatey taste that did indeed have a little hint of buttery syrup to it. Cereal bars aren't a snack of choice for me all that often but I would happily have one of these again.

7.7 out of 10

August 10th: Lily O'Briens Irish Cream / Champagne Truffles

There's nothing better than receiving an unexpected parcel full of chocolates, and this is exactly what I got last week from ChocolateMission reader Lucy. Lucy was so kind enough to send me both these Irish Cream & Champagne flavoured Lily O'Briens chocolates, both of which I have reviewed below.

For those that haven't heard of Lily O'Briens before, I can tell you that they are Irish based company formed in 1992 by none other than Lily O'Brien (funny that!). On their website they claim to offer 'a mouth-watering repertoire of delicious chocolates using the finest ingredients'. Back in 2008, under the recommendation of some of my readers I took a look at some of their chocolate bar offerings, which managed to score around the average mark of 7.6 out of 10 on the ChocolateMission rating scale (See HERE). Although those bars hardly set the world alight, Lucy claimed that these were some 'of the best truffles ever' - who was I to turn down some free chocolates :D

As you can see below both types of truffles came in similar looking packaging that consisted of an outer cardboard box with an inner plastic tray containing the separate pieces. In regards to the quality of the presentation I have to give a thumbs up to both of the variants. Lily O'Briens did a great job making the exterior box look like it was made for a premium brand with all the smart looking golden fonts and tempting looking photos. What impressed me majorly about both types of chocolates was the fact that the actual chocolates looked exactly like they did in the aforementioned photographs - I tried recreating the effect as best I could myself.

Below are my brief thoughts on each of the flavours.

Lily O'Briens Irish Cream Truffles

'A white chocolate truffle laced with Irish Cream and smothered in milk chocolate'

There was absolutely no chance of me trying these Irish Cream flavoured truffles without giving my sister the chance to give cast her valued second opinion (she adores Baileys!). Luckily for me this was no real issue, as the chocolates came in a 100.0g box that contained a more than plentiful 8 truffles. In terms of aromas the chocolates were immediately impressive, emanating a nice set of boozie, dairy scents that wafted from the tray as soon as I released the box seal.

Placing the first truffle in my mouth (my gob was just about big enough to handle the large size!), the first set of flavours to greet me palette were rather underwhelming. Indeed the milk chocolate was just as I remembered it, with it's smooth, yet uneventful sweet milky taste. Thankfully much better things can be said of the truffle filling, which was simply delightful in every which way. Initially it brought an added dose of cream based white chocolate flavours, though it wasn't long before a little note of Irish whiskey came to the party bringing with it a modest boozie kick and pleasant warming sensation. More often than not, alcohol filled truffles came hide startling boozie kicks that take over the taste, but what both my sister and I really loved about these truffles was the fact that the flavour progression felt so natural and the smooth tasting. We both really enjoyed these and would both recommend them to all Irish Cream lovers.

8.0 out of 10


Lily O'Briens Champagne Truffles

'A white chocolate truffle with 'Marc De Champagne', smothered in milk chocolate with a dark chocolate swirl'.

As much as these looked very appealing they were always going to be facing the tough comparartor of the Hotel Chocolat Champagne Truffles I reviewed back in December 2008 (See HERE). Those Hotel Chocolat truffles are a long time favourite of my mother, so like I did with my sister for the above Irish Cream chocolates, I employed her services when it came to the taste testing. Again this was no problem given the 100.0g eight truffle format.

Upon removing the cardboard lid and surrounding packaging layers I was met with some more subdued chocolatey aromas compared to the boozier Irish Cream scents. Just as I described above, the exterior milk chocolate layer played a very similar role, and it again wasn't until the revelation of the inner champagne filling that the taste really came to life. Like the Irish Cream truffles, the first flavours established by the centres were cream based with the alcoholic influence shortly following during the mid stages of pleasant feeling soft melt. Our thoughts on the champagne element were that it was well integrated in to the filling, though the slightly sourer bozzieness lacked the charm of the Irish Cream which we thought worked a little better and more naturally with the overall taste. Whilst these weren't in the same class as the Hotel Chocolate Champagne Truffles I would still say they are at least worth consideration given their cheaper price and overall fair quality.

7.5 out of 10


Thanks again to Lucy for sending me both of these products.

August 8th: Hotel Chocolat Salted Caramels

I have to admit that I've been chomping at the bit to review these for absolutely ages. Until now Hotel Chocolat have puzzlingly not had a product offering solely dedicated to their Salted Caramels available in their online store, however the recent launch of a new range called 'Spotlight On' has recently seen one come to market. As you can imagine, this was right at the top of my request list that I sent along to Hotel Chocolat when asked about new samples. The promise of 'smooth liquid caramel with a pinch of sea salt in milk chocolate shells' sounded familiar and given my previous encounters with said combination I knew I was in for a marvellous treat.

The new 'Spotlight On' range consists of some of Hotel Chocolat's most popular individual chocolates and are line priced at £13.00 a box (See HERE). That investment there will buy you a box of 21 chocolates that collectively amass to 150.0g - enough to share but honestly you wont want to be doing any of that nonsense :D The packaging and presentation of this new 'Spotlight On' range is relatively consistent across the different offerings, and I personally think it looks very classy with it's combination of the typical white on black branding and simple communication imagery of the chocolates in question.

Although I've already referred to the idea of sharing of these being a nonsense, the Old Man and Mother were at hand to provide second and third opinions due to their photography skills being called in to action. After a period of refrigeration and painstakingly tempting time spent photographing these chocolates we all finally got to dig in and I'm glad to say Hotel Chocolat didn't fall below expectations. The outer milk chocolate was crisp in it's cream and sweet cocoa flavours and the base melted away on the tongue like a dream with it's tremendous smoothness. Sat at the heart of each piece the cool liquid caramel slowly oozed it's way out of the chocolate and soon took a hold of the taste. It's buttery, sweet toasted sugar butterscotch notes were elegantly balanced by just the finest suggestion of salt. The only words I need use to describe this are delicious, sweet caramel heaven.

Overall I don't care how predictable this all sounds, these were quite simple outstanding. The simple, yet classic combination of the milk chocolate and caramel was executed to near perfection with one and the other combining to create a tremendous synergy. The rating I've given these I think reflects the total package. Do I think they taste better than the Cadbury Caramel and Galaxy Caramel - yeah sure they do. Do they cost more than the aforementioned offerings - you betcha! A level rating with these products is what I believe to be the fairest thing to do. We would probably all love these to be able to afford Hotel Chocolat everyday, but for 90.0% of us this just isn't reality. For special occasions though I can't recommend these enough. If you love milk chocolate and caramel combinations you needn't look further for a special treat. Hotel Chocolat fully deliver here, I will leave you with the word 'Excellence'.

9.4 out of 10

August 6th: Competition

COMPETITION

7Days of Chocolate Reviews takes a rest this week and is being replaced by a short and simple competition. To be in with a chance of winning one of three Thorntons Cloudy Lemonade (reviewed earlier this week - See HERE) then all you have to do is tell me what the 3 chocolates bars are in the photographs you see below ...

To enter please send an e-mail to Jim[@]Chocolatemission.net with your answers. Please make the subject of your e-mail 'Thorntons Competition'. The three winners will be announced next weekend. Please do not leave comments this weekend - all to often someone always spoils the competition.

Best of luck

JIM


SMALL PRINT
1. Open worldwide
2. One entry per person
3. I have final jurisdiction on any matter that may arise.