October 26th: 'Bits n Bobs' - Halloween Special 2011

Right you ghoulish guys and girls - it's time for the Jim's ChocolateMission 'Bits n Bobs' Halloween Special 2011! What on earth does that mean!? Nothing on your part you will be glad to hear :D All the effort of eating and photographing all these Halloween themed confectionery treats has been done by your's truly. I hope you enjoy the photos and the mini reviews. Halloween isn't my favourite holiday in the world but these reviews have been fun to do.
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Cadbury Freaky Fingers
Kcal 105 Fat 5.5g Fat(sats) 3.1g Carbs 12.8g (per 4 fingers)
'Crisp biscuits covered with white chocolate'.

We have what appeared to be a little bit of a lazy one from Cadbury here! Not only was the name of these rather similar to a Mr Kipling offering I reviewed not so long ago - See HERE (N.B. they have been around for several years!!), but these Cadbury Freaky Fingers were simply just a dressed up version of the Cadbury Dream Fingers - See HERE. The only difference between the two products was that these Fiendish Fingers came with the biscuit innards dyed a rather funky looking red/pink colour. They still tasted surprisingly nice for biscuits coated in cheap white chocolate, and the pack I bought for work was hoovered in seconds. Nothing new to see here, but what the hell I'm feeling generous ... ChocolateMission recommended :D

8.0 out of 10


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Hotel Chocolat Milk & Yummy Bones
Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???
'Spookily life-sized - 40% milk chocolate and creamy white chocolate'.

Changing tact somewhat we move from the £1.00 biscuits to this mammoth-sized offering from our friends Hotel Chocolat. Described as the 'Perfect centrepiece for your Halloween party or simply to keep you company through the long night' I cannot disagree that this massive chocolate skull is the business. I needn't bore you with the details of how utterly delectable both chocolate types are - you must know that by now :D The main talking point of the product has to be it's sheer size (450.0g!!), which the packaging claims to serve eight people ... more like eight-hundred if you ask me! At £15.00 a pop it's one of the more expensive chocolate foodstuffs to splash the cash on this year. If you were to part ways with your cash though I can't imagine you being left disappointed.

8.9 out of 10


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McVities Jaffa Spooky Cake Bars
Kcal 96 Fat 3.5g Fat(sats) 1.8g Carbs 15.2g (per bar)
'Bittersweet dark crackly chocolate, light sponge and zingy orange centre.'

This isn't a review as such ... it's a conundrum :D :D .... and it could potentially carry a prize (a Ritter Sport bar of some sort of course haha!!) if the answer to the question is a) interesting or b) difficult to find! What's the question you beg to ask!? Well it's not is the Jaffa Cake Bar a biscuit or a cake ... that we know the answer to :D It's more:

'How can the original Jaffa Cake Bars (See HERE) have 129 calories in them, yet these 'Spooky Cake Bars', which just so happen to be the SAME VERY THING & SIZE!!!, have 96 calories'???????

It's a mystery! What's not a mystery is how jaffa-licous they are.

7.2 out of 10


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Fabulous Bakin' Boys Spooky Blackcurrant & Apple Cupcakes
Kcal 139 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 4.0g Carbs 16.2g (per Cake)
'Apple flavour sponge with a blackcurrant flavour topping'

Last up today we have our third Tesco £1.00 deal, seasonal special, these Fabulous Bakin' Boys Spooky Blackcurrant And Apple Cupcakes. My past reviews of FBB's Cupcakes should have told me to stay clear of further varieties, but there was something about the apple and blackcurrant cake proposition and the interesting look of the pack that managed to capture my attention, so I thought I would give them one last chance. As I should have pre-empted these apple and blackcurrant followed a very familiar pattern - lovely tasting base cake but with a really quite disgusting waxy feeling topping. Indeed on the positive side of things the bottom layer of apple cake was divine and manage to integrate a pleasant, real tasting cinnamon noted apple element to the standard vanilla sponge. Unfortunately just as is always the case, the topping placed on top of the cake had a hideous mouth feel, and came across as horrendously fake feeling and unnatural. The blackcurrant flavours it produced were a little crumb of comfort - they had a nice tarty zingyness to them which contrasted nicely with the sweeter apple. If you aren't one to be put off by the texture of the toppings of these cupcakes then I would feel comfortable suggesting them to try.

6.8 out 10

October 24th: Hotel Chocolat Horrif-Eyes

Have you seen the Hotel Chocolat Halloween line up this year? SEE HEREJust as promised from my weekend post I today continue our countdown to Halloween with another offering from the Hotel Chocolat Halloween 2011 range. After starting off with the rather plain (yet very cool looking Hotel Chocolat Yumpkin - See HERE), I thought I better shake things up with one of the more exciting looking new products to the range this year - I introduce you to the Hotel Chocolat Horif-Eyes. When looking over the brochure for this years range, these Horif-Eyes stood out as one the cooler looking new additions, and the sound of 'sticky toffee sauce in a white chocolate shell' sounded like it would be right up my street.

Weighing a total of 80.0g the package arrived inclusive of six large sized (two bite minimal!) truffles. Looking at the packaging and product from the outside I thought it had a cool look and liked the clever use of the chocolates to create the weird looking eyes that stared out from the box. Whilst that effect created a talking point and a topic of discussion, I found the use of the standard truffle cube shapes puzzling and a tad uninspired considering the potential of what they could have done - make sure you send me your ideas :D

Disappointment at the lacking themed shapes of these truffles was forgotton instantly once taste testing commenced - I believe the phrase used was "forget what they look like, these are delicious". Those words were spoken by the 'old man' whislt doing the photography (and sampling - hard job eh!?) and he is a long time toffee fan. At first I was surprised by his reaction as I expected him to comment that they were too sweet; once I tasted one myself a minute later I soon realised that this was Hotel Chocolat white chocolate we had here - not Cadbury Dream haha :D Indeed rather than a barrage of sugary flavours being offered, the taste was led into a creamy milk rooted direction with an undertone of vanilla bourbon making for a light, yet definitive base. At the heart of each truffle the real treat of the sticky toffee sauce lay in wait, and boy did it give the most sensational mouthfeel with it's viscous, soft as silk texture. The toffee element flavour wise added influences of butter, salt and further creamyness wrapped in a brown sugar base - it brought a real smile to my face!

Overall I think the 'old man' summed it up perfectly with his conclusion of these being 'delicious'. A sceptic (*ahem* not me *ahem*) may have thought the sound of white chocoalte and a sugar based filling may have be excessivelly sweet, but the combination here was very well put together. Being the all time perfectionist, I would have liked the chocolates to have been themed more towards the 'Horif-Eyes' billing, especially considering how cool they made the outer packaging look with the truffle stare effect. If they were going whole-hog Halloween they might have also flirted with the idea of adding a touch of spiced apple, which I think could have enhanced the variety of flavours to an even grander level. Lets not worry about those minor points though, these were brilliant and I give them a big thumbs and ChocolateMission recommendation.

8.8 out 10

October 22nd: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Editiion 91 - Hotel Chocolat Yumpkin

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

It's been another long working week at my day job so I again must apologise for the lack of a review yesterday. There would have been no way for me to check that the content was all correct or allow comments to get through so I thought best to save the review for a different time. In case you missed them we had two posts entertaining us (hopefully anyway haha!) this week.

Hotel Chocolat Munch it - Crunch it - See HERE
Kellogg's Krave Chocolate Caramel & Krave Totally Chocolatey - See HERE

Next week I hope the posting schedule will return to normal (Monday/Wednesday/Friday), I just hope my recent three post a week failings haven't lost me too many readers :D Just so you know I haven't been 100.0% lazy this week :D the news page has been updated - See HERE. If you have any further stories to contribute please get in contact.

Next week I'm sure a lot of you will be pleased to hear that the rest of the Halloween reviews will land on the site. I wont spoil what you will see but there is a good representation from several different brands.

Enjoy your weekend everyone - thanks for your continued support of the site.

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 weekHotel Chocolat Yumpkin

Ladies & Gentlemen - due to popular demand and I'm glad to announce that the Hotel Chocolat Halloween 2011 reviews START NOW!!! :D Indeed, after receiving a deluge of reader requests I'm finally in a position to offer you guys my views on some of the new additions to the Hotel Chocolat range this year. I have to say guys, it's been a terrible process to have to go through - I'm sure you will all be glad to hear I have made it through these tough times :D

Snack of the Week just had to be this Hotel Chocolat Yumpkin chocolate which has been gracing my work desk being slowly nibbled away at. Described as a hollow milk chocolate pumpkin, this one was more about it's funky design and look rather anything ground breaking chocolate wise. It broke my heart breaking into the smiley faced little man, but the urge for the chocolate became too much by Monday mid-afternoon :D The chocolate itself was actually a different recipe in terms of it's cocoa percentage (35.0% vs the standard 40.0%!) but it was still pretty much gave the same experience with it's cream based sweet milky cocoa flavours ever progressive. Tasty, fun looking and a sensible price - it sounds like good Halloween gifting to me!

7.9 out of 10


Have you seen the Hotel Chocolat Halloween line up this year? SEE HERE
CHOCOLATE NEWS

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October 19th: Kellogg's Krave Chocolate Caramel & Krave Totally Chocolatey

I'm sure a lot of my UK readers would have noticed the big marketing push that Kellogg's have put behind their Krave cereal in the last month. In a nutshell, Kellogg's have devised a £1.7 million advertising campaign (with full in-store support!!) that gives shoppers the opportunity to vote on Facebook (See HERE) for their favourite of two flavours. Kellogg’s will then roll out the winner from 1 January 2012 as a permanent addition to its stable of Krave cereals.

I have to hand it to Kellogg's - for a campaign targeted at 16-25 year olds they are hitting me in every channel possible. Every TV ad break, every bus stop shelter, every underground poster, even on the Internet - I'm being posed the question Krave Chocolate Caramel or Krave Totally Chocolatey?

Check out below for my thoughts, photos, scores and conclusions to this quandary:

Kellogg's Krave Chocolate Caramel
'Crispy caramel cereal shells with a chocolate centre'
Kcal 188 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 27.0g (per 30.0g with 125ml Semi-Skimmed Milk)

This was the first I tried, and was the one that I imagined would be my favourite out of the two before conducting my taste test. Although visually imperatively with their funky looking cheetah style aesthetics, taste wise they didn't do much in the way to inspire. The promised caramel element was for me never forthcoming, with the wheaty taste of the cereal only enhanced by the sweet chocolate flavoured centres to a mild degree. To be honest I couldn't really tell that there was much difference from the original Krave (See HERE) apart from the lacking hazelnut.

6.1 out of 10



Kellogg's Krave Totally Chocolatey
'Crispy chocolatey cereal shells with a chocolate hazelnut centre'
Kcal 191 Fat 7.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 26.0g (per 30.0g with 125ml Semi-Skimmed Milk)

This Totally Chocolatey variant had noticeably larger sized pieces compared to any of the other three Krave flavours I had tried previously. Not only were the cereal pieces bigger, but they were also the clear winner in terms of taste - I'm not the biggest lover of kiddie cereals (I'm a boring old Bran Flakes man haha!!) but this one was pretty damn good. The outer shells pieces were as promised very chocolatey, and they reminded me instantly of Nesquick cereal. Inside the gooey chocolate filling parts delivered a delightful creamy flavour input that had a suggestion of salty, woody hazelnut which livened up the overall taste no end. Ladies and gentlemen we had ourselves a winner!!

7.0 out of 10


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So the Jim's ChocolateMission ruling says that Krave's Totally Chocolatey is the clear winner out of the two. What do you guys think? Do you have a favourite? Will you be passing up the opportunity to cast your vote at all :D :D :D Drop me a comment with your thoughts!

October 17th: Hotel Chocolat Munch It - Crunch It

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

In due course you will all be getting exposed to my reviews of this years Hotel Chocolat 2011 Halloween and Christmas ranges, but before I give you them I feel the need to cover off a reader request I received a month or so ago from devoted JCM Matt. According to Matt's e-mail he first came across this slab a while back on a trip to one of Hotel Chocolat's own brand stores (the one in Birmingham), where he was given a sample and enjoyed it so much he subsequently bought the whole slab. Following his positive experience Matt insisted a Chocolate Mission review be conducted. A few e-mails later between Matt, myself and my pals at Hotel Chocolat and this quickly became a reality.

This Munch It - Crunch It slab came in a 200.0g format and has not long been in the Hotel Chocolate range. In terms of size I preferred this style of slab to the 100.0g chunkier ones as it meant it was far easier to break apart - this was something my Mother went on about no end! Looks wise it wasn't the prettiest slab I had ever had grace my gaze from the Hotel Chocolat crew, but hey, it looked nice enough and I liked the fact that the mini cookie pieces didn't fall off like so many other chocolates where they weren't as deep set.

Described as 'caramel flavoured milk chocolate decorated with cocoa biscuits and white chocolate' this sounded like like a very straight forward proposition and one none to dissimilar to several other Hotel Chocolat slabs I had reviewed previously - See HERE. Being a seasoned veteran of Hotel Chocolat caramel chocolate I was surprised by the depth of flavour greeting me when I got stuck in to this slab. Previous experiences had seen me describe the chocolate as having 'creamy burnt sugar notes' and that it delivered a 'cream based butterscotch taste'. With this slab, whilst these flavours were still pretty much there, I felt like they got diluted just a little bit by the sweetness coming the white chocolate. The cocoa biscuit pieces provided a nice crunchy element to the smooth melting chocolate, but as ever with these mini cookie bits I didn't feel like they would have been missed had they not been there. Aside from the looks, one positive element that I can say about the white chocolate was that it at least bought an element of vanilla to the taste.

Overall this was a slab that was liked by everyone I tried it with etc, but as you see from the scoring chart it didn't quite match up to some of the finer tasting chocolates I had reviewed previously. Hotel Chocolat's caramel chocolate is one of my favourite recipes of theirs, so to taste it and feel like it was being a little hampered by the other elements included on the slab was a touch disappointing. Reading this all back I hope no one takes out a negative sentiment towards this chocolate. It was still a cut above 90.0% of chocolates I try on a regular basis - just in the context of Hotel Chocolat there are a few I would recommend instead. To see which ones I suggest you head to the archives HERE and feast your eyes.

8.0 out of 10

October 15th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 90 - Corny Big Chocolate-Banana

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

I hope you all enjoyed the posts this week. If you missed out on them then you can view them here:

'Bits n Bobs' - Hotel Chocolat - See HERE
Ritter Sport Interview 2011 - See HERE

Next week will follow a similar pattern to last with a Hotel Chocolat post Monday and then a special feature coming up Wednesday which will take you up until the end of the week. Apologies for the brief update this week, it has all got rather busy on the day job and thus there has been limited time for site maintenance. I will update the news page later today so make sure you pay it a visit HERE.

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 weekCorny Big Chocolate-Banana
Kcal 212 Fat 7.6g Carbs 32.8g

I'm always saying ChocolateMission readers are the best on the net and further evidence of this was supplied to me once again by JCM friend and frequent contributor Thea. Indeed, Thea has recently been most kind to send me over a package containing a selection of Hungarian chocolates for me to review. In the midst of all those chocolates, Thea also included this German cereal bar made by a company called Hero, the Corny Big Chocolate Banana.

Now I've reviewed and eaten many a cereal bar in my lifetime but this one proved to be a real delight. Out it's packet the cereal bar didn't appear all that special, though it had a pungent sweet, artifical banana smell that reminded me of the banana foam sweets I used to buy as a kid. At first I didn't find this bar all that spectacular, but the more I ate, the more I enjoyed it, and the dried banana pieces which had congregated mostly near the centre of the bar provided a delicious, real tasting banana fruityness to the museli cereal base. Whatsmore the chocolate fusing underside actually provided a sufficent chocolate hit for each mouthful - how often can you say that about cereal bars that have chocolate involved. Cereal bars can often be ... well ... boring, this one wasn't, and I would buy it often if I could.

8.3 out of 10


Have you seen the Hotel Chocolat Halloween line up this year? SEE HERE
CHOCOLATE NEWS

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

October 12th: Ritter Sport Interview 2011

I have a special post for you all today - an interview with my friends over at the Ritter Sport Blog - SEE HERE. These guys were kind enough to answer some of the questions that always seem to crop up whenever Ritter are featured on the site. I hope you enjoy this post - pictured intermittently throughout are some pictures of their Christmas range 2011. Thanks so much to the Ritter Sport team who supplied me with the answers :D

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1. What are the top 3 best selling Ritter flavours and does it vary a lot by country?

UK:
1. Marzipan
2. Whole Hazelnuts
3. Peppermint

GER:
1. Whole Hazelnuts
2. Praline
3. Alpine Milk Chocolate

World:
1. Whole Hazelnuts
2. Dark Whole Hazelnuts
3. White Whole Hazelnuts

In general you can say the most successful flavours are the ones with nuts.


2. Who comes up with all the different flavours and are they running out of ideas?

Sometimes we ask customers which kind of flavour they would like in a chocolate or we think about what would be a good flavour/taste for the (special) season like spring, summer or winter. Another possibility is to meet with our department of Research and Development and ask them if they have discovered any interesting and new flavours lately. Yet there are still a lot of flavours to come 


3. Why is there currently such a poor selection in the UK? Do you have plans to expand your range over here?

UK is not a big selling market yet. Less/no distribution in lots of markets ‘cause we are a nonfamous brand in the UK. But we do our best to change it. We work on it.  -> London besides has a good distribution as you can find enclosed.


4. Have you ever made any TV commercials?

Yes, we have commercials (for promotions and standard flavours) in some countries, especially Germany, Italy, Russia, Netherlands and we also started with some in the USA this autumn.
5. What is it like working at Ritter?

It’s fun to work at Ritter Sport. It’s a good working atmosphere, maybe the secret is that it is a family business and the owner is also in the company. Working in the marketing department gives me the opportunity to form the brand individually. Besides, I can work with a lot of different types of people and every day is different from the other. It is never boring to work for RITTER SPORT!


6. What is the business performance of Ritter like in these times of strained global finances?

Difficult question, I give you more information to that next week.


7. Are you ever going to create these flavours?
a. Caramel
b. Peanut Butter
c. Chilli
d. Sea Salt
e. Marshmallow
f. Coconut

We already sell Caramel + Nuts in Germany. We also had Coconut in our variety of goods. Peanuts are not included in the process of produktion any more because of the allgergy subject. We don’t have different machines to produce each product.


8. Why did you stop selling the Cocos bar?

We had low sales figures/demand for the Cocos so we had to take it out of our variety of goods. But we are thinking about a come back. We’ll see what happens.9. Who would you say is your biggest competitor?

Our biggest competitor is “Milka”. They sell the same chocolate bar products like us and have also the same target group.


10. Are Ritter planning on expanding in the future? If so what markets are they going after?

I give you more information to that next week.


11. Are Ritter ever going to change their packaging? Aren’t you running out of colours now?

In January 2010 we had a packaging relaunch. We changed the old pack with golden wings on both sides into their packaging colour. No, we didn’t run out of colours yet. There are still some left for new types.


12. Why are all your Bars Square shaped? Why not round or rectangular?

It’s quite easy it’s part of our brand label “Quality. Chocolate. Squared.”
Besides, it´s a unique selling proposition which differentiates us from other brands in the market.


13. Have you ever made a flavour that has been really unsuccessful?

No, we didn’t have an unsuccessful chocolate bar yet. It’s more than the demand declined 


14. What have Ritter got planned for Christmas 2011?

In Germany we are selling Advent calendars, “Gold Edition”-stars (It’s Extra Fine Milk Chocolate with 40% Cacao, packed in star design) and Christmas trees filled with tiny “Gold Edition” bars.


15. Why do you use hazelnuts in so many of your chocolates?

As you can see in your first question chocolate with hazelnuts is worldwide a big seller for Ritter Sport. Lots of different countries like the special hazelnut chocolate.
16. What is your favourite chocolate blog to read  ???

www.ritter-sport.de/blog and of course http://www.chocolatemission.net/ 


17. What are your favourite Ritter Sport flavours?

I don’t really have a favourite flavour. I like many different Ritter Sport chocolate bars ‘cause they are all good in their own way. Depends on the season and the mood!

October 10th: 'Bits n Bobs' - Hotel Chocolat

How do I make three weeks of no Hotel Chocolat reviews up to my readers!? Why I do them a special 'Bits n Bobs' themed Hotel Chocolat post of course :D I hope you all enjoy the mini-reviews today. Another big thank you must go to my 'old man' for the photography skills and expert second opinions. On we go ...
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Hotel Chocolat Turkish Delight Rose & Lemon

First up today we have a product that probably should been placed in a 'Snack of the Week' feature given it's non-chocolate content - ho hum I think we will all survive :D Billed as a 'mixture of lemon & rose flavoured Turkish delight pieces' these came beautifully presented in what appeared to be a handmade wooden box. Unique? ... yes, impressive looking? ... most certainly, great tasting Turkish Delight? ... unfortunately not.

Despite being a family of Turkish delight lovers, this selection of lemon and rose flavoured pieces went down about as well as a Big Mac at a Michelin Star restaurant. Trying these out with my family, there were complaints from the off, with the less than solidified gloopy texture causing many a grumble due to its horrible stickiness and 'stick to your teeth' mouth feel. I wish I could say the taste was a whole lot better, but both the rose and lemon flavours were frankly well off the mark, and were horrendously sweet and fake tasting. Given the brand on offer here we were probbably expecting too much, but it says it all when all three Turkish delight fans were yearning after the rather cheaper alternative Fry's.

4.4 out of 10


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Hotel Chocolat Oysters & Champagne

Back to what Hotel Chocolat know best, and surprise, surprise right back on form. This Oysters & Champagne selection came billed as 'Praline filled milk chocolate oysters served with pearls of champagne ganache'. As one might suspect, such a premium themed product demanded some premium style packaging - Hotel Chocolat didn't disappoint here. Hopefully the photos say it all for me - the box was beautifully decorated and the chocolates looked sensationally detailed and presented.

It really came as no surprise that every chocolate in this package was savoured until the very last was devoured. Praline and champagne truffles are two things that Hotel Chocolat are frankly most notable for - a simple search of the ChocolateMission archives could have told you this HERE and HERE. Suffice to say the Oysters and truffles here were totally in line with standards. The Oysters looked amazingly detailed and delivered their creamy hazelnut goodness. The Champagne truffles again oozed class with the sensationally balanced boozie champagne flavours embedded in the most delicious soft chocolate ganache. This packages gifting potential is only matched by it's self indulgence credibility.

8.9 out of 10


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Hotel Chocolat Marzipan

Lets be frank - never in a million years was this package including a Hotel Chocolat Marzipan Ingot and Hotel Chocolat Almond Marzipan truffles going to be anything other than magnificent. As well as being a family of Turkish Delight lovers (so we thought anyway!), we also happen to be rather partial to marzipan so with that we weren't ever going to turn down the chance to try this marzipan themed addition to the new Hotel Chocolat 'Spotlight On' range.

The total package included eight individual chocolates and one large ingot slab - a net weight of 175.0g. On the eye everything looked fantastic. The ingot could perhaps of done with a little more decoration, however everything else was very much in keeping with Hotel Chocolat's ultra high standards. Taste wise I've always said that Hotel Chocolat is just a little off Niederegger and I can only further reaffirm this view. Being just a 'little off' is no bad thing of course. Hotel Chocolat marzipan still has a delicious pastry dough almondy taste and the chocolate is of course a cut above that used by Niederegger. This is a chocolate set that any marzipan lover would adore and it's one I will be buying at Christmas to settle the marzipan pangs I always get round that time of year. An easy recommendation.

8.4 out of 10


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Hotel Chocolat have just put up their Christmas & Halloween ranges. I suggest you all check them out HERE