December 21st: Bits n Bobs - Jim's Christmas 2011 Guide Part # 3

We are down to the last few days before Christmas now! Here are my final few tips on what you should be treating everyone to this year.

N.B. Please contact me via Twitter if needs be @ChocMission - please do not attempt to leave comments on this post.

ONLINE - There is still time to get your orders in. Check out the reviews and then get them in quick folks!!!

Hotel Chocolat - Reviews HERE




J-List - Reviews HERE

Heavenly Cakes - Reviews HERE



American Soda - Reviews HERE


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HIGHSTREET - If you are going really last minute (that's the fun way to do it!!) then you might be interested in these Hightstreet options.

Marks & Spencer (£0.75 per item) - M&S have several little bits and pieces in their range this year. Below you will see chocolate coins (and bills!!), an aerated chocolate Santa and even a caramel filled chocolate Santa. Admittedly the chocolate isn't the best quality going but all these are good as stocking fillers.

Milka (£4.00) - I've unfortunately missed out on the Milka seasonal limited editions this Christmas (Booo!!), but I've still got time to send you in the direction of their Milka Minis Collection. It features some of their best flavours including the 'Cream', 'Hazelnut', 'Milk' and even the almighty 'Daim' variety. A box full of these would be a welcome addition to anyone's Christmas haul. Milka reviews HERE

Galaxy (£3.00) - There's plenty of Galaxy offerings out there this Christmas but if I had to pick one I would go for a box of these Galaxy Promises. They come in 'Truffle' or 'Caramel' varieties - I would suggest the latter but that's just my own personal preference. As each are individually wrapped these could be used for decorative purposes e.g. in cards, stockings etc.
Galaxy Promises Review HERE


American Foods - If you are lucky enough to live near one of the American food importer stores you might want to consider putting together a package of your dear ones favourite American foodstuffs. Take a look at the package I put together for someone this year!
(American Soda are based in Greater Manchester HERE)
..... and if all else fails ... Cadbury & Nestle - If you are really at the peril of budget/time constraints then why not just plump for these classics. The Nestle Smarties milk chocolate Penguin, Nestle Milkybar Cow and Cadbury Wishes Star - all available for £1.99 each or likely on a 2 for £3.00 in a supermarket near you. Affordable, easily accessible and tasty. A safe last resort.

December 19th: Last Orders - Ladies and Gentlemen !

I'm sure you are all like me and are counting down the days until the big time Christmas Festivities. I thought I would use the time today to showcase some of the delightful stuff sent my way by some of the site sponsors. The time for ordering from these guys is drawing in to close, so be sure to get those last cheeky ones in .... we wouldn't want anyone to go without a present now would we :D

N.B. Please contact me via Twitter if needs be @ChocMission - please do not attempt to leave comments on this post.


Hotel Chocolat - These Stylish, ribbon-tied Christmas crackers will be present at the JCM family Christmas Dinner this year. Yes even Hotel Chocolat aren't adverse to god awful jokes and silly hats :D At least you know the chocolate will be good :D Order HERE



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J-List - These guys have been sending me crazy things all year round, and just in time for Christmas they have restocked their stocks of local Kit Kat flavours. One of the these is the Kit Kat Green Matcha (Review HERE), a surprisingly tasty green tea flavoured incarnation of our favourite wafer snack. If you are looking for a confection gift that is a little different from normal I would head to J-List. Order HERE

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AmericanSoda - If Western treats and snacks are more your thing then you will want to be heading to our friends over at AmericanSoda. These guys have all manner of different American foodstuffs including all your favourite Reese's, Hershey's etc Just recently they sent me some of the latest Taste of Nature Cookie Dough Bite flavours (Past Reviews HERE) that I took round a mates house for watching a film. Both these packs got gobbled in minutes - addictive doesn't quite do them justice (especially the Cinnamon Bun flavour!!). Order HERE


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Heavenly Cakes - Last but by no means least I better not forget Heavenly Cakes. @BettyBakes is still working hard cooking up batches of all the cakes I've shown you in the last few weeks (See HERE). Need I remind you that they have some other absolutely gorgeous cakes (Marathon Flapjack pictured!!) .... no probably not! Heavenly Cakes have you covered for cakes this year folks! Order HERE

December 17th: Bits n Bobs - Jim's Christmas 2011 Guide Part # 2

Hi All,

I think you all probably know the drill by now for my Christmas Guides. Below you will find mini reviews of some of the Festive offerings we have this year. Not all of them come recommended, but hopefully I can give you a good steer as to what is about on the market this year ....

N.B. Please contact me via Twitter if needs be @ChocMission - please do not attempt to leave comments on this post.
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Heavenly Cakes Cinnamon Shortbread

Lets face it, the Christmas cakes from Heavenly this year have been ... well .. Heavenly!! Everything from the Christmas Crimbo Crumble (See HERE) to the Midnight Mint Brownie (See HERE) - it's all been excellent and the scores have been high across the board. One of their Christmas cakes that might have been overlooked however, is their Cinnamon Shortbread. With all the hype and excitement of the new Crimbo and Chocolate Christmas Cake slices, I'm sure a number of you will have overlooked this plainer biscuity offering. Indeed, the Cinnamon Shortbread may be a little less 'Showy' that the other cakes this year, but believe me it's every bit as tasty. Alongside a warm mug of milky tea this was quite simply a divine, crumbly butter biscuit that with it's slightly spiced cinnamon flavour edge created both a warming and comforting Christmassy feel when consumed. This is one of the cakes that is well worth adding to an order to take you over the £20.00 mark for that free delivery offer.

8.2 out of 10


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Mr Kipling Chocolate & Orange Whirls
Kcal 138 Fat 8.1g Fat(sats) 3.2g Carbs 14.9g (per Whirl)

Mr Kipling may be hanging on to the pinny-tails of one @BettyBakes, but lets face it, this old man is catering for much larger mass market audience than our Betty. What with all the increased competition from the likes of Burton's and McVitie's flooding the shelves with festive options, Mr K hasn't exactly been shy himself this Christmas and has supplied us all with several Christmas themed cakes and slices. Indeed, alongside the Frosty Fancies (See HERE), we have this year got ourselves these Chocolate & Orange Whirls - 'chocolate shortcake fancies filled with orange flavoured buttercream and chocolate sauce'. On the eyes and ears they looked and sounded a lovely prospect so I was pleased when they also tasted pretty lovely too. The weakest part of these was definitely the shortcake due to it's dry texture, but even was fast forgotten upon revelation of the chocolate sauce and orange buttercream layers. Combined these brought rich chocolatey, sweet smooth fondant orange flavours to the party and made for a a reassuringly unique and satisfying taste. I hope these don't get lost in the crowd too much this year, I hope they return next as my safe cheap cake offering.

8.0 out of 10


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Hotel Chocolat Petits Cheesecakes

The 'Old Man' went a bit photo happy with this one here, but I'm sure not many of you will be complaining about that :D New to the Hotel Chocolat range this Christmas time, this four pack of chocolates cost £6.50 and they came beautifully presented in a very twee looking box. Comprising of Mango & Peach (Superb), Caramel (Superb), Chocolate (Very Good) and Raspberry (Very Good) cheesecake offerings this was a mini box providing both variety and sensational tasting chocolates. Hotel Chocolat have a fantastic pedigree when it comes to their fruity chocs, and things were no different here with the Mango & Peach white chocolate proving to a firm favourite with my Mother. The Caramel Cheesecake was the pick of the bunch for me - I'm sure that will surprise none of you :D In truth all four of the chocolates in the pack were spot on flavour wise and could be seen as 'star attractions' in any given box of chocolates. Stocking filler a-go-go!!!

8.8 out of 10




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McVitie's Temptations Digestive Mint Slice
Kcal 152 Fat 7.7g Fat(sats) 3.9g Carbs 19.1g

After reviewing my first lot of McVitie's Temptations offerings in my first Christmas Guide I couldn't help but feel the need to try another variety from the range when confronted with the opportunity. This chance came about when I was confronted by a huge display in my local Tesco, which had the entirety of the new Temptations range on a BOGOF/£1.00 introductory offer - it was time to fill my boots. As aforementioned last week it was refreshing to see a manufacture this time of year produce some new product development without feeling the need to slap a picture of Santa/Rudolph on the front :D No, these Digestive Mint Slices just came in individual plastic wrappers and in sensible sized 32.0g servings. Taste wise I think these have the potential to split folk down the middle. The chocolate was certainly nothing to write home about, but the raisin enhanced flapjack base was pretty tasty and had a pleasant butter noted oatyness to it. What I think might split people down the middle was the subtle hint of mint present throughout. It enhanced the dull chocolate nicely, though I thought it was a little unnatural paired with the raisins. All in all these were fair, but with all the tasty treats around this Christmas time I probably wont be buying these again soon.

7.0 out of 10

December 14th: Hotel Chocolat Classic Christmas H-Box Selection (2011)

Over the past three years I've been treated to many Hotel Chocolat Christmas themed selections including:

*Hotel Chocolat Sparkling Stars Caramels (See HERE),
*Hotel Chocolat The H-Box Christmas Selection Without Alcohol (See HERE)
*Hotel Chocolat The Sleekster Classic Christmas Selection (See HERE)

Well quelle surprise they have updated and refreshed their Classic Christmas Selection for 2011. Below you will see what I made of all the new flavours.

Before I give you my verdict on some of the new chocolates in the collection this year, it's only right that I inform you of some of the 'old school' favourites that retained their places. Above there you can see (from left-to-right) Simple Milk Truffle, House Praline, Rum Ingot, Caramel Chocolate Baubel, Mulled Wine, Champagne Truffle and a Salted Caramel Dome. I suggest if you want to see remind yourself of how they all faired, you check out the older reviews I posted above.

Gingerbread Truffle - The dark chocolate shell was a good match for the inner ginger filling and the melt transition was perfect. The mouth feel of this dome shaped piece was super soft, yet had a little grip to it which meant the spicy flavours were longer sustained. Very Good.

Zesty Marzipan Star - This was a stunning chocolate and one notable for it's dexterous flavours and textures. The crisp outer dark chocolate contained a beautiful, cool, juicy orange ganache that topped a small under layer of firm, delicious almond marzipan. Superb.

Christmas Mess - This Christmas variation of one of my all time favourite chocolates was better than the normal HC Eton Mess for just one simple reason .... it was much bigger :D I needn't say more. Superb (times a million!!).

Cherry Florentine - You will have seen several reviews before where I have expressed my love for HC's Florentine chocolates. This one here was every bit as good as it has been previously, just with a touch of cherry fruit to give it a sweet, real tasting red berry taste. Very Good.

Ginger Cheesecake - This piece also features in the smaller Cheesecake Dessert pack so I was well versed what to expect here. It again presented itself as sensational piece, with the sugary, gooey ginger layer at the bottom contrasting perfectly with the sour cream notes of the firm cream ganache ontop. Wrapped in thick dark chocolate this was only ever getting one rating. Superb.

Star Anise - I adore aniseed so I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I was left feeling extremely underwhelmed as the booze element overwhelmed the very subtle licorice undertones. This should have been so much better than it was. Poor.


Overall it wont come as any surprise to you folks that Hotel Chocolat have maintained this as a simply fantastic selection box offering. I genuinely think you are going to be hard pressed to find another collection where the range of flavours and different truffle types are as variable as they are here. By and large, the range in the quality of the chocolates is very narrow - a good 90.0% of them being either very good or superb. In terms of the retained pieces from previous years, I think they chose right keeping some of the plainer chocolates for the less adventurous, whilst also keeping the more unique offerings such as the Mulled Wine and Rum Ingot in the mix. For the third year running I feel entirely comfortable recommending this selection. There is something there for everyone, whether it be a highly intricate Zesty Marzipan Star or just a simple Caramel Bauble. A double JCM thumbs up from me.

8.6 out of 10

December 12th: Heavenly Cakes Christmas Chocolate Cake

Rounding off the Christmas reviews for Heavenly Cakes this year we have the last of their new festive offerings, the Christmas Chocolate Cake. This cake is one that @BettyBakes (Heavenly's 'in-character Twitter feed) has been lauding about for months now - even on their website (See HERE) Heavenly see fit to dub it their 'Festive crowning glory'. Promising a 'fudgy choc base, mincemeat, marzipan, Belgian milk choc & a marzipan snowflake on top' this certainly sounded like a cake with potential to trouble the upper levels of the JCM scoring chart.

I received these cakes in the traditional Heavenly Cakes 'single serve' format, however chose on both occasions to split it in half to share with another taste tester. On the face of things, I thought this was easily the nicest looking of all four of the new Heavenly Cakes Christmas varieties on offer this year. The layering system between the chocolate cake, chocolate coating and marzipan decoration was very evident and their arrangement made for a cake that looked both appetising and interesting. Aroma wise the presence of the Christmas spices was made very apparent upon the breaking open the cellophane packet - as Homer Simpson would say MMMMMM CHRISTMAS :D

As I mentioned above, I took two fellow taste testers along for the ride today and boy were they grateful. Namely my Mother and a work colleague were these very people and their conclusions about this cake matched that very much of my own. Now I'm probably reading too much into this but if you look at the name of the product it is the word 'Christmas' that precedes 'Chocolate Cake' - thus indicating to us that this was supposed to be a Chrismassy flavoured chocolate cake base and not the other way around. Well anyway this is exactly what we got here - the chocolate cake base had this delightful moistness to it and had parts of greater viscocity where the raisin fruits were portioned. Taste wise the cake was a dream and had a scintilating flavour journey that was rooted in rich, buttery cocoa wheatyness, but enhanced every so often by hints of cinnamon, sweet fruits, nuts and sugar. For most this would just be enough, however Heavenly Cakes always ensure they give that little bit extra to ensure they are a cut above. Indeed, topping this gorgeous cake were delicious layers of fudgy chocolate and marzipan. Both of these brought their desired cream and nut flavours, and they did so with unique smooth melting, soft textures. Altogether this was a Christmas Chocolate Cake dream.

Overall all I can say is 'WOW what a cake!' Those were the words uttered by my work colleague who was having their first ever Heavenly Cakes experience, and I don't think they could have summed it up better. This was simply just another stunning offering from the HC guys and it was a cake that ticked almost every box from what I wanted from a Christmas season cake. It was rich, chocolatey, spicecy and just wholly warming and satisfying for this time of year. Eaten as snack or as a dessert in itself, this would no doubt be warmly met by any chocolate fanatic Christmas cake lover. I could spend all day telling you just how excellent I thought this cake was, but I would rather you just try some yourself - I'm sure 99.0% of you will be in full agreement of just how special it is. I did my usual trick of saving the best until last but don't worry there is still plenty of time for you to get an order in (See HERE). If you do I am extremely confident there will be no regrets.

9.1 out of 10

December 10th: Bits n Bobs - Jim's Christmas 2011 Guide Part #1

Hi All,

It's that time again when I run down my recommendations for Christmas. Today I bring you Part #1 featuring Elizabeth Shaw, McVitie's, Heavenly Cakes and Hotel Chocolat to name a few. These reviews will be short, sharp and concise. Any questions, thoughts and opinions are welcome - just drop off a comment.

Just to clarify, not everything featured will get a JCM score or recommendation. This guide is here to give my own personal opinion on what's 'hot' and what it is 'not'. I hope you enjoy the post.

N.B. Please contact me via Twitter if needs be @ChocMission - please do not attempt to leave comments on this post.
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Mint - Kcal 504 Fat 31.6g Fat(sats) 19.9g Carbs 48.6g (per 100.0g)
Butterscotch - Kcal 524 Fat 28.8g Fat(sats) 18.1g Carbs 60.1g (per 100.0g)

Elizabeth Shaw is one of those brands that we always seeing pop-up around Christmas time here in the UK. One would normally associate the brand with it's widespread Mint Crisp Mini Chocolates, but last week I found these new bars on shelf in my local Sainsbury's priced at £1.89 each which made them a more affordable option compared to the bigger 'Mini Chocolate' packs. The chocolate wrappers were nicely presented but I was disappointed that each bar had no decoration patterns or branding. The dark chocolate mint bar was the nicer of the two given with it's better contrasting semi-sweet to sugary mint honeycomb focus. For me the milk chocolate and butterscotch was just a little overpowering on the sugar front with the honeycomb pieces in that one more coming across like balls of clustered sugar rather than the desired floral noted honey taste. I wouldn't buy either again but if you wish to try them for yourselves before buying the bigger packs then they could be of use.

Dark Chocolate Mint - 7.6 out of 10
Milk Chocolate Butterscotch - 6.9 out of 10
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Heavenly Cakes Midnight Mint Cake- Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???
This isn't a review but more a recommendation and a 'heads-up' that Heavenly Cakes have their seasonal Midnight Mint Cake back in-stock on their site (See HERE). You may recall this was a cake of their's that I reviewed last year (See HERE). I commented that this 'milk chocolate brownie base, topped with a layer of mint fondant and Belgian dark chocolate' was 'the best Christmas themed cake' I ate that year, so suffice to say it is well worth your attention again this year. Achieving a score of 9.0 is no mean feat here on JCM and I can confirm that this years batch is every bit as good as the last. Fans of dark chocolate mints will fall in love with this cake, I'm 100.0% sure of that.
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Hotel Chocolat Yule Log Hazelnut & Ginger - Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Was it likely there was ever going to be a JCM Christmas Guide without a Hotel Chocolat product featuring!?? No obviously not :D For the third year running (Yes, I know I've been doing this to long!!), my pals at HC sent me a 'Yule Log', with this years flavour being their ginger and hazelnut variety. With the past experiences in fresh memory (See HERE & HERE) this was one that was welcomed with sheer delight when the grand unveiling of our Christmas sampling package took place. Suffice to say this wasn't one that let us down and it was met with an even grander seal of approval than the logs that had come before. The base praline gianduja was utterly indulgent, and had a rich cocoa nuttyness that was in a real standout class of it's own. The woddy nut focus of the base was further compounded by the whole hazelnuts pieces that littered the top of the entire log. The more savoury flavour focus beautifully contrasted with the sweet, syrupy ginger slithers, which with their softer jelly like texture created an intriguing mix up of textures. A portion of this tucked alongside a dark coffee is an experience worth investing in.

8.6 out of 10



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Cake Bars - Kcal 141 Fat 7.1g Fat(sats) 3.6g Carbs 18.1g (per Bar)
Biscuits - Kcal 50 Fat 2.9g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 5.6g (per Biscuit)

Whereas it seems the rest of the market are content with slapping a picture of Santa/Rudloph on the front of their packs and calling their products 'Winter/Christmas Editions', McVitie's appear to have chosen a slightly different strategy. Indeed it seems that McVitie's are happy just pushing their 'Temptations' product line, a range that started out as just biscuits, but have now followed up with some cake type offerings. I purchased the two products you see today at Tesco (£1.00 of course), where on a aisle end they had all types of different 'Temptations' varieties. The white chocolate with inner milk chocolate biscuits turned out to be just as nice as than the previous Praline variety I had tried (See HERE), and the light milky flavours went nicely with the buttery biscuit base. Whilst the biscuits were the nicer lighter option of the two, the Cake Bars provided a more substantial snack and they tasted pretty good to boot. The base cake and outer chocolate components established a Galaxy like creamy sweetness, though it was the 'creamy topping' layer that gave me greatest pleasure. This element was heavily vanilla noted in taste and brought a highly desired moistness alongside the chewy chocolate caramel. Neither of these will fill you with Christmas cheer, but bravo McVitie's for breaking the mould and not jumping of the bandwagon.

White Chocolate Truffle Biscuits - 7.3 out of 10
Chocolatey Cake Bars - 7.7 out of 10