This lovely egg comes with a keepsake egg cup and spoon which makes it a lasting gift.

Lovers of Paul A Young’s sea salted caramels must think Christmas has come early with the release of the rather large sea salt caramel egg. Larger than a Cadbury’s crème egg, it is also slightly larger than a traditional breakfast egg but not by much.

The egg comes in an egg cup with a lovely egg spoon to scoop out all that lovely sea salt caramel. The chocolate used is a delight. Delicious and lots of it, the chocolate encases the rather extremely generous filling. Hungry as I was, and celebrating a few milestones in my life as I was, I still could not finish the whole egg. No bad thing, a bit of cling film and I can report it was as nummy later as when fresh.

This is any chocolate lover’s dream and must have. Forget that cheap chocolate, forget boxes of Easter crème eggs, forget fancy silly overpriced bunnies, get the chocolate lover in your life this egg. They’ll love you for it. I love the person who sent me mine lots and lots now – YUM!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch event where we learned about Valhrona and how all their chocolate is made in a single factory in a small village in France in the Rhone valley and has been there since 1922 despite selling into 65 countries and using 3,000 tonnes of chocolate.  While that sounds like a lot it is apparently around only 10% of the annual production of chocolate.  They walked us through three chocolates in a sampler pack they provided which was lovely and taught everyone how to taste chocolate. I’m sure my fellow foodies were very familiar with trying it in this way.

We then learned about the brain and chocolate and how the brain reacts to the scent and taste of chocolate and got to taste the predecessor of Nutella. We were then treated to Damian Allsop chocolates which were divine.  A delicious jasmine tea infusion and a delightful coffee and passion fruit chocolate, all dairy-free.  He apparently has a new shape for his chocolates as well.

The chocolate show itself was delightful and thank goodness everyone was there!  I couldn’t find Paul A Young but I did find Paul Wayne Gregory who let me retry the sea salt caramel among others, William Curley whose chocolates I love love love, Rococco who do innovative things with chocolate but I have fallen a little out of love with lately and Outsider Tart who have the most lush baked goods ever,

The festival is easy to get to – Just pop to Waterloo station and exit through the Southbank exit.  Now, under the railway bridge and across the square and you’ll see some marquees set up and you’ll be there!  This festival is HUGELY popular rain or shine despite being outdoors and it is well worth the trip.

So stop reading and get out there fast!  The Chocollate festival continues on Saturday March 27th and Sunday March 28th.

The shell is lighter and softer than the Prestat truffle and the filling certainly packs a kick.  I was a little sad that my box had three crushed ones but that meant that I simply had to eat them all up

They are nice and for someone looking for a special gift, it is a fair fight between Prestat and Hotel Chocolat. I have to admit that the box for the Prestat truffles is my favourite with its lovely purple box.

I tried the cinnamon praline first.  I’m not a huge fan of praline as it is often gritty and the strong nutty flavour overwhelms the flavour of anything else.  WOW… I’m a cinnamon fan as readers will know and this was like a warm Christmas choccy in my mouth.  Brilliant.  A bit of a nutmeg topping and I think we’ve got Christmas in a choc.

Caramel crunch wasn’t quite as dramatic but was still OK.  Both chocolates were sweet but I found the caramel crunch a bit over my sweet tolerance level regrettably.

The sea salted caramel was OK but again the sweetness of the chocolate detracted from the overall experience for me.  Perhaps it was just my mood but it was just too much sweet for me.

Saving the best for last I had the Marc de Champagne star. It was lovely and age had not dimmed it though it too was quite sweet.  It was probably just me but I did feel the white chocolate was quite over sweet.

I’m very sure that a lot of people would love a selection like this.  It may be sweet to me but I’m sure other people more familiar with popular brands of chocolate will love these.

The fresh basil chocolate was a bit of a shock but I got used to it. It was a small chocolate and the filling was quite green but still pleasant.

The coffee and passion fruit chocolate was an extreme delight.  The perfect marriage between tart and strong and chocolate.  A lovely delight and the perfect flavour balance.

The salted muscavado truffle was strongly flavoured and I wasn’t expecting it but it was a delight as well.  The flavour was strong but balanced.

The absence of dairy made the chocolate really stand out and a delight to try.  I highly recommend these chocolates

The mint chocolate was a nice with a very green mint flavour mixed in to the chocolate ganache.  The flavour I prefer is that of a fresh green mint and this was slightly on the synthetic side for me for some reason.  I cannot say if there was real mint or mint oil used but regardless I did enjoy it but did not finish it.

The sea salted caramel was too salty for me.  I’m sure it is brilliant for some and probably developed to be the perfect balance but for me the salt was too much. It didn’t get finished. ***UPDATE*** Tried one at the Chocolate Festival and chatted to Paul about it and he said it was not representative and on trying both the lollipop and a truffle I can say it was not. They are LOVELY!

The raspberry was the one I love love loved. I am a huge sea salt caramel fan but this raspberry had it beat.  The chocolate was fab and the filling brilliant!  I’d eat a box of these – I wish I could!!

I’m not surprised that this is an award-winning brownie.  It isn’t too dense and that is a benefit.  It is substantial and yet not too thick.  The raspberries give it a delightful tangy bite. It isn’t too thick or large which is a slight disappointment but the size is perfect with a cup of coffee.  It was lovely to gobble up the whole thing!

Chloe – pitched as a raspberry and chocolate ganache, raspberry macaron biscuit and raspberry macaron almond paste chocolate, it was an odd chocolate.  The dark chocolate and raspberry combination was OK but the almond paste for me didn’t add to the chocolate flavour.  I think it was a delightful chocolate though and would be a fun and delightful chocolate at a dinner party – especially with macarons. Yum.

Pietra – piedmont hazelnut fondant and crispy praline with the almond paste and the macaron biscuit.  The dark chocolate is fully overwhelmed by the hazelnut and the grainy texture makes this chocolate less appealing. I left half of it – yuck.

Mogador – milk chocolate and passion fruit ganache, almond paste, macaron piece and milk chocolate covering, I had higher hopes for this chocolate.  The passion fruit flavour overwhelmed the chocolate flavour but it wasn’t as overpowering as the macaron.  The almond paste added a bit of texture but not too much. Got finished – yum.

Intense – bitter chocolate ganache, chocolate macaron, and almond paste. I was worried about this chocolate after the previous three.  The almond paste here was very grainy and the chocolate wasn’t great being far too bitter for my taste.  Half got left behind – yuck.

Truffe au praline – praline ganache enrobed in dark chocolate and cocoa powder.  The lack lustre chocolate covering the smooth, almost liquid praline ganache was not a favourite of mine.  The chocolate itself was most of the disappointment with a dark bitter flavour common in over roasted bean chocolate and not the Amedei I love.  The flavour then went slightly sweet as though the ganache or chocolate had some added sugar which has not blended.  Yuck.

Truffe au Chocolat au Lait and The Vert Matcha – milk chocolate and matcha green tea ganache, roasted pistachios, covered in milk chocolate and pistachio powder.  I like matcha green tea – I learned about it when I was visiting Japan and learned about the tea ceremony and was honoured to be able to take part in one as the tea mixer (that’s the only part I was trusted to do).  The pistachio was a mistake.  It made the outside too powdery and unpleasant.  It masked the chocolate itself which was yummy.  I would suggest scraping the exterior off and eating the chocolate like that but really – why bother when other suppliers have a more pleasant chocolate.

Truffe Intense – bitter chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate and cocoa powder.  The saving grace of the lot, it was not fantastic with a slightly sour taste and an odd aftertaste, it was at least edible and I did eat the whole thing.  I think it is lovely to create something unique and different but when creating it, I believe it is necessary to create it with good chocolate and the harsh bitter flavour with strange sweet aftertaste tells me that this chocolate is not best.

These are made in Northern France and shipped to the UK daily if I understood correctly.  Trusting the assistant to select for me, he chose Mogador – a combination of milk chocolate and passion fruit, Rose – a pure rose concoction, and Imagine – green tea and black sesame together.

The rose was the one I tried first.  It didn’t smell of rose but from the first bite it was unmistakable as rose.  Not overpowering or overly floral, the delicately crisp shell of the macaron was beautifully balanced with the rose cream filling.  A different taste sensation but very pleasant.  Not too sweet it was beautifully balanced.  I finished it all up!

Next I tried the milk chocolate and passion fruit.  The passion fruit was the first strong flavour, with the milk chocolate struggling slightly to make an impression on the palette.  This one was also slightly denser, with the filling more solid and dense than the rose. I left it half way through to come back to later.  It was a bit strong for me flavour-wise.

Imagine is the final one I tried.  The strong sesame flavour was quite overwhelming and overpowered the green tea.  The flavour of the green tea does come through at times and is clearly a high quality green tea with none of the bitterness of the lesser types.  Having been to a few green tea ceremonies while in Japan and having learned as much as I could about the ceremony, I found the flavour took me straight back to the mouth feel of the tea after the sweet.  When the black sesame flavour was prominent I found it difficult to eat so left this one unfinished.

I’d recommend them and since these are all about discovering flavours give them all a try.  There is nothing like discovering something new and yummy!

Next I have truffles and macaron chocolates to try from Pierre Herme.