The chocolate I chose was a lovely dark chocolate covering a lighter but still dense chocolate inside which was chock full of whole hazelnuts. Each bite was utter bliss. The dark chocolate was slightly bitter covering a sweeter brownie. The sweeter brownie was not too sweet.

The brownie I chose was a bite size and while it seems small, it had huge flavour. This was delicious and just the perfect size.

And I ate the whole thing before taking any pictures

Have you got plans for June 16th in the evening? Cancel them and put your name in the hat to win one of four tickets for a fantastic free event!

On June 16th Artisan du Chocolat and Macallan Whisky will be pairing chocolate and whisky with the ultimate aim of creating a brand new chocolate to be sold through Artisan du Chocolat.

At 7pm the fun kicks off with a Bellini with cocoa pulp which Gerrard Coleman of Artisan du Chocolat finds works well to open the palette. There will be some short talks about what we are about to do and then the pairings will commence and be moderated by both Artisan du Chocolat and Macallan. We will be sampling Macallan 15, 12 Select Oak and Whisky Makers and pairing it with chocolate from Artisan du Chocolat.

At the end of the evening we may even get to taste the finished truffle and all winners will get a lovely goodie bag.

To be in with a chance to win, just leave a comment on any of the blog posts here, tweet “I’d like to join @MostlyAboutChoc at the whisky and chocolate pairing http://bit.ly/c0zkYs” or become a fan of the Mostly About Chocolate Facebook page and you’ll be in with a chance to win!

I’ve enjoyed this lovely brownie and eaten the whole thing because I can. For people who are intolerant to gluten, this seems ideal and really inspired me to go and see if I could simply substitute cocoa powder for wheat flower. Yummy!

This brownie is the perfect size for one. You can reseal the pack and it isn’t too sweet. This is a beautifully delicious well balanced brownie with a rich, deeply dark chocolate flavour with a lovely flavour.

Marmite and chocolate is something only Paul A Young could do and do it he has. Not just any Marmite mind you – this is a think layer of unadulterated Marmite XO – an extra mature variety of Marmite that was launched following research and development.

No joke. Marmite XO. It’s like Twiglets on steroids. And it’s in my chocolate. Not just any chocolate – this is a bar of choc with a thin layer of the Marmite stuff from Paul A Young who I want to adopt me so I can work for dad and eat chocolate every day

Paul Young, one of the UK’s best chocolatiers, is well known for his cutting edge creativity. Love it or Hate it, Paul’s Marmite truffle is one of his best selling and most written about creations inspiring Paul to create a bar using the new Marmite – Marmite XO.

I don’t know what inspired him – perhaps he is among the legions of Marmite lovers. I was on the fence liking Twiglets on occasion – just not a ton at once. Marmite is not something I counted myself as actively disliking.  I was happily on the fence.  This chocolate bar pushed me over the edge though. BLEURGH!

It was the saltyness that hit first, then the sensation of eating a liquid Bovril spread on chocolate. I thought chewing the chocolate would help mingle the saltiness with the chocolate but this just made things worse.  It was like taking lovely chocolate and ruining it by spreading a thin layer of this Marmite XO in between the two slices of chocolate.  I love chocolate, and I love Paul’s chocolate but even for me this was a step too far.

The Marmite XO is spread in a thin layer as the filling of this chocolate bar.  It is thin, unadulterated Marlite XO and it is just enough to give you a heavy hit without it being overwhelming.  Unless you don’t like Marmite which I have only just realised includes me.

YUCK!

Are you a lover or a hater? Go to the Camden Passage shop today, try the new bar free of charge and twieet about whether you love it or hate it. And if you love it they’ll be offering you this exclusive Marmite XO bar for £3.50 instead of £4.50 on the day.

Date: Saturday 22nd May 2010
Address: 33 Camden Passage, Islington, N1 8EA
Opening Times: 11am-6pm

If you drop by mine today I’ll be giving the rest of this bar a new home too! *bleck*

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.

Hot chocolate made from Askinosie 70% chocolate

Made from real chocolate at home, Askinosie hot chocolate is a delight you can enjoy anytime.  It uses real chocolate disks mixed with milk to create the perfect hot chocolate.

By taking the chocolate disks and melting them before adding the hot milk slowly and carefully, you start by creating a paste of the chocolate before adding more hot milk to create the hot chocolate itself.

It is slightly complex to make as I found the melted chocolate had to be quite thoroughly mixed with a little hot milk at a time to prevent what I had the first time (some chocolate left in the bottom).

This hot chocolate is made from my favourite Arriba Nacional bean chocolate at the best 70% ratio for it,  The chocolate flavour is clear and vibrant in this hot chocolate though care should be taken to let it cool slightly while stirring so as to not scald yourself (speaks the voice of experience) to help the whole flavour of the chocolate through.

This make-at-home treat is perfection in a mug and few things you find on the high street can compare to it.  It means no matter how bad your day has been, you’ll always have a nice mug of real hot chocolate waiting for you.

While the small hot chocolate shot is thick and custardy like the Apostrophe hot cocoa, the Carluccio’s hot chocolate comes across with a higher complexity of chocolate flavour but in a tiny shot it is also more expensive.

The milky version is the shot of custardy hot chocolate with milk expertly added to create a beautiful hot chocolate sure to appeal to anyone with a love of chocolate.

The dark chocolate of the custardy shot is lovely and silky smooth and there is just too little to enjoy in a small shot.  The chocolate is slightly earthy in flavour but it has not been overcompensated for through excessive sweetness – it simply stands alone for the drinker to enjoy.

With both options of a thick shot of hot chocolate or a milky more liquid version, Caruccio’s offers something for most hot chocolate lovers.

Apostrophe and the custardy hot chocolate

Thick like custard is the first thought you have when drinking an Apostrophe hot chocolate.  The second thought is along the lines of despair that the luscious warm chocolate custard will end when this cup finishes and why does it have to cool so quickly.

The lovely custardy goodness that is this hot chocolate is extremely luscious and lovely and something you want to experience again and again.  The chocolate itself is not impressive, lacking the depth of flavour an Askinosie hot chocolate or Paul A Young hot cocoa might have.  What it lacks in depth, it makes up for in sheer silky addictive goodness.

The hot chocolate is dispensed from an old fashioned tea urn into a cup.  When I asked for a small, I was given a disbelieving look – clearly they know this can be addictive.  The rich dark chocolate poured into the cup and lid on, the chocolate scent wafts to all around.  This is not necessarily the scent of high quality chocolate – more of a delicious chocolate made from powder.

The chocolate here is clearly not meant to impress, with the slightly powdery undertone of the cup I had.  The depth of flavour is lacking and therefore the taste somewhat flat.  But as high street hot chocolates go, if your penchant is for thick, custardy hot chocolate, this is absolutely the one for you!

As you can see in the video, the hot chocolate is made fresh in the shop and there are a series of flavours that you can choose from to have added to your hot chocolate.  The hot chocolate is ladled from a large pot into a cup and the heat can be felt through the cup.  I think this should have warned me that something wasn’t quite right.

The first sip I took scalded me a bit so I had trouble tasting the chocolate.  I had to wait about 20minutes for the hot chocolate to cool to a more drinkable temperature and it was close to the end of the hot chocolate that the rich flavour of the chocolate came through.

You can taste the flavour of the chocolate with its slight earthiness which is sweetened just perfectly and balanced off against the milk it is mixed in with.  The hot chocolate is somewhere between Apostrophe and Carluccio’s and very nice.