They were doing a roaring trade the day I was there, so I quickly grabbed three blocks – Dark Grand Marnier, Dark Almond and Dark Mocca and a handful of small bars.

I wasn’t prepared to shell out a further twelve dollars for the rather tacky-looking chocolate museum, but would love to hear from anybody who has been inside. Was it worth it to see a 12,000 piece chocolate mosaic of Dame Edna, a chocolate village with working trains, a one tonne block of chocolate and a slow-growing chocolate stalagmite or would I be better entertained by chewing one of my own legs off?

Sadly, whilst the chocolate is Belgian (Callebaut, in fact) what he’s done to it has been very disappointing. The Grand Marnier and Mocca blocks don’t have fillings but have been infused with some kind of flavour that makes them taste overly fake and renders the once-reasonable-chocolate into a cheap tasting product that I couldn’t finish. The almond block was similarly uninspired and very stingy on the amount of actual nuts included.

The individual bars were fine. Just OK. I guess it’s hard to mess up milk chocolate if it’s got nice fillings included like cherry, caramel, honeycomb or nuts in it, but I’m not under any illusion that Panny or his creators are any creative genuises in the world of chocolate or able to produce any ground-breakingly unique additional flavours or be stocked by city supermarkets any time soon. No, but they’ve got a great location – the sole chocolate manufacturer on an island that teems with cashed-up visitors.

I made myself this delicious but simple chocolate milkshake yesterday without even thinking of it as a recipe, but someone asked me how to make it, so I thought I’d make another one, take some pictures and write it up for you.

Ingredients

• Dark chocolate
• Milk
• Vanilla ice cream

You can vary the quantities to suit your own taste and how many shakes you want to make.

For the chocolate, I used a couple of dessert spoonfuls of Paul A. Young’s hot chocolate, which is a rich, dark chocolate ground into a powder. You can use any chocolate you like, but it’s best to use a good quality dark chocolate, as that will give you a really chocolatey flavour, and the ice cream will add sweetness anyway.

I used Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream for this, but again, any good quality vanilla ice cream will do.

Method

The first thing you want to do is to get the chocolate dissolved into the milk, and the easiest way to do that is to break it up into small chunks, add a small amount of milk and zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Be careful not to overdo it, as chocolate burns easily, but you want to get rid of any lumps and grainy bits.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to add the rest of the milk. Slowly add in the milk, stirring to mix it well with your warm chocolate. I’m just making enough for me to fill a pint glass, so I used about 2/3 of a pint (~400ml) to leave room for some ice cream.

Once the milk is stirred in, pop it into the freezer for half an hour to get nice and cold. I like to leave it until the chocolate milk is just starting to freeze over.

Once it’s cold, it’s time to add the ice cream. Add two-three scoopfuls, then stir it in thoroughly. This will make your milkshake thick, as well as give the dark chocolate just the right amount of sweetness. Stir it in until the mixture is completely smooth, thick and creamy. At this point, you can return it to the freezer for a few minutes if you want it extra cold and thick.

Finally, pour the mixture into a glass, add another scoop of ice cream and decorate with some more chocolate or cocoa powder. Serve immediately.

I’ve been searching for non-edible chocolate products to write about and today I got a package from Lush, with some of their best selling chocolate products. Lush are known for producing handmade cosmetics with unusual names and natural ingredients (mostly) and I must admit, I am a fan of many of their products, although I’d never tried any of their chocolate things before.

The first two products I tried are a lip balm and a shower gel.

Whip Stick comes in a little silver pot. The first thing you notice about it is that it smells exactly like a Terry’s chocolate orange. In fact, it smelled so nice, I was tempted to actually taste it after I put some on my lips and while I can’t say it tasted quite as good as the real thing, it definitely tasted a lot nicer than other scented lip balms I’ve tried and made me want to keep putting it on my lips so I could have another taste. Unlike the others, it doesn’t taste like Vaseline, which is a big plus, but rather faintly of chocolate with a distinct orange overtone.

The balm goes on a bit heavy, which takes a bit of getting used to, but, thankfully, is free of the sticky feeling you get with some lip balms. It seems to have made my lips nice and soft. While I’m not usually a fan of smelling like food, I have to agree that having lips that smell and taste like chocolate is actually quite yummy. Apparently it’s also suitable for people who can’t use things with lanolin or cocoa butter in them.

The shower gel is amusingly named Sonic Death Monkey, which is apparently to do with the film High Fidelity (warning - strong language!). It’s brown and chocolaty-looking although I didn’t think it smelled particularly chocolaty at first, owing more of its scent to the coffee and lime juice listed on its ingredients list. Once I actually used it, though, the chocolate smell came through rather strongly and the look and feel of it made the experience comparable to showering with runny chocolate sauce (or gravy). It felt pretty luxurious and made my skin really soft with a smell that’s lovely, although not entirely chocolaty, so you won’t end up smelling like a chocolate sundae (which can be both good or bad, depending on what you like). It has a distinct sweetness to it, although the lime gives it freshness and the coffee balances it out nicely. I’d say this is a scent that is really quite unisex and would be quite at home on a man, as long as it’s not the kind of man who wants to smell like a pine forest all the time. The product’s name, plain packaging and the fact that you can use it on your hair as well, adds to its manliness and means even lads will be able to enjoy the experience of showering with it without having their mates laugh at them for being too girly. Be aware, though, that while the lime smell is quite strong to begin with, adding a sort of masculine zestiness, it does fade away after a while, leaving the faint sweeter undertone behind. Inoffensive to most male sensibilities, I’m sure, though not quite Paco Rabanne.

Lush products are not cheap: the Whip Stick costs over four pounds and the Sonic Death Monkey is about the same for a 100g and sold in bigger bottles. Still, if you’re looking for a touch of chocolate goodness that lasts longer than a bar of chocolate, then you could definitely do a lot worse than these.

With the temperature here in London hitting 32°C, it’s possibly not the best time to be reviewing chocolate. But I had this sat on my desk, and I wanted to try it, so I had no other choice but to review it too.

I’m a bit of a fan of a good quality coffee flavoured chocolate, but I know from experience that it’s something that’s very easy to get wrong.

This 100g bar is an organic 70% dark chocolate, and as you can see, it’s divided into 30 small chunks…

When you pop a chunk into your mouth, you immediately realise why. The coffee flavour is intense. Really intense. If the chunks were any bigger, it would be too much, but as it is, each little chunk is enough to give you a short, sharp coffee hit.

The flavour is so strong that it’s difficult to taste the actual chocolate. But the texture is smooth (no grainy bits here!), and on a hot day like today, it melts away quickly on the tongue. There is a slight fruitiness at the end, but there’s really not much sweetness. I found it just a little too strong for my tastes, but even so I did find myself eating chunk after chunk without even realising I was doing it. It’s certainly a nice little pick-me-up for an afternoon in a warm office.

If you’re not a coffee fan, then you’re definitely not going to like this - it’s a basically a strong cup of black coffee in solid form. If that’s how you take you’re coffee, then I’d definitely recommend giving it a go. It was a little too strong for my tastes, but it’s clearly made with some quality ingredients.

I was a little late in discovering the existence of Necco Wafers, but once I did, I found them quite the intriguing candy, with all their old-fashioned style. It turns out that Necco (New England Confectionery company) has been making candy wafers since 1847. The Necco Wafers brand came around in 1912. Necco is more known for the Sweethearts that show up for Valentine’s Day, but I prefer the wafers by far, even if they’re basically the same thing in a different shape. Of course, it’s only the rolls of solid chocolate wafers, leaving out wintergreen and lime and the rest, that are of interest here.

In these days of bright and shiny wrappers, it’s nice to take a break with the simple wax paper Necco uses. The dusty (with what white powder I really don’t know), quarter-sized wafers that make sounds like poker chips when banged together also feel like remnants of a bygone era. And their taste. It reminds me of a chocolate malt from a vintage soda fountain. Yes, that does mean that the chocolate taste is more artificial than not, but can we really expect more? Chocolate is the third ingredient, coming after sugar and corn syrup, which must make up the bulk.

From “wafer“, you’d expect something soft and airy. But, no, these are hard candies with a texture like chalk. That makes them a bit harsh for your teeth to tear into. Which isn’t something I mind since my favorite thing is to wait as they dissolve in my mouth, trying to be delicate enough to keep them from breaking as they get thinner and thinner.

And that’s all there is to them. Very simple, even for a candy, but that’s why they stay such a simply endearing sweet.

Having already tasted, enjoyed and reviewed the first four lighter blocks of the Rausch Plantagen variety (cocoa solids ranging from 35% Noumean to 47% Costa Rica), it is now time to try the darker four.

These beauties include the 60% ‘Amacado’ from Peru, the 70% ‘El Cuador’ from Ecuador, a 75% from Tobago and a serious 80% ‘Tembadoro’ from Trinidad.

Having just attended an informative and enjoyable Chocolate Appreciation class run by Kirsten Tibbals I decided to try the darkest first. She advises that trying the milder ones mean that the palate gets loaded with sugar and is overwhelmed, making it difficult to taste any other tones in the chocolate. As you can see, there is a noticeable difference in colour, with 80% at the top and 60% at the bottom.

Rightio. The 80% Tembadora from Trinidad in the Caribbean. The cocoa from this area is grown in small plantations, but Rausch are working with the University of the West Indies to continue their work on the world’s largest cocoa genetic database. Nerdy but important. This is a really laid-back dark chocolate without the usual saliva-sucking bitterness that can tend to assail the first taste. Instead, it gives hints of dark, earthy soil, coffee and fine, dusty cocoa. It is dense in texture and slow to melt but a very mild introduction to a chocolate that being 80% is in serious Dark Side territory.

Tobago 75% is a near geographic neighbour of Trinidad, yet the flavours are quite different. Whilst it too is fairly mild for something so dark, it is much drier on the palate – I needed a drink after just one segment, and there was nowhere near the complexity of flavours that Tembadora has. Whilst there is no bitterness, but the overall effect is a bit too gluggy and heavy.

El Cuador 70% is very, very nice. There are a lot of 70% chocolates out there, and this one can stand proudly alongside the best of them. It has a sweet, smoky flavour with hints of wood, dried grasses and tobacco. Can you tell I’ve done a tasting course?

The 60% Amacado is named after the region in Peru that has with nearly 1,000 families growing the cocoa as part of a cooperative. This one tastes remarkably stronger than 60% and that’s meant in a good way – clearly the cocoa is top quality. Of all four, this is the one that melts most easily, allowing some sweetness to emerge and then a whisper of coffee. This is my favourite. Excellent cocoa taste with a generous inclusion of cocoa butter to allow the flavours to come through with bells on.

Laurie Moroco’s company, Haute Choklet, started in the home for eight years before it was made into an official company a year ago. “Haute” meaning “high” for “fashionably elegant or high-class”. And while it still has a homemade feel, the company does go for some casually classy standards.

Chocolate-covered pretzels are their biggest item, but they also throw in some other things, like fortune cookies. The merry packaging of the one Laurie sent me is pretty standard, as they’re designed with occasions in mind. Birthdays, baby showers, etc. In this particular case, I do love all the pink frills against the simple silver Chinese take-out box. Nestled inside on pink paper shreds was a caramel-coated, chocolate-dipped fortune cookie, protected in its own wrappings. You do get that birthday-sense undoing so many curled ribbons.

The regular-sized cookie is tempting with a very thick coating of caramel, chocolate, chocolate chips, and sprinkles. It doesn’t just look like lots of chocolate, either; it’s a very dominant part of the taste. There’s just the right bit of caramel to set off the crunch of the lightly sweet cookie. My fortune was “success is at your fingertips - open your eyes.” Maybe if they added something about chocolate in there, too… “chocolate is at your fingertips”… or maybe not.

It seems like the fortune cookies usually come in pairs, which makes sense: one isn’t quite enough. Given the prices, you’ll want to keep them for their intended purpose as party favors or gifts instead of just getting them as sweets for yourself. But they suit that purpose well enough.

I love Eton Mess. The variations you can create steaming from the traditional meringue, cream and fruit (usually strawberries) are endless, making this one of the most versatile and hardy recipes around. Tropical fruits like Mango and Passionfruit or a mix of berries from Blue to Black all taste great, but a chocolate twist to this dessert of English origin is certainly the best variation on the classic I know…

Chocolate Meringue Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Chocolate Sauce Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 300ml cream
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Cream Ingredients

• 300ml cream
• 1/3 cup drinking chocolate powder
• 250g raspberries (frozen or fresh)

Method

First the meringues – to make a chocolate version is requires simply adding cocoa powder to the basic meringue recipe. Preheat oven to 120°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Draw a rough 22cm circle on each piece of paper.

Use an electric beater to beat 4 egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar, beating well until sugar dissolves. Use a large metal spoon to fold in 1/4 cup cocoa.

Spread the mixture evenly between the two circles. Bake (swapping the trays halfway through) for 1 hour or until firm and dry. Turn the oven off. Leave to cool in the oven with the door ajar.

To make the chocolate sauce, place chocolate, cream, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until it reduces and thickens. Pour into a heatproof jug and set aside.

Next the chocolate cream made using an electric mixer beat the cream and drinking chocolate until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Take your now cooled chocolate meringue discs and crumble them roughly (bite size pieces) and set aside.

Now for the fun part – in the serving bowl, tip a third of your crumbled meringue, top with a third of your raspberries, drizzle over some chocolate sauce then top with chocolate cream. Continue until you have filled your serving bowl with a mountain of Chocolate Eton Mess – top it off with a few more raspberries and a generous drizzle of chocolate sauce.

I’ve just been to my favourite Foodland supermarket to find Violet Crumbles to review for Chocablog, only to find its already been done. Curses! And while there, horror of horrors, they have rearranged and removed what must be slow-moving stock. Some of my strange and wonderful foreign imports are gone. Oh the pain of it!

However, we do have this strange wee beastie to help make up for the suffering. Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps – wonder if this is anything like the Polish Halva I tried a while back?

It turns out, although you’d never guess from the packaging, that these are made in Poland as well, and sold under a local brand name. This also suffers from another one of my favourite complaints: health claims. In this case, big happy ticks on the front of the pack: “Gluten free” and “Cholesterol free”. Turning the pack over we find that sesame seeds and chocolate are the dominant ingredients, but glucose syrup and sugar rate a mention as well. This really makes me very annoyed: Glucose syrup is one of the fastest ways to get sugars into your bloodstream – it’s more rapidly absorbed that fats, and its more fattening! Grr!

And then this warning:

“This product may contain traces of bee pollen and propolis which can cause severe allergic reaction and may contain traces of dairy and peanuts.”

Except it’s all capitals and fairly shouts out. And the grammar is lousy. And what the heck is propolis? Turns out it’s a bee resin. And the really weird thing is, the ingredients don’t list honey!

What is going on here?

So I’m a little miffed and off to a poor start.

My supermarket 3-pack turns out to contain 3 (gosh!) smaller packs, each containing 3 things that look a bit like a sesame-studded biscuit with a bit of chocolate layed over the top in cutesy line. Unusual. How the chocolate comprises the claimed 25% I don’t know because it certainly looks to be substantially less.

Breaking one, we see that there is a heck of a lot of sesame here. It smells vaguely of honey, and looks like the sesame seeds are held together with some kind of stuff – which is probably sugar. There really isn’t a lot of chocolate.

In spite of my whinging, it’s actually not bad. I’ve just demolished one of the small pack-lets from inside, and find it all the rather more-ish: sweet, and with a decent whack of sesame flavour. The chocolate is really there as a bit of a bonus, it contributes little if anything to the flavour.

This is nothin like that Halva, but I’m still pleasantly surprised.

This is another bar from the goody bags given out at the Academy of Chocolate Awards a few weeks ago. It’s a 45g, 70% dark chocolate bar divided into five large chunks, each filled with sea salted caramel. The most obvious comparison here is going to be with Paul A. Young’s sea salted caramels, so that’s what I’m going to compare them to.

The main difference is of course the format. Paul Young’s caramels are large, individual chocolates with a lot of caramel, whereas the chunks of this bar are smaller with a higher chocolate to caramel ratio.

I would like to mention the packaging briefly too, which I wasn’t overly impressed with. I don’t know if this was wrapped differently for the goody bags, but clear cellophane stuck together with sellotape doesn’t give an overwhelming sense of luxury - even with the addition of the “Best British Chocolatier” tag.

The chocolate in this bar is listed at 70%, but it tastes darker and richer to me. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s a little too rich for my tastes. It is very, very nice, but I would have preferred just a little more sweetness.

And the same is true of the caramel inside. The flavours are great - a slightly smokey caramel with just the right amount of salt, but it’s just a bit too rich for me, meaning it’s quite difficult to get through the whole bar in one go without sharing. And I don’t do sharing.

As you can see from this photo, the caramel is thick enough to withstand being cut with a knife. If I’d done the same with one of Paul’s caramels, I suspect the caramel would probably be all over the table, carpet and me before I’d had a chance to take the picture.

My overall impression of this bar is that it really is quite delicious, but having tasted Paul A. Young’s sea salted caramels on more than one occasion, anything else is only going to come a poor second. Even something as good as this.