20°N & 20°S

Seattle Chocolates ~ Birthday Cake

 

 

Seattle Chocolates 

Birthday Cake filled truffle bar in milk chocolate. Yellow cake mix with confetti bits wrapped in milk chocolate. 

 

Birthday Cake

Type: Filled, truffle/candy bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: White Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, whey powder, soya lecithin, pure vanillia), Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, pure vanilla), Confetti cake mix (unbleached wheat flour, sugar, colored bits [sugar, corn syrup, corn, palm oil, modified food starch, colors {elderberry juice, spinach extract, paprika, tumeric, citric acid}, baking soda, natural vanilla flavor, cream of tartar, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum), palm kernal oil. 

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 70g

 

Milk chocolate surface with Seattle Chocolates signature wavy patterned surface. Four large tablets. Shiny surface and creamy milk chocolate color with some slight surface marks. 

Smelled a bit artificial out of the package. The milk chocolate gives off a bit of a smoky and creamy aroma. Once spilt open, the center gives way to a creamy milk chocolate aroma. 

Nice and fully filled center. The center was a blend of white chocolate with cake mix and confetti's. The center was a little hard at first with crispy crunchy confetti bits. It melts away to a softer creamier texture. 

The white chocolate is a big distraction. If you are a white chocolate fan than this will be good, but if you were expecting cake flavor, it's dominated by the white chocolate. The milk chocolate was artificial tasting too and ends up being more distracting to the cake idea too. There is nothing really cake-like about this bar at all. Except with it's appearance when you break into the bar. It looks like a layer of cake covered in chocolate but the confetti's barely pop out. 

I wanted to like this bar because it sounded like fun and it sounded like a good idea. They ruined it with white chocolate in the center and the white and milk chocolate tasted completely artificial which ruined the taste for me completely. I don't mind white chocolate that much but it overpowered this bar and left no yellow cake taste. The confetti's added a fun crunchy texture, but the rest of it was hard and waxy at first until it began to open up and melt on the palate. 

Playful? Yes. Tasty? Disappointed. 

 

  score
 D-

 

Mitzi Blue ~ With Love

 

 

Mitzi Blue "With Love," given to me by Angelo Scarnera, from London as part of our ritual trading of chocolate for beer. In Austria this is called "Mit Liebe." I kind of wish some of the products meant for UK markets or US markets kept the German words. At least in this case anyway. Mit Liebe just sounds better.

A bean-to-bar line from Josef Zotter based around a love affair with a car. The Story of Mitzi Blue from inside of the package. Click to enlarge.

 

 

With Love:

A chocolate as beautiful as love. In love? Beloved? Liked? Out of love? In love again? Enchanted and thrilled? As beautiful as love is the unbelievably fine taste of the wonderful Mitzi Blue® With Love, a chocolate able to express in a very romantic way the unique feeling of loving somebody. But love is not only written on the package, this chocolate is made with love. This variety is made with love for lovers, and that is why it looks different. Enchantingly light-coloured, finely conched and – to everybody’s surprise – covered with flowers. Seduction at the highest taste levels, something that may be given with love at any time.

 

With Love is white chocolate with 31% cocoa butter content. It's covered in flower petals of blue corn flowers, red roses, and yellow marigolds. It's very pretty and certainly special enough to hand over to someone you love.

 

Dear Angelo,

I heart you too, homie. Friends fo lyfe yo!

Mit Liebe, Candice

 

 

 

Mit Liebe

 

Type: White chocolate, 31% cocoa butter

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, full cream powder, sweet whey powder, whole cane sugar, mixed flowers (roses, corn flowers, and marigolds) vanilla, salt, soy lecithin. (Almonds??)

**Fair trade and organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.76oz

 

Appearance: Circle tablet, shiny back surface covered in pretty flower petals. The front is a simple monogrammed design. Gorgeous almond color. Soft and muted and not yellowish-white.

Score: 95

Snap: Low thud sound, slightly firm snap quality.

Score: 89*

Aroma: Delicate cinnamon toast and cream. Very simple and not much else happening.

Score: 93

Taste: Cinnamon, cream, buttery, slight nutty characters, a bit of a perfume-y character from the petals, but it's softly folded into the flavors of cinnamon and nuts. Distinctive rose flavor though. A blended cinnamon and milky aftertaste.

Score: 94

Texture: Super soft and creamy texture, the petals on the surface are dry, but soften really quickly, fast melt time.

Score: 94

 

*The score on the Snap is adjusted a bit for white chocolate. I factor in cocoa butter content and how thick the bar is. This had a relatively good snap to it, it just had no sound. Which is why is scored a bit lower than what it should have been based on it's feel.

Very pretty bar of chocolate. The color of the white chocolate was a beautiful almond color and not a weird neon white color you sometimes see with white chocolate. Simple molding with beautifully accented flowers all over the back surface.

I was slightly confused by the almonds in the ingredients. It says it contains almonds online, but not on the package. It does have a slight nutty character. It confuses me if I am really tasting almonds or just a natural flavor profile from the cocoa butter and ingredients.

The aroma and taste were fabulous. I am not one who is generally sold on white chocolate, but I don't turn my nose up at it and I will always try it. It smelled and tasted like cinnamon and cream. Awesomely buttery and sweet. It had a little bit of a flowery taste with distinctive rose flavors. It was also a bit nutty with a texture to die for. So creamy and soft. The petals were a bit dry on the palate at first, but it's a small detail considering how soft the white chocolate was.

There was a slight milky after taste that I didn't care for, but It took a few tastes of the bar for that to be present. It's a classic flavor of white chocolate I have come to not like. But again the rest of this bar tasted so good, I was willing to over look the aftertaste this time. It wasn't anything like the Hand-Scooped Black Cherries with Vanilla bar. Plus the cinnamon lingers a bit so it's a milky cinnamon flavor. There were some cloying spice notes towards the end. But again, a minor detail like the milky after taste that wasn't enough to interfere or ruin this fantastic bar of white chocolate.

I recommend this bar for the non-believers of white chocolate. Originally I was going to write that this is a good bar to give to your lover, unless they are a chocolate snob. But I think this will be good enough for the snobs after all.

Final Score: 93

    score
    A-

Melange ~ Mixed Flavors, White, Milk, and Dark

 

 

Angelo comes through for me once again. I asked specifically for some more Melange Chocolate tasting samples, or as I call them, chocolate straps. Thin tasting bars of flavored chocolate. Last time the flavor pack was all dark chocolate. This time I thought it was an all-milk tasting. To my surprise, it was a mix pack of white, milk, and dark.

 

 

Unless things have changed at Melange, the chocolate base used for these chocolates is from Belcolade, Belgian chocolate couverture.

I don't review these particular tasting straps the same way I normally review chocolate. They are too thin for a snap quality, they have been damaged by travel from the UK to the US (Not anyone's fault, they are just very fragile.) Some people have more of a weighted system towards their review marks, but I do not. I take the time to explain in full detail what each score means and why it received the mark that it got. With these kinds of tastings, I will just explain the taste, texture, and aroma and give a general score based on my own personal tastes.

 

Matcha & Strawberry (White Chocolate)

 

Ingredients: 28% cocoa butter, milk powder, sugar, lecithin, natural vanilla, matcha, and strawberry.

Type: Flavored White Chocolate, 28% cocoa butter

 

It's appearance doesn't quite show up the way I wanted it to in these pictures. It looks more yellowish based on the photos, but really it's more of a soft lime green color.

It smells like classic white chocolate, creamy, fatty, buttery, and soft. It has more of a lime aroma than a strawberry aroma. More citrus and fatty cream notes. Classic white chocolate aroma is dominating over everything else. I don't smell the matcha which hardly has an aroma anyway unless it's wet leaves or it's flavored, and the strawberry is barely there leaving a tart aroma that is more like limes.

Tastes like very rich and creamy white chocolate, buttery, rich creamy texture, virtually no strawberry taste at all, it's a little fruity, but mostly it's rich, and milky, has a bit of a grassy lingering flavor from the matcha. The last flavors on this chocolate are the strawberries. I'm a little disappointed that it's that faint or subtle. At least it presents itself though, but not until the very end through retro-olfaction.

I think this is actually fairly nice for white chocolate. I am not a big fan of it in general, but this was very nice. I only wish the flavors were a bit bigger. More of that grassy, green, matcha flavor, and bolder strawberries. The white chocolate flavors dominate so much that you are only left with lingering tastes of the matcha and strawberries. It could be so much better.

   score
   B-

 

Coriander & Grapefruit (Milk Chocolate)

 

Ingredients: 33% cocoa mass, cocoa and cocoa butter, milk powder, sugar, lecithin, natural vanilla, coriander and grapefruit.

Type: Flavored milk chocolate, 33%.

 

Light creamy milk chocolate color, lightly citrus-y on the nose and soft and subtle coriander. Creamy milk qualities with a very slight smoky aroma. They coriander was big right out of the package as was the lightly smoky aroma, but then it tames itself down for a nice creamy soft milk chocolate aroma with light hints of the citrus grapefruit and the spicy coriander. Soft and creamy texture, but a little bit of grit from the coriander spice.

Coriander right up front, very soft grapefruit, more like sweeter red or pink grapefruit, less tart and bitter citrus notes. Very soft and gorgeous flowery taste on the finish. Very slight though. Creamy milk taste on the chocolate with a few peanut notes. Sweet milk chocolate. The coriander and grapefruit are toned down quite a bit on the second and third tastes of this chocolate. The first taste the spice and the fruit are very present, the rest of the time it's all about the creamy milk chocolate and that lovely aftertaste.

   score
    B

 

 

Coffee and Aniseed (Milk Chocolate)

 

Ingredients: 33% cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cocoa solids, milk powder, lecithin, natural vanilla, coffee and aniseed.

Type: Flavored milk chocolate, 33%

 

Black licorice. That is the dominating aroma. Not even subtle aniseed aromas but straight-up black licorice. Creamy milk chocolate aromas with a subtle smoky hint. No coffee on the aroma at all. Light brown color with black flecks pepper through out the strap.

Sweet milk chocolate, excellent balance of coffee and aniseed up front. The coffee makes the peanut-y taste on the milk chocolate present itself more. Coffee is more roasted at first taste and then has more of a grind flavor. Despite the black flecks in the chocolate, it's not gritty. Coffee ends up the dominating flavors int he end. The aniseed was very much up front on the first taste of this chocolate and then takes a back seat. Creamy, soft texture.

I only wish the licorice hung around longer and interacted more on this chocolate. It dominates the aroma and then plays nicely with the coffee but then never comes back through the rest of the tasting. Overall though it was good tasting milk chocolate with a good blend of flavors.

   score
    A-

 

 

Raspberry & Rosemary (Dark Chocolate)

 

Ingredients: 72% cocoa solids, Cocoa butter and cocoa solids, sugar, lecithin, natural vanilla, raspberry and rosemary.

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 72%

 

This one had an interesting nose right out of the package. It had tart raspberries, a little smoky chocolate, and a strange aroma that reminded me of yellow mustard and ketchup mixed together. The rosemary on the aroma wasn't as dominating as you might think which left a strange interaction between the cocoa and the raspberry. Deep dark chocolate color.

Nice rich dark chocolate flavor, lightly sweet, light raspberry, and lovely rosemary. Despite the strange aroma, the flavors are really nice. The texture is a little chalky and dry, but it's not overbearing. Deep dark chocolate, roasted cocoa interacts nicely with the rosemary, raspberry flavors are very soft, and hard to find in the middle of the bold and rich chocolate and dominating rosemary flavors. The rosemary is strong but not overpowering. There is a little bit of raspberry at the end of the tasting. It lingers on the palate and you can taste it through retro-olfaction.

Very nice chocolate. It is getting the score it's getting for that initial strange aroma, and being a bit drying and chalky on the texture. But the flavors are awesome with the deep rich chocolate. I just wish the raspberry stood up more in this chocolate. It's there but kind of hiding in the background to the rosemary.

   score
  B+

 

 

Cardamom & Cloves (Dark Chocolate)

 

 

Ingredients: 72% cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cocoa solids, sugar, lecithin, natural vanilla, cardamom and cloves.

Type: Flavored Bittersweet, 72%

 

All cloves on the nose. A slight undertone of green cardamom, but the predominate aroma was cloves. Some roasted cocoa on the surface of the aroma, but it's dominated by the spice. Deep, dark chocolate color.

All cardamom on the taste. Bright green, fresh cardamom and deep roasted chocolate. No real hints of the cloves like the aroma suggests, a little spicy kick to the chocolate too. A nice roast-y, deep cocoa flavor lingering on the palate.

A nice play of flavors depsite only smelling one, and tasting the other. But the cardamom and dark chocolate together were very nice. And not all was lost for the cloves on the taste. I got a little tiny spice nugget later on that finally impacted the flavor.

  score
 B+

 

 

The biggest theme with these chocolates was a sort of bait-and-switch with the flavor profiles. The nose has one strong aroma, and the flavor dictates another taste all together. Both of the dark chocolates were the best example of this. They were also the most surprising to me. Despite it's score, the Milk Chocolate Coffee and Aniseed was my favorite. The white chocolate had a lot of potential but I needed the flavors to be a lot stronger. The classic flavors of white chocolate just dominated the palate. It's one of the reasons white chocolate is not my favorite.

Once again, a very nice collection.

Making Up With Modern Dwellers

Customer service goes a long way. After being upset about the state of the truffles sent to me from a friend of mine who lives in Alaska and got them from Modern Dwellers in Anchorage, a new box made it's way to me.

Modern Dwellers ~ Beat Up Truffles

Now, this isn't why I write about chocolate. I don't like having to give bad reviews or harsh reviews. I don't like having to be sent new chocolate to make up for something that may have gone wrong. I don't write about chocolate to get free stuff, though it is nice when it happens. And I don't write bad reviews to stir up unnecessary drama. The power of words can go a long way. You never know what kind of impact you can have on a business. Being completely honest and telling the whole truth is the only way to go.

Part of the reason I was so upset about the state of the truffles was because of all of my new friends in Alaska swear by Modern Dwellers. I wanted to know what their story was and what the hype was all about. I really wanted to visit their shop while I was in Alaska back in Jan., but I never got a chance to make it over there. A kind friend of mine sent me a box of their truffles. But with no padding in the box, the truffles were completely destroyed by the time it got to me. It was hard to see what all the fuss was about and that's what I wrote.

Another reason it was so upsetting to have to write something like that, is because they have some unique flavor profiles. For a tiny little shop in Anchorage, Alaska they are doing some pretty amazing things up there. They are also working on pairing beer with chocolate with their local brewery Midnight Sun Brewing Co. There is a lot to like about Modern Dwellers.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it wasn't easy for me to write a harsh review about them. I wanted to like them and it was a rocky introduction.

All of that can be laid to rest now and left in the past. A new box was delivered and they were delicious.

I took the box and camped out in a tiny corner at my favorite bar Green Street, in Cambridge on a packed Friday night. I made everyone at the bar jealous as I ate truffles, took pictures of them and drank Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout with them. I also had a lot of red wine with these truffles. I am a BeerAdvocate, but I am not going to front, red wine and chocolate is fantastic together!

Everything sitting up right, the toppings still in place on the truffles. Still a little dusty from the nut covered truffles, but so much nicer than before. The inside was stuffed with bubble wrap this time.

There was only one disappointment this time. My list of truffles indicated that the Anchovy Amour and the Salmon Surprise were in the box. Sadly they were not. I know they sound odd, but I am all about weird and unexpected combinations. The Anchovy Amour is made with bittersweet blueberry puree ganche, hand rolled in dark chocolate, and topped with a salty and dainty piece of dried anchovy on top. Sounds awesome! The Salmon Surprise is dark chocolate, honey and black pepper ganache and coated in a dark chocolate shell, topped with lustered Alaskan Smoked Salmon. Tell me that doesn't sound delicious.

So, a mild disappointment there because I got my hopes up when I saw the list, but found they weren't there. Oh well, it just means a visit to their shop next time I am in Anchorage.






Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin pie spiced dark chocolate ganache dipped in white chocolate, dusted with pie spice.

This was much better fresh. I noticed this batch was a lot lighter on the pie spice and the white chocolate was more apparent than it was the first time I tried it. But still this was very nice. I liked this truffle the first time, and I liked it even more fresh. I just wish those pie spices were a tad more apparent.






Sweet White Delight

Creamy white chocolate and cherry ganache, dipped in white chocolate and topped with a dried tart cherry.

Not so much for me. It looked very pretty, and I thought this would be great, but it was too much white chocolate for me. The cherry ganache was too subtle and the white chocolate was too dominating. The cherry on top added a nice bit of tartness, but it didn't last long. Very pretty truffle, and great if you like white chocolate, but not a Candice truffle.




Buna Burst

Espresso and agave infused ganache. Hand rolled in dark chocolate. Rolled again in cocoa and cinnamon powder.

This was excellent! Soft espresso flavors, not bitter, but nice and roasted, light cinnamon, and unsweetened cocoa powders. Sot agave but you could tell it was present added a soft sweet and a little buttery taste. As soft as this truffle was, it was very complex at the same time. Loved it.






Indian Bop

Bittersweet East Indian curry ganache hand rolled dark chocolate and toasted coconut flakes.

Still one of my favorites. I liked this a lot the first time I had it, but it is worlds better fresh and with freshly toasted coconut flakes. Nice crunchy shell with super soft ganache in the center. I am not a big curry fan, but this worked out extremely well with the dark chocolate.





Purple Infusion

Dark chocolate lavender ganache covered in dark chocolate and topped with lavender petals.

This looks worlds better than the first time I tried it. The lavender on the first one looked like dried up grass or hay. This was topped with pretty purple petals and the petals helped add a nice pop of herbal flavor. The lavender ganache was very subtle. The rich, dark chocolate ended up dominating this truffle, but it was still pretty over all.










Cacao Wow

Dark 72% chocolate ganache encased in dark chocolate and topped with organic cocoa nibs.

I got two of these in my box. This is a straight forward truffle of rich dark chocolate. Sweet and rich, and nice roasted cocoa nibs on top. Simple and delicious.






Raspberry Grove

Bittersweet raspberry and maple ganache covered in dark chocolate and a luster coating.

This is much prettier than the first go around with this truffle. This is what I had hoped it would look like. Still has a bit of a dsty coating on it fromthe nut covered truffles in the box, but gorgeous purple luster. The raspberry popped but was not tart of overpowering. Soft raspberry taste, no maple taste, but nice rich dark chocolate.





The Berbere

Bittersweet ganache spiced with Ethiopian berbere dipped in dark chocolate and topped with a pinch of berbere.

I called this a mystery truffle in my notes until I bit into it. It didn't look anything like the first Berbere truffle I had. But the heat was there. The heat was a lot softer than the first go with this truffle, but still too much for my wuss mouth. If you like heat or spicy foods, this is a great truffle. It's a bit softer than a cayenne pepper or red chili heat, but paired with the rich chocolate it was tasty. I did love the lingering warmth despite the initial bigger heat kick and a sip of red wine with this truffle. It was fantastic.






Pistachio Passion

Lemon zest white ganache enrobed in dark chocolate shell topped with salted pistachio nuts.

This is a lovely truffle. I love the lemon zest ganache. It's bright but not too tangy and doesn't allow the dark chocolate to over power. I wish there were more salted pistachios on the top as the salt added the right contrast, but there was enough of it there to get the idea. Great truffle.







Dazed By Hazel

Rich milk chocolate and hazelnut ganache rolled in dark chocolate chunks of hazelnuts.

Milk chocolate was the right choice for this truffle. Soft hazelnut taste, but delicious. Crunchy texture, soft milk chocolate ganache. It tastes like Italian gianduja.






Margarita Zing

Bittersweet ganache of fresh lime zest and tequila covered in a dark chocolate shell and topped with Hawaiian pink sea salt.

This wasn't as lovely as the first time I tried it. It needed more pink salt, and the lime zest was more apparent this time. I liked the lime zest, but the dark chocolate overtook the subtleties of the tequila. I likes this, but I feel like it could have been a lot better.


And there you have it. What these truffles were meant to be like the first time. Very nice collection and very nice people at Modern Dwellers along with Shauna Pajak, who sent these along to make sure I had a fair shot with Modern Dwellers.

Modern Dwellers ~ Beat Up Truffles

When I was visiting Anchorage, Alaska last month, my new close buddies Ken and Shauna Pajak of Cafe Amsterdam sent me a box of truffles from Modern Dwellers. They arrived just as Ken arrived to hang out and visit Boston for the BeerAdvocate Extreme Beer Festival.

I wasn't able to check out their shop while visiting Anchorage, because they were closed on the one day I had for some free time in Alaska. Shauna being the amazing person that she is, shipped off some truffles to me to make sure I got a chance to try them.

I have to admit though, I am kind of disappointed. These truffles got beat the hell up in transition. I am frustrated at Modern Dwellers for this. Even if you are taking them down the street, or shipping them across the continental US, they should have been packed up better. They were tossed on a large box, and rattled around. Ones that were coated in nuts, completely lost the coating. Others were covered in soot from the other truffles.

This is what they looked like after I tried to put them back together again. Not very appetizing. But believe me when I say the box was in total shambles when I opened it. See their website with a list of truffles and what they would have looked like.

Modern Dwellers Truffles

The other issue with the way they were packed is freshness. Sitting in a cardboard box for days on end without any kind of insulation, leaves them vulnerable to getting stale and absorbing the box flavors. Not to mention absorbing all the other spices from the heavier spiced truffles in the box. All in all they are bit stale and are in no way representative of what is shown on their website.

The reason this is so aggravating is because it destroys a nice gift that my new good friends were trying to get to me. Also Modern Dwellers had some completely unique flavors. How can I give them a fair shot when they don't care enough to package their products properly?

It should be said that I am not normally this picky when someone gives me a gift. I am not ungrateful to my friend Shauna for giving me the chance to get to taste these truffles. I am just miffed that they didn't do too well in transition.

I will get over how they look because some of them still tasted good based on how they were flavored despite being beat up. But this is something Modern Dwellers should look into and take care of. Package your product better!


This is what came in my box.

Pumpkin Spice: Pumpkin pie spiced dark chocolate ganache dipped in white chocolate.

Very good! And I will be damned when I ate the truffle before I thought of taking pictures of the individual ones. But you can figure at least for this one since it was dipped in white chocolate and was the only white chocolate in the box, which one it was from the picture above.






Dazed By Hazel: Rich milk chocolate and hazelnut ganache rolled in dark chocolate and chunks of hazelnut.

Uhhhh you mean the nuts that ended up at the bottom of the box? Fail! This one tasted okay. It was soft but I had a hard time telling which one this actually was. It didn't taste too hazelnut-y.






Indian Bop: Bittersweet East Indian curry ganache hand rolled in coconut flakes and dark chocolate.

This was excellent. But I wish half of the coconut hadn't worn off. Nice curry flavor without being too over bearing. Lingers a bit, but is in no way offensive. Some people really love curry. I can tolerate it in small bits. I really liked this one a lot.

Raspberry Grove: Bittersweet raspberry and maple ganache enrobed in dark chocolate. Finished with a lavish luster.

This could have been pretty if you could still see the sparkly sheen and not the dusty coating from the other truffle coatings. This tasted interesting. The raspberry is not as dominating as I would have thought. The maple comes through quite a bit.

Purple Infusion: Smooth fragrant lavender ganache encased in layers of delightful dark chocolate. Garnished with petals of lavender.

Mine looked like it was topped with grass. It barely tasted like lavender. The chocolate was too strong for it. Maybe it was different when it was more fresh. I can only assume that's the one I was looking at because no other truffle listed is described as this.

The Berbere: Bittersweet ganache spiced with Ethiopian Berbere. Dipped in dark chocolate and garnished with a pinch of berbere.

Woo a little too spicy for me. I am wuss about spicy food and I make no bones about it. This is spicy and laden with a bit of heat. It was a little salty at first to contrast the sweet chocolate, but then the heat got the better of me. I think most people will like this one, but again it was too much for my oversensitive palate. My wuss mouth.

Mint Breezy: Fresh taste of mint infused in a bittersweet ganache. Hand rolled dark chocolate shell and lustered.

Soft, subtle mint. Tasted like spearmint. I liked this truffle. The sheen was pretty despite the condition of these truffles. The mint was soft and worked well with the dark chocolate.

Orange Drop: A delightful ganache of orange zest and Grand Marnier enrobed in dark chocolate and accented with fresh candied orange.

This will sound silly but it tastes exactly like the chocolate covered donuts from Entemann's. I loved those when I was a kid. The orange is apparent and soft, but the Grand Marnier is dull and not potent at all. This was a good truffle, but might have been better with a bit of an alcohol kick. 

Cacao Wow: Dark 72% chocolate ganache encased in dark chocolate and sprinkled wit organic cocoa nibs.

This is simple and straight forward, a rich dark chocolate truffle. Tasty and strong dark chocolate. Hardly any nib left on the top.

Blueberry Patch: Bittersweet blueberry puree ganache swimming in layers of hand rolled dark chocolate.

Not too fruity. I was hoping for big blueberry taste on this one. The dark chocolate overwhelmed. Might have been different fresh.

Margarita Zing: Bittersweet ganache of fresh lime zest and tequila cloaked in dark chocolate and topped with Hawaiian pink sea salt.

No sea salt left on this truffle, but it tastes salty on the coating. Light lime and tequila taste, but worked surprisingly well with the dark chocolate. Would have been fantastic fresh.

Pistachio Passion: Lemon zest white ganache enrobed in dark chocolate shell topped with salted pistachios.

No pistachios left on top of this truffle, but very tasty center. The lemon zest is delicious and holds up well against the dark chocolate. The salted pistachios are deeply missed for this truffle.

I cannot express enough my disappointment with how shoddy Modern Dwellers packed their lovely truffles. These would have been fantastic if they were fresh. These are creative and wonder flavors for truffles, but since they were stale from lack of proper packaging, they failed miserably in their representation of what is deemed an awesome chocolate shop in Anchorage, Alaska.

To my friend Shauna Pajak,

I thank you for making sure these were sent to me. You went out of your way to make sure I got them, and I am personally grateful to you for that. I just hope my brutal honestly in writing about these doesn't upset you personally. They should have packaged these up better. But your kindness in thinking of me is more important than the outcome of these truffles.

Chocri ~ Meine Shokolade Part 2

A little while ago, I found out about a create your own custom chocolate bar company called Chocri through Twitter. They began to follow me and I followed them. I eventually ordered some of my own custom creations.

They were delivered and they looked beautiful!

A few things I should note right off the bat, The order was promised by Jan. 21st. I didn't get it until the 25th. Granted, there was a weekend there, but still they send you emails of when your chocolate was made and guarantee you a timely delivery.

The only other bad thing I want to mention is that one of my bars was messed up. The Health Bar is the name of my creation and it was requested to be made with dark chocolate and even the label it was sent with said dark chocolate. It came as white chocolate. I don't like white chocolate all that much and since white chocolate is completely unhealthy, it defeats the purpose of the bar. Simple mistake I am sure, but for am $11 to $14 dollar bar of chocolate, it's very frustrating.

A small, petty detail of The Health Bar is that it also had a huge chunk of walnut on it. This is really a petty detail for me to point out, but if you happen to be allergic to nuts, then you should be careful that your custom bars might be contaminated with other ingredients you did not request. Again, I must stress that that is a petty detail to call out, but in the case of being fair and honest it must be noted.

Chocolate Ingredients:

Milk chocolate:

Sugar 50.5 % ; Cocoa mass 32.5 % ; Cocoa butter 16.5 % ; Emulsifier: soya lecithin ; Natural vanilla flavouring.

White chocolate:

Cane sugar*** 45.0 % ; Cocoa butter *** 30.0 % ; Whole milk powder *** 24.5 % ; Emulsifier: soya lecithin

*** : from organic farming in accordance to EU regulation

With the Dark chocolate, we have a special case since we mix some chocolate with less cocoa content to it, and since that such a custom mixture no one ever actually calculated the percentages other than the cocoa content (64%). Here's the dark chocolate that we use as a base:

Cocoa mass *** 61.0 % ; Cane sugar*** 26.5 % ; Cocoa mass *** 8.0 % ; Cocoa butter *** 4.0 % ; Emulsifier: soya lecithin

*** : from organic farming in accordance to EU regulation CERTISYS BE-BIO-01
*** : from organic farming in accordance to regulation USDA National Organic Program certified by CERTISYS SPRL/BVBA 

Let's get to it shall we.

First up:

Old World: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Anise, Rosemary, Sea Salt, Date Bits, and Fig Bits.

 

I was trying to gather all of the toppings that they offered that were considered old world. Anise, figs, dates, sea salt, and rosemary. They just sounded old world and sounded like they would taste good together on dark chocolate.

The dark chocolate was very tasty. The rosemary was the most flavorful, and the fig and date bits added a nice chewy texture. I barely noticed any sea salt, I think they may have forgotten it or it was barely coated with it. I think the sea salt would have added the right contrast. Overall though, it was a pretty tasty bar.

Strawberry Basil Martini: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Strawberry, Ground Chili, Basil, and Organic Mint Leaves.

 

I created this bar because Boston has been known for the Strawberry-Basil Martini. While I was in San Francisco for a food festival, a company that jars peppers, displayed their products with a Strawberry basil martini that contained muddled red peppers and garnished with a pepperocini. I decided to try and recreate that with this bar of chocolate.

This bar was messy! It looked beautiful though. Lovely red colors with hints of green from the mint. Tart strawberry bits, and dark chocolate dominate the flavors on the bar. A little bit of spicy heat on the finish as well as bit of cooling mint from the dried mint leaves. Rather dull though for the amount of ingredients in it. Still, I didn't mind eating this one either. 

Banana Nut: Milk Chocolate with Banana Chips, Cinnamon, and Walnuts.

 

This one is almost self explanatory. I was trying to make banana nut muffins or loaf bread into a chocolate bar. I wanted to try their milk chocolate as well and thought this would be the right combination for milk chocolate.

This was very tasty! Creamy and soft milk chocolate, huge chunks of walnuts bigger than anything I have ever seen before. The cinnamon added the perfect touch. The bananas added a nice crunchy texture. I liked this bar the most. It was so good.

Health Bar: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Blueberries, Cranberries, Organic Flax Seeds, Goji Berries, and mymuesli - Organic Muesli.

As I mentioned earlier, huge disappointment that this bar came in white chocolate when the ingredients called for it to be on dark chocolate. The intention for this bar was to include everything super healthy in their profile and make a super bar. White chocolate being all fat, completely nulls and voids the premise for this bar.

The white chocolate completely ruined the taste of this bar as well. I am not a big fan of white chocolate. The creamy taste of the white chocolate completely clashed with almost all of the ingredients added to this bar. I did not like this bar and was not able to finish the sample bites I snapped off.

Pretty: White Chocolate with Strawberry, Papaya Cubes, Flower Mix, Silver Pearls, and Macadamia Nuts.

I created this bar for aesthetics. I wanted something pretty to look at. I think I may have over done it a bit. The bar also came broken. But that wasn't a big deal to me as I was trying to figure out how to snap a chunk off that had the huge macadamia nut on it.

The size of the macadamia nuts were outrageous. I have never seen them that big before. Same as the walnuts on the Banana Nut bar. I think this bar would have looked better if they were smaller, but I am not going to complain that they were too big. I thought flowers and papaya cubes, and silver pearls would be gorgeous together, but it ended up being a bit too much. I still think the bar was pretty overall, but it would have been nicer if it was tweaked a bit.

The flavors were very nice on this bar. The strawberries, white chocolate, and macadamia nuts dominated the flavors, the papaya rounded out the finish. These are the kinds of flavors made for white chocolate. Even though I am not a major fan, there is still a time and a place for white chocolate. These are the kinds of ingredients for white chocolate. Crunchy texture with soft white chocolate made it balanced. Lovely flavors.

I think the idea behind these bars is a cool concept. Custom made chocolate bars from Europe delivered right to your door. These do make for a great gift idea. Anyone who is a chocolate lover will appreciate this concept.

However, they are a bit expensive and had some issues in execution. The ruined Health bar was a major fail all the across the board simply because it was meant to be dark chocolate and not white chocolate. It upset all of the other flavors. Some of the spices and flavors were not as robust as I would have hoped as noted with the Strawberry Basil Martini. Just some things to keep in mind when creating your own bars. 

Overall it is worth the risk. And I like the people behind this company. They have a donation area when ordering your bars that you can chose to donate to to help support the regions they get their chocolate beans from. This is something I can totally support. They are a young company with young people working the helms. Their customer service is fantastic too. They stayed in good contact with me to give me the ingredients, followed up with me when my bars were running late, and have stayed in contact via Twitter.

I like this company and I wish them success.

Chocrì Meine Schokolade

A few days ago a newer chocolate company Chocrì found me on Twitter. They have a fairly unique concept of building your own chocolate bars.

From their press release:

Chocri is a create-your-own chocolate bar that is hand-manufactured in Germany, with organic, premium qua- lity chocolate from Belgium. With chocri, the combinations are endless (literally). Consumers can choose from three base chocolates (dark, milk or white), and then select from over 80 toppings: from the usual suspects like peanuts, raisins, and almonds, to fun, unexpected ingredients like organic flax seeds, fennel and coriander! With over 10 billion combinations to choose from, your unique chocolate creation is only a few clicks away.

Chocri was founded by 20-something entrepreneurs Michael Bruck and Franz Duge in early 2008. It was Franz who had the "light bulb" idea to start a custom chocolate bar company when he couldn’t think of a personal gift to give his girlfriend on her birthday. At the time, Franz and Michael were running a chocolate fountain compa- ny, so Franz came up with the idea of using the liquid chocolate from that company, and turning it into a bar, which he topped with his girlfriend’s favorite snacks: gummy bears and trail mix. Needless to say, the gift made quite an impression! When Franz’s friends heard about his creative chocolate concoction, they asked him if he could make some for them too – and that’s how chocri was born.

Within the first year of launching, chocri sold over 120,000 bars of chocolate in Germany alone! The chocolate can be shipped to Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, and soon, the U.K. and U.S.! "We could no longer continue to deny Americans the right to create their own chocolate bars!" quips chocri co-founder Michael Bruck.

The chocri team also firmly believes in ethical chocolate manufacturing, in all stages of production: from how the chocolate is grown, handled, and produced, to how they are sold and packaged. Cacao, the main ingredient in chocolate, is usually grown in third-world countries where unethical working conditions and farming practi- ces are common. The quality of the chocri chocolate bar is reflected not only in its superior taste, but also in its respect for the environment and for fair working conditions. Thus, chocri chocolates are organic, and fair trade certified. In addition, 1% of all sales of the chocolate bars are donated to DIV Kinder, a German-based child welfare organization that helps children in Ivory Coast, the biggest exporter of cacao beans.

In January 2010, chocri will be made available for the U.S. market. Ethical, whimsical, and personal – chocri chocolate bars make the perfect gift for that special someone.

I took the plunge and ordered five bars. It will take a while to get to me. Arrival date is expected around Jan. 21, 2010. But they will keep you posted every step of the way like when your chocolate is being made and then sent.

I created five bars and named them.

Old World: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Anise, Rosemary, Sea Salt, Date Bits and Fig Bits.

Health Bar: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Blueberries, Cranberries, Organic Flax Seeds, Goji Berries and mymuesli - Organic Muesli.

Strawberry Basil Martini: Dark Chocolate (64%) with Strawberry, Ground Chili, Basil and Organic Mint Leaves.

Banana Nut: Milk Chocolate with Banana Chips, Cinnamon and Walnuts.

Pretty: White Chocolate with Strawberry, Papaya Cubes, Flower Mix, Silver Pearls and Macadamia Nuts.


So while this will take a while to be hand made and shipped out, you should really check them out and all the kinds of blends you can create and name yourself. They also have popular flavor blends you can choose from.

As I was blogging about this, I received notice that my bars have been made.

Dear Candice,

Your customized chocolate bars have been made! We will send them on their way to you either today or the next business day. Typically, shipping takes 4-6 days, so please expect your pieces of art to arrive on 21.01.2010.

These are the owners Franz Duge and Michael Bruck.

Images from their website creating custom bars and what the bars look like.

 

 

Their website also has a section for charitable donations. I definitely donated with my purchase of chocolate.

DVI-Kinder

DIV-Kinder (which stands for Deutsch-Ivorische-Verein and means German-Ivory Association) is a Christian organization that cares for the needs of homeless and orphaned children of the Ivory Coast. Their primary interest is to provide the children with shelter and supervision. The organization’s employees work directly in these countries and make sure that donations and supplies from Germany are transferred to the homes for children.

1% of every chocolate bar purchased goes directly to the children of the Ivory Coast. So far, the first major donation project we financed was very successful and you are welcome to read more about this project and future ones on our blog.

A conscious company with customized chocolate market. So far I really like them.

*All images via their website.