The Sunday Chocolate Review - Montezuma's Black Forest Gateau

Hello there!

Another Sunday.....another chocolate review!

Last week we took you to New York, this week we're heading to Germany for Montezuma's Black Forest Gateau pudding bar! Black Forest Gateau originated in Germany (and the real deal is so so good), but became popular in Britain in the 1970s when families would enjoy a pudding of chocolate sponge, cherries and lashings of whipped cream. Montezuma celebrates this pudding within their Great British pudding bars (which also includes Eton Mess and Treacle Tart).

Unlike Godiva who we featured last week, Montezuma is a relatively new chocolate brand, starting its production in 2000. This is a small British family business of self-taught chocolatiers, who wanted to reinvigorate the British chocolate making industry. 

This chocolate bar is nice and simple and features only two things......dark chocolate and cherries! Two of my favourite things - I love making cakes inspired by black forest gateau so I was really looking forward to trying to this bar!

Slightly more robust than the Godiva chocolate from last week, this chocolate had a really good snap when you tried to break it.  I was pleased to see the cherries throughout the bar - this was both aesthetically pleasing (the pink against the dark chocolate) and also meant that the bar had a good chance of tasting of cherries!

The dark chocolate is rich and bold, something I really like in a dark chocolate and its really well balanced with the cherry flavour. Its quite reminiscent of black forest gateau….the only thing missing is the cream! The cherry flavour is authentic and doesn't taste artificial. 

All in all I really enjoyed this bar of chocolate and would probably by it again. I found this bar in the sweet aisle of my local supermarket, it was on offer at about £2.00 for the bar. Because its a rich chocolate you can't gobble lots in one sitting (I tried) and therefore it will last you a little while (unless you are sharing....but I wouldn't recommend that!).

Have you tried this chocolate bar or any of the others in the pudding range? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for popping by today and don't forget to pop back next Sunday for another chocolate review!

Rachel 

The Sunday Chocolate Review - Godiva New York

Hello there,

Hope you've had a tea-riffic day!

We've decided to start a new feature on the blog.....one that is very dear to my heart! If you didn't already know I'm a bit of a chocolate fiend....I love the stuff, but I can be a bit picky (for example I hate the chocolate that Easter eggs are made from). There are so many different varieties and flavours of chocolate available now that it can be hard to know what to try next.....so we're taking the hard work out of it for you....any excuse to try new chocolates!

Our first feature is the limited edition chocolate from Godiva - their New York Apple and Salted Caramel chocolate. This is a blend of milk chocolate, apple and salted caramel and is supposed to take you on a flavour journey to America's Big Apple!

If you haven't heard of them before, Godiva are a luxury Belgian chocolate brand that has been making chocolate since 1926 (so they must be pretty good by now!). They now have stores in more than 80 countries worldwide and are quite famous for their fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate (which I am yet to try).

First off....the packaging is so pretty, both inside and out! If you're a sucker for packing like I am, then you will find this very pleasing! The illustrations are very sweet. They also have a London version, which is inspired by Eton Mess.....I've opted not to try that one as it has white chocolate as a base which I'm not really a fan of. 

The gold foil makes this feel like a luxurious bar of chocolate. However, I didn't have to go into a Godiva store to buy it.....I found it in the sweet aisle of my local supermarket, it cost me just over £2.00.

This chocolate bar includes Godiva's milk chocolate, apple pieces, caramel pieces and additional apple flavourings. The milk chocolate is so smooth and creamy, a really lovely chocolate....it's blended with pieces of salted caramel which are quite chunky in size and what can only be described as a bizarre apple flavour.

Its definitely an apple flavour, reminiscent of sharp green apples, but possibly slightly artificial. Its not unpleasant and it blends well with the chocolate and caramel flavours, but its just a bit bizarre!

As you can see from the photo the chocolate bar itself is slim and delicate and the fillings a good size - its nice to see good pieces of caramel throughout the bar!

Another slightly bizarre point is as you eat the chocolate, the apple pieces rehydrate themselves and you find yourself with real apple in your mouth after the chocolate has vanished.....do you think this counts as one of my five a day??

All in all a pleasant bar of chocolate, but it didn't leave me jumping for joy nor did it really remind me of my trip to New York. I'd eat it again if someone gave it to me, but probably wouldn't rush out to buy it!

Have you tried this chocolate bar - what did you think of it, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for popping by today, pop back next Sunday for another chocolate review!

Rachel 

Time for.....some afternoon tea chocolates!

Hello there!

Welcome back to Tea With me and Friends - we hope you're well today.

Recently I spotted a box of chocolates in Marks and Spencers that caught my attention.....

Yes, it's a box of chocolates inspired by classic British desserts and afternoon tea! As you can imagine I decided quite quickly that I needed to sample a box.....purely for research purposes!

 

The selection includes eight different chocolates, covering white, milk and dark chocolate. With inspiration for the fillings coming from both traditional puddings such as jam roly poly pudding and banoffee pie, and afternoon tea treats like bakewell tart and strawberries and cream.

Take a look at the menu....

When I first opened the box the smell of chocolate was so strong it made my mouth water - always a good sign! But would it be all style and no substance for these chocolates?

As I have a really sweet tooth and usually like most chocolates I thought I would recruit someone else (with a slightly less sweet tooth) to help give a more balanced view. My partner in crime for this review is my boyfriend Joe - he loves a cup of tea and his favourite cake is plain vanilla.....he puts jam on his scones before cream, but I suppose I'll let that slide for now. 

Joe declared that the chocolates looked posh when he first saw them (he's not usually a fan of fancy chocolates), but when he looked at the menu he seemed a bit more excited. 

He decided to try the banoffee pie chocolate first....

As you can see the chocolate has a thick milk chocolate shell, with a soft caramel and banana filling. Joe enjoyed the chocolate and described it as liquid banoffee pie. Not so good was the sticky toffee pudding, which featured a toffee mousse in a milk chocolate case. Although there was a toffee flavour, it wasn't particularly reminiscent of a real sticky toffee pud which was a bit disappointing. The mousse was also more like a heavy ganache.

However, overall Joe thought that if you like chocolates and you like puddings, you're probably going to like these chocolates!

I was tempted by the strawberries and cream chocolate and the bakewell tart....

I'm not normally a white chocolate fan, but in this chocolate it complemented the strawberry and cream ganache filling. Again, there is a good shell of chocolate encasing the filling. It was quite a rich chocolate....but I could imagine myself enjoying a couple of these with a glass of prosecco!

The bakewell tart chocolate had a weird texture which I couldn't quite put my finger on. However the flavour of almonds and cherries was very delicate and well balanced with the milk chocolate.

Overall this was a good box of chocolates, with a variety of different fillings. They would probably make a nice end to a meal at home with friends if you didn't fancy making pudding.....or you could keep them to yourself and just gobble them down with a cup of tea (I won't tell anyone I promise!).

Have you tried any afternoon tea inspired chocolate that we should try? 

We'd love to hear your recommendations!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Joe