Sea Salted Caramel Bar - Paul A Young

An early raid on Easter chocolates was usurped by a bar of Sea Salted Caramel from Paul. A. Young. Phew...that was a close one!

For those of you who are new to the world of chocolate, Paul.A.Young, is a confectionary wizard when it comes to making fine chocolates with fresh ingredients. You can find PAY stores in Wardour Street, Camden Passage, The Royal Exchange and Heals. His empire is certainly expanding! I recently discovered that you can buy some of his chocolates online at Craved. 

You can find such flavours

including Sourdough; Chilli and that old favourite you either love it or hate it, marmite. Not surprisingly this rather edgy marmite bar is on offer at £3.50 reduced from £5.90.

Paul and his team of apprentice wizards, that's certainly an apprenticeship to end all apprenticeships if they offer such things, make all their chocolate delights without the use of complicated tempering machinery preferring the coolness of marble to facilitate the magical process.

As you would expect, the chocolate, a 64% Madagascan dark chocolate, is delicious,  delivering a woody and fruity almost zesty aroma.
 

50g - Sea Salted Caramel Bar

The soft caramel has been sandwiched in between two pieces of chocolate which have been cleverly glued back together. Maldon sea salt has been combined with the sweet caramel to provide a little astringency;  very subtle. This particular bar won Gold at the International Chocolate Awards European Semi-Final. You can now learn how to make this bar by joining one of his workshops,  but hurry as these events are selling out fast.

Little effort or for that matter expense has been made in regards to packaging. A simple piece of fairly thick clear plastic held together with two labels and a purple bow. Paul makes it clear he wants his chocolate to do all the talking. Substance over style. 

Nowadays caramel and sea salt is probably the most popular flavour in the world and can now be found in absolutely anything. I enjoyed this bar which is really well balanced but to be honest I prefer a plain bar rather than the squidgy mix.

Chocolate Easter Loaf

This particular recipe was adapted from a Mowielicious recipe which was in turn adapted from a Nigel Slater dish. Be warned, you'll require several bowls and probably a spare pair of hands to assist with the various tasks. They can also help with the washing up! 

Ingredients

For the loaf

200g dark chocolate (64%)
4 tbsp hot espresso
200g butter, cubed
135g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder
5 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
250g cooked and peeled beetroot, pureed

For the chocolate butter cream

150g icing sugar
75g butter, softened
25g cocoa powder
50ml double cream

For the chocolate icing

100g dark chocolate (64%)
2 tbsp golden syrup
100 ml double cream

Method

Heat the oven to 160C/Fan/Gas 4. Grease and line two cake tins with baking paper. I used two 3 lb loaf tins - alternatively you can use two 20cm round cake tins. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water, ensuring the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Pour the espresso into the melted chocolate, stir, then add the cubes of butter and continue stirring until melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Sift the flour with baking powder and cocoa. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then add the sugar and fold into the egg whites. Pour the egg yolks and beetroot into the chocolate mixture and carefully fold in. Add the egg white mixture and fold in. Add the flour mixture and fold until just incorporated. Pour into the prepared cake tins, level and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

For the butter-cream, sift the cocoa with the icing sugar and mix with the butter until crumbly. Add the double cream and mix until incorporated. Smooth this onto the top of one cake and cover with the other cake. 

For the icing, heat the chocolate with the cream and syrup over a low heat, stirring continuously until thick and glossy. Pour over the cake, decorate as desired and serve.

I used dark chocolate truffles and white chocolate bunnies for the Easter season.

Bunnies and Truffles Optional

The cake is light and moist and trust me, you will only need a small piece!

Dark Chocolate, Banana and Stem Ginger Cake

The Leather Bottle, Pleshey. A quaint pub (with real leather bottles in the window) in the centre of this extremely attractive Essex village which boasts a castle, well part of a castle, two pubs and a church. This was our choice for a quick pint and some well earned calories after speeding round the country lanes on our bicycles. A tiny snug bar with open fire was very welcoming after spending an hour in the garden waiting for the sun to shine.  A good selction of bitters including beers from the Black Sheep Brewery, the Black Sheep bitter was very good, almost comparable to Adnams.  However, the kitchen seemed to be on a go slow as we had to wait over an hour for a toasted cheese sandwich! The owner was very apologetic. Toasted sandwiches and chips hit the spot when they finally arrived! Well worth a visit but they need to resolve the problem in the kitchen!

Ok, let's bake a cake!

This is my version of a Good Food recipe I discovered a few days ago. I was tempted to use a 100% dark chocolate from Willies Cacoa that I purchased recently but chickened out and going for a 64% dark chocolate instead.

Ingredients

100g plain chocolate - I used a 64% dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter, softened
175g gold caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
175g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
3 large bananas, peeled and diced
2 pieces of stem ginger (60g)
A pinch of salt (optional)

Topping

25g unsalted butter
2 generous tbsp plain flour
1 level tbsp demerara sugar
2 tbsp pecans, chopped

Chocolate, Banana and Ginger Cake

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160C Fan. Butter and line the bases of a 30CM loaf tin with baking parchment. Start by making the topping, rub the butter into the flour, then mix the demerara sugar and chopped pecans. Melt the chocolate in a small glass bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth and remove from heat.
2. Cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg, beating well between each addition. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold in. Add the sliced (don't mash it) banana and stem ginger and chocolate and mix well. Christine's Top tip - Don't slice up the banana until you're ready to use it othewise it will go black.
3. Pour the mixture into the tin and add the topping gently pressing it into the top of the mixture to ensure some of it sticks.
4. Bake for about 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes in the tin then turn on to a rack to allow to cool completely.

The topping provides an extra crunchy dimension with the stem ginger providing some additional zing! Overall a delicious chocolate cake, can be served warm or cold.

Ampamakia - Valrhona

Dentures flossed, mouth cleansed of all gunk, teeth adequately brushed for no more than two minutes and sluiced out with cold, refreshing mountain water and we're ready to go!  Well, mountain water might be verging on the ridiculous but I do take the job of chocolate tasting very seriously and preparation is one important aspect in the process.  It's almost a sport.  Perhaps, there is still time for 'chocolate tasting' to be submitted as a competition for London 2012?  I'm sure Lord Coe could squeeze in a little game of chocolate tasting, perhaps between beach volley ball and weight lifting!  It is ironic to think that a sporting competition, whose athletes train for years and religiously count every calorie, vitamin and mineral that might negate their way through their digestive systems are being supported by the likes of Cadbury, Coca Cola and MacDonald's.  What I really want to know is what will happen with all the BMW's once the games are over? Perhaps, Top Gear can investigate that one. Ok, let's move on from Cadbury's to Valrhona, two names not usually found in the same sentence.


So far this year I've been lucky enough (thank you Santa) to have tasted and enjoyed two bars from Valrhona, including Gran Couva and El Pedregal both delicious but with totally different flavours and characteristics even though they have the same cocoa content, 64%.  The third and final bar is from Madagascar, an estate grown dark chocolate.  Madagascar, an island situated in the Indian Ocean, produces fine quality cocoa beans but only in very small amounts, maybe less than 0.5 per cent of world production.  The Ampamakia Plantation, lies in the heart of the Sambirano river valley, a fertile and lush area where Trinitario and Criollo cocoa beans have been cultivated for more than 100 years.

Ampamakia 64%

The Chocolate:  In case anybody is wondering, I did get rid of the minty fresh taste before attacking this bar. The aroma is full of fruity acidity with a hint of smokiness in the background. It is also a lot lighter in colour in comparison to the El Pedregal. Unfortunately I ate all the Gran Couva! 

The actual fruitiness takes a moment or to come through as the chocolate melts. There is a real 'zest' and delightful 'tang' to this chocolate especially in comparison to the El Pedregal. 


A really well presented bar that scores a 9 from the Essex judge! Out of the three bars I tasted this is possibly my favourite.  Frustratingly, I now have to wait until Christmas for my next tasting of Valrhona ;(. This bar (75g) is priced at £4.75 and can be purchased from The Chocolate Trading Company. 


Enjoy!

El Pedregal - Valrhona

Chocolate is not a good choice of subject to talk about at this time of year.  Everybody is fed up either because they've already broken their impossible New Year Resolutions or because they've just jumped on the scales only to discover that somehow they've managed to ingest the weight of a small child over the Christmas period, myself included! 


Unfortunately, I've just finished working my way through a huge selection box of milk chocolate naughtiness.  Well, you've got to give into temptation now and again!  So, a piece of dark chocolate is required to put me back on that righteous path to saintliness!  So, what could be better than starting the New Year with a rare Porcelana from Venezuela, produced by Valrhona! 

El Pedregal - Venezuela

Valrhona - a name that conjours up 'quality'. They are obsessive about making a limited range of products and in comparison to the industrial giants of chocolate, only make a few thousand tons of chocolate each year. It is a little known fact that Valrhona is a subsidiary of Bongrain, a French food conglomerate that is worth billions. If you want to learn more about Valrhona I suggest you buy, Chocolate - A bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light by Mort Rosenblum available on Amazon.

The Chocolate:  This particular bar is made from very special, rare, Porcelana cocoa, a form of Criollo cocoa.  An almost extinct type of cocoa known for its great flavours. 

In comparison to the Gran Couva that I tried recently it has a much fruitier taste and acidity that bounces off your tongue. It is also very creamy in texture and has a liquorice hint at the end, not that I could taste it.  The flavour is far more intense and long lasting than the Gran Couva which was fairly 'earthy' in flavour and rather short lived.  

Overall a delicious bar of chocolate beating the Gran Couva by a country mile! I award this bar 9/10. You'll have to save your pennies though as this bar is £5.95 for 75g. 

                                                                           

                                                                                       

                                                               

                                                        

                                

Strong Coffee

If you still have room for another mince pie then you've obviously been cheating!  Whilst other members of your family have been fighting their way though slices of turkey, mounds of Christmas pudding and bottomless lakes of festive mulled wine you've been sitting on the sidelines feeding your pet dog the leftover scraps or possibly whole meals. Well, if you do have a jar of mincemeat lounging in the cupboard and you would rather use it now rather than in another twelve months then I suggest you make your next batch of mince pies with dark chocolate and pecans, (As seen on The One Show).  The pecans provide extra crunch and dark chocolate adds depth to the flavour. Based on a dozen mince pies I used a handful of dark chocolate (about 4oz) and pecans in this recipe.


I was very fortunate to receive three different Valrhona chocolate bars from Father Christmas this year. However, they're for later and before we get to sample them I have another offering from Zotter to review, Strong Coffee "IN & OUT".  Not something I'm really looking forward to tasting!

This is another example of Zotter's 'hand-scooped' bars. 
To quote from their literature. "Owing to the wonderful compositions of taste and their unique design the hand-scooped chocolates have turned into a cult. Seductive individual layers piled up, coated with homemade chocolate couverture which harmonizes with the filling and constantly merges into an impressive experience of taste. With the new "In & Out" chocolates Zotter has managed to exceed this incredible experience of taste. Using a special procedure at our factory we manufacture nut and fruit couvertures which result in increased taste and refinement". 


The Chocolate:  Coffee couverture - coffee and chocolate form part of the Viennese way of life.  A noble bitter chocolate with a creamy filling of strong Fair Trade coffee, milk and whisky.  Surrounded by Zotter's new coffee chocolate: freshly ground coffee in a combination with white chocolate uniting a tender melt and coffee aroma!

Surprise, surprise it smells of coffee!  It certainly lives up to its name and the coffee aroma is very strong but what is a surprise is that the coffee flavour doesn't over power the taste buds.  The whisky comes through as the creamy centre melts leaving a sweet, cold cup of coffee experience which isn't as unpleasant as it sounds. However, the taste of coffee lingers in the background for a while.  Essentially this is a coffee and whisky liqueur chocolate in a bar. You're either going to like or hate this bar and whilst I enjoyed the different flavours it's not a bar I'll be buying again but don't let me put you off!  Ideal for the coffee lover in your family!  I tried a small sample on a friend and they literally swooned over it! 


Overall I give this 6/10 for its clever use of flavours and 9/10 for packaging! You can buy this bar from Planet Organic, just click here.

Dark Chocolate with Rose - Peru 64%

Dark chocolate with rose by Thorntons. I can't believe I'm going to eat this as it sounds a little suspect to me. It must be something to do with all that sun. I'm exhausted and my thighs are all of a quiver after a workout in the garden today. Sunburn bad. Shaking thighs good as it means muscles are toning up ready for my part in Baywatch. I live in hope! Thank god I'm sitting down for a while but I might not be able to walk properly for a week.

I did a quick search on Google and found several interesting 'rose' type chocolate bars and their's me thinking this flavour had gone out of fashion. Fortnum and Masons - Rose and Violet Dark Chocolate, that's why all those protesters were there, getting a fix of rose and violet.  Paul A Young has even produced a Rose and Violet bar, see the post by Chocolate Reviews. Rococo Chocolates even have one, Dark Chocolate Floral Bar with Rose, the packaging is spectacular. And not forgetting Amelia Rope's, Pale Rose Edition 01. Are these bars really that popular though? I can feel a comparison coming on!

Apparently Rose oil has numerous health benefits and allegedly it will boost self esteem, hope and mental strength efficiently fighting depression. As you can see this is a limited edition bar celebrating 100 years of making chocolate. Thorntons are bringing back British flavours and rose is their first one. The culinary use of flowers in cooking dates back thousands of years and the Romans used mallow, rose and violet extensively in their cooking.

For me any dark chocolate from Peru is good and a 64% provides just enough bitterness without being too strong. A slightly bitter cocoa is the first aroma coming from this bar with a minimal floral hint is wafting about in the background. The crystallised rose petals are crushed and spread throughout the bar. But you wouldn't know it. For all I know they could have been lumps of sugar. Had I tasted this bar blind I wouldn't have known it was crystallised rose they had been using. Which is disappointing.


The dark chocolate is fairly reasonable but the fragrance of the rose is not coming through and therefore this only scores 5/10. Shame. Three bars for £5.00, good value.