Hotel Chocolat - The Classic Christmas Gift Basket

Like it or not Christmas fever is in full swing and I couldn't have felt more festive when this Christmas hamper from Hotel Chocolat popped through my door. 

Every year Hotel Chocolat bring out a magical Christmas range with exciting new flavours, so I was more than happy to try some of the new products they've created. This hamper is £35 and has a huge range of festive flavored chocolates, so it's perfect if you're buying for a family, a chocaholic or someone you really love! Inside the hamper you'll find cinnamon almonds, tiddly reindeer, orange nice spice puddles, chocolate mince pies (I was most excited by these!) and winter liquid chocolat. The whole hamper worked really well together with lot's of different Christmas flavours like cinnamon, orange and mixed spice. The best thing about these chocolates is that you know they're all vegetarian (everything is labeled) and the chocolate is sourced and made ethically (They even have their own cocoa plantation!). They also have some AMAZING vegan chocolates which I'll put in another post.

Cinnamon Almonds:

These are just perfect for christmas, they reminded me of getting hot caramlised nuts from christmas markets, but even better because they're covered in chocolate. They're wrapped in a 40% cocoa coating which makes them not too sweet but full of flavour. Be warned they are very addictive, mine disappeared very fast!

Tiddly Reindeer:

These cute little reindeer are just your standard 40% milk chocolate Christmas shapes, but they make a nice break from the spices in the other products. If you are buying this for a family, then these are the ones to give to the kids while the grown ups eat all the exciting chocolates.


Orange Nice Spice Puddles:

People are always so put off by chocolate and chili, but these are the perfect remedy for a cold wintery day. The main flavour that comes through is the orange with just a hint of warming spice. I slyly fed them to my boyfriend the other day and even he liked them (he doesn't like spice, fruit or strange flavours so thats saying something).

Winter Liquid Chocolat:

This has pretty much the same flavour notes as the orange nice spice puddles but in a delicious hot chocolate. I love the liquid chocolat range because it's made with 100% yummy chocolate, no weird powder here. It does take a little bit longer to make than conventional hot chocolate (and by that I mean about 5 minutes) but it is so worth it for the proper chocolate taste. Perfect after a long cold day!


Alternative Mince Pies:

I thought I'd save the best till last here! When I saw these on the website I got a bit over excited, but in all fairness they are praline and salted caramel chocolate mince pies (what's not to like there). They lived up to all my expectations, the salted caramel was smooth and topped with a lovely soft praline. Just right for a little christmas treat.



If you've decided that you want to buy someone this wonderful hamper you can buy it here!

And if you want to search for even more lovely chocolate gifts you can find them here!

P.s although I was sent this hamper it didn't affect my review! I heart Hotel Chocolat anyway :)

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Southbank Chocolate Festival

My first ever food related post was about the Southbank Chocolate Festival last year, so I thought it was only right to carry on the tradition and go again this year. I stayed with my vegan friend Emma at her house in Greenwich and promised to make her a nice vegan meal, we ended up having this...

What a good friend I am! But on to the Chocolate festival, last year was all about finding raw and interesting chocolates. This year though was all about indulgence, I decided that I could buy 3 things for myself (if I could I would have brought loads!) I ended up buying the Mocha Madness from Lucky's, Salted Caramel lollys from Paul Wayne Gregory (the guy at the stall said they we're the best confectionary in the UK, and since trying one of the lollys I agree) and a Raspberry and a Chocolate beer from Meantime. I know there's 5 things in the picture, but I'm counting the beers as 1, and the oreo cheesecake was for my boyfriend so it doesn't count :)

Every stall at the festival had something different and even though its small there is a lot to see! My favourites pretty much remain the same and for the same reasons, interesting products, good quality chocolate and attractive packaging! Even though I didn't buy from two of them, my favourite stalls were Lucky's

Artisan Du Chocolat

I finally got to try their tobacco chocolate and it was as good as I'd imagined, sweet with an unusual aftertaste!

and Rococco

So all in all it was an amazing day, the sun was shining and not only did I get to look at chocolate for most of the day but we also had a really nice walk along the Thames. As well as food and cocktails in Las Igunas! I will definitely have to carry on the tradition and go again next year. (sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, I couldn't be bothered to lug my slr around!)

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National Cupcake Week!

Horay! A whole week to celebrate the cupcake. Although I have been making the great British fairy cake since I was little, their American sister the cupcake is much more impressive. Made in muffin cases and with mounds of frosting, I can't resist. And because I'm away for National Cupcake Week I thought I'd put my favorite recipe up now:

Caramel Kiss Mix Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cake Mixture:

200g Sugar

200g Butter

200g Flour

50g Cocoa Powder

1tsp Vanilla Essence

frosting:

100g Butter

100g Icing sugar

50g Dark chocolate (I used 70%)

50g Caramel chocolate (I used Hotel Chocolat's caramel kiss mix)

Makes 12

Place 12 large cupcake cases in to a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 200˚c. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, and then the flour, cocoa powder and vanilla extract until combined. Try not to mix too much or the cakes wont rise! Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. When the cakes are done, pop them on to a wire rack to cool and make the frosting.

To make the frosting melt the chocolate in two separate bain maries and leave to cool. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy and divide in half in to two separate bowls. Fold in the two melted chocolates so that you have chocolate fudge and caramel frostings. Pipe the frostings on in alternate swirls and sprinkle Liquid Chocolat or grated chocolate flakes on top!

Enjoy!

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Chocolate Festival

As much as I hate to admit it, I love chocolate. Ever since I started work in Hotel Chocolat I have been obsessed, so I was extremely happy to hear there was a whole festival devoted to it at the Southbank center in London. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. There were loads of different stalls exhibiting a wide range of magical cocoa in different forms (including the lovely people who employ me). There was a lot of dairy free chocolate such as Roar Chocolate and also The Chocolate Heart. There was the more traditional chocolates from chocolatiers like Rococo who had an amazing display of painted Easter eggs:

and William Curley who had a sea salt caramel bar: That if it wasn't the end of term and I wasn’t already well into my overdraft I would have liked to buy!

I did how ever buy a few truffles, some vegan ones from The Chocolate Heart that were really smooth considering they didn’t contain any dairy. And also some from a stall I have completely forgotten the name of, but had some interesting flavours, like Rosemary and Armagnac. I asked the man to pick me five interesting flavours and hopefully I can work out what they are later. Although I missed the chocolate making demonstrations, Choc Chick were showing off their Chock Chick kit for making your own chocolate and demonstrating how to use it.

You could also enjoy chocolate in a more unconventional way; there was a chilli and chocolate stall, where you could enjoy cocoa infused chilli nachos and burritos. I tried a tiny veggie chilli sample, and it was definitely different, really spicy with the bitter kick from the cocoa. So it’s safe to say the chocolate obsession has been fed even more.

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