Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Hotel Chocolat: Summer Collection, Part 2

Though yesterday sort of marked the end of summer in the States, I still have more chocolate from that Hotel Chocolat Summer Desserts Collection. That said, neither of them seemed too summery to me, so they seem reasonable to eat year-round.

As if that would stop me anyway. Especially when coconut is involved, as it is in the coconut bombe.

This piece unsurprisingly has a distinct coconut aroma. The coconut coating the truffle is a bit raw and could be better toasted.

The interior is buttery, with a dominant coconut flavor and a caramel undertone. The coconut flavor is neither artificial nor overpowering, which was quite nice, but the interior filling was too weak for the thick shell. I’ve found this with many Hotel Chocolat truffles, and think that their treats are much better with softer and thinner shells. It’s unfortunate, because many of the thick-shelled creations are quite tasty, just difficult to enjoy without crumbling the entire truffle because of the texture mismatching.

One more truffle variety remained in the box: the Mousse au Chocolat.

The truffle has a pleasing creamy aroma, and the couverture has a nice melt with a caramel flavor featuring a subtle banana undertone.

The smooth, buttery interior also features a caramel flavor with a hint of coffee. As with the coconut bombe, the interior doesn’t meld to the couverture very well because of the thick shell; my other nit with the interior is that it does not have a mousse-like quality – it’s simply a buttery ganache. This is fine, but the truffles should not be billed as a mousse chocolate unless the interior is fluffy and mousse-like.

What do you think a mousse-chocolate should be like?

2 comments:

  1. Yeah that truffle seems to fail a bit for mousse-like qualities.

    It's odd that these truffles don't seem that summery... it seems like they were playing it pretty safe with the flavors.

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  2. I feel exactly the same about the mousse au chocolat, always a big disappointment for me!

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