Hotel Chocolat’s Tiramisu chocolate selectors

A perfect demonstration of why honesty is always the best policy. 

Hotel Chocolat describes its tiramisu chocolates as being a “coffee-cream-chocolate dessert” with a “tangy” aspect that has been lovingly copied from the original recipes of how to make tiramisu. I was understandably sceptical that this would actually be anywhere near factual given that product descriptions are generally even further removed from the truth than a Facebook conspiracy theory – just look at any Instagram account with over one hundred followers and their death-busting supplements.

I would like to do some reviews of social media’s wonder diet pills and herbal medicines in an eighteen-plus version of Chocolate Dissection, probably just called Dissection in honour of the coroner writing out the many toxic concoctions that led to my death.

Anyway, the tiramisu did indeed taste of coffee; in fact, it was the first impression it gave off as it was guzzled by my mouth. The chocolates were formed from a milk chocolate shell that surrounded the bottom and sides, as well as a centre that was half white chocolate and half dark chocolate cream. Each piece was sprinkled with a few microscopic dark chocolate buttons on top.

The tiramisu chocolates were actually very disciplined in the way that they released their flavours: firstly, the coffee; then came a creamy mixture of the white chocolate and milky base; finally, the tanginess became apparent for a brief period before the chocolates disappeared for ever. The overall sensation was one of quality and perfection and each piece did feel like a delicious coffee and cake condensed into a few moments of bliss.

It is a novel experience for a product to be identical to the way it is described in the marketing buff – and even more exceptional for the reality to be better than the promotional persuasions.

The packet of six tiramisu chocolates forms part of Hotel Chocolat’s selector range, which enables multiple packets of a wide range of chocolate creations to be bought at a discounted price (three packs for £10). The chocolates aren’t designed to be the pick ’n’ mix grab of artificial colours that can be bought for a few pence, they’re meant to be luxurious, which the tiramisus are.

Final review rating: make it a milky one – 5* out of 5.

Review by JAMES LEWIS

Wanderer, wonderer and writer of the Chocolate Dissection blog (which will ideally melt hearts rather than brains). Reliable with sarcasm, less so with a scalpel. Twitter: @IdeasJimbound

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