Friday 4 March 2016

Leonidas Dark Chocolate Assortment Part 2

Following on from last weeks review, today's is another 7 chocolates from my Leonidas Dark Chocolate Assortment. 
Confession time, I might be putting the review up a week later but I only managed to hold out 24 hours before going back for more, my excuse - they're made with fresh cream, they might go off if I don't eat them all. Now. 


It was difficult choosing which ones to have, I knew from experience that about 7 would be my limit before they became too rich and the menu provided has literally every single product Leonidas sell, not only what is included in the box in front of me. Donning my tin foil hat, I'm telling you it's a conspiracy, now I can see what else they sell I just know that I'll be buying some more before this box is polished off!! 


Floranger 

This chocolate was nearly identical to the Noir De Noir from last weeks review, right down to the Leonidas moulded in the chocolate. The only difference is the slightly curved edges of the Floranger so a word of advice to anyone with a mixed assortment like this - look very carefully, especially if you have allergies or are avoiding particular ingredients. 


I purposely went for the Floranger first as chocolate orange is far down my list of preferred flavours however this isn't orange flavoured as we know it. The chocolate uses orange blossom which is a far more delicate and subtle flavour, so subtle in fact I could only just about taste it. The ganache feels almost like jelly and the texture paired with the light flavour went well with the rich chocolate. 


Fine Orange

I went for another orange flavoured next, figuring I'd get rid of the ones I least wanted to eat first. This chocolate is one of the best looking in the box and is one of Leonidas "Pearl Truffles". 


The centre is made with chocolate cream and orange flavoured praline and the combination made for a very thick texture. It was softer than I expected, almost runny like a caramel but thick enough to scoop out like a Creme Egg if I'd been feeling particularly skanky! 
The orange flavour is much stronger and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The chocolate has the same rich, dark tones as all the others previously but the white drizzle sweetens things up just a little. Lovely. 


Poesie 

Alcoholic chocolates are another I'm not keen on, preferring to actually drink my booze rather than disguise it in chocolate and keeping with the theme of the previous 2 chocolates the Poesie contains ganache and Cointreau - an orange flavoured liqueur. 


The chocolate shell was noticeably thinner than the last few and snapped away quite easily leaving the gooey sticky centre poking out. Because of the thickness the ganache filling was the stronger flavour and unlike the rum filled chocolate of last week this tasted extremely alcoholic. I didn't notice any specific orange flavour but it had the familiar alcohol taste which normally I'm not keen on but it worked really well with this particular chocolate. Surprisingly nice. 


Palet D'or

Now this is more my type of chocolate, one of the very few in the box containing any colour other than almost black. I had to Google Sao Tomé, apparently it's an African island country who were once a leading cocoa producer. There aren't any details on this particular chocolate but I'll go out on a limb and guess this is where the chocolate used comes from. 


The chocolate shell was a little thicker and I'm unsure if its confirmation bias but the chocolate itself did have a slightly different flavour to the rest. That also could have been down to the thick ganache filling, it's soft and mousse like with a very slight bitter edge to it but the good kind of bitter! 


Louise
The U.K could learn a thing or two from Belgium. This is only the 2nd caramel flavour in my assortment so far and not a hint of salted caramel anywhere! Looking on the menu they have a salty buttered flavour caramel and a green tea flavoured caramed (?!?) But no salted, it's nice to have a break! 


The chocolate was as good as ever but the praline centre was incredible. Quite possibly the most delicious caramel flavour I've eaten in a long time. Caramel centres usually have a more liquid feel to them but this was thick and much more solid. I didn't feel any nut shards but there was a hazelnut flavour blended in that was subtle at first but became stronger. Amazing. 


Mystere 

When I first glanced over the menu I thought this would be a sort of roulette mystery chocolate but it's not.. Leonidas are far too grown up for that! It was the only chocolate so far where the picture on the menu didn't match up to real life, but the reality was much more what I'd expect from the description. 


The photo truly doesn't do justice to how green the pistachio centre is! Initially I couldn't taste the pistachio but my God it didn't matter. The fresh butter cream filling is ridiculously good. I'm beginning to understand why these are so expensive now! It is so soft and light, fluffy with a whipped like texture, the fact a delicious pistachio flavour soon appeared was just a bonus. Delicious. 


Lingot

I was blown away by the espresso flavoured chocolate in last weeks review so I left what I thought would be the best till last this time round. The flavour is coffee rather than espresso so I didn't expect it to be as strong but the first had set the bar high. 


Once again a fresh butter cream is used but it is mixed in with a praliné so it wasn't quite the same as the Mystere filling. It's still heavenly though, in fact I've decided if I'm ever on death row my last meal request is bowls and bowls of fresh butter cream. Sadly this was the first chocolate that I was somewhat disappointed by, it's not that it wasn't good - trust me, it was - it's just that after having a coffee flavoured chocolate that not only met my ridiculously high expectations previously but exceeded them, this was a bit of a damp squib. The coffee flavour just wasn't strong enough for my liking. 

I've not got many left and I'm going to try and take my time with them but I have a feeling they aren't going to last much longer! 















1 comment:

  1. I always go for the orange first and before anyone else can! :D xx

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