EatingBritain.com » Sweets

Sprinkle a little Divine inspiration into your Christmas festivities!

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:00:36 +0000

The Divine Christmas product range is continually expanding and this year sees even more exciting developments because Divine is celebrating its 10th anniversary!

All the tempting Divine products are made using only the finest cocoa beans from smallholder farmers in Ghana. 45,000 farmers supply all Divine’s high quality cocoa and because the entire Divine range is Fairtrade certified, they are guaranteed a fairer deal. As the farmers also own a 45% stake in the Divine business this means they contribute to the running of the company and share in the profits. Buying Divine for your loved ones will make everyone’s Christmas merrier!

So to enter the competition to win this gorgeous, guilt-free (well almost!) Advent calendar, just answer the question below and send your details to us via our Contact Page. The competition is open only to UK residents and closes on Friday 28th November 2008.

How old is Divine this year?

Good luck!

To buy Divine advent calendars click here.

To buy Divine gifts click here.

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Indulge yourself this Autumn with Farmhouse Fare

Sarah Cabral — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:00:06 +0000

Farmhouse Fare, the award-winning Lancashire-based pudding company, famous for producing the finest handmade puddings in the UK, have launched a brand new Autumn Range of irresistibly moreish luxury puddings, which are perfect for treating yourself and the family during the colder months, and for first time ever, the range now includes even larger family-sized 700g puds, plus 120g x 2 twin-packs for those indulgent “me-time” moments!

The larger family-sized puddings are designed to satisfy even the most demanding of family broods. The range includes heart-warming Farmhouse Fare favourites Luxury Sticky Toffee Pudding and Luxury Sticky Chocolate Pudding.

Farmhouse Fare’s new exciting Autumn Range also includes delectable delights such as Luxury Hot Jaffa Cake Pudding, a light vanilla sponge with orange zest, topped with a tangy orange conserve and smooth velvet chocolate sauce, Luxury Cherry and Chocolate Crumble, a unique oaty Belgian chocolate crumble boasting intense cherries, Luxury Triple Chocolate Truffle Bread & Butter Pudding, with chunky hand-buttered Brioche, covered in a creamy dark Belgian chocolate custard with a hint of Madagascan vanilla and topped with a melting trio of dark, milk and white chocolate truffles!

The decadence doesn’t stop there! Joining the mouth-watering Autumn Range will be a delicious new recipe and unique new-look Luxury Bread & Butter Pudding, plus the return of Luxury Sticky Carrot Cake Pudding, a moist lightly spiced carrot, date and hazelnut sponge, smothered with a creamy sticky sauce and topped with hazelnuts and Luxury Sticky Gingerbread and Treacle Pudding, a light sponge made with hearty oats and warming ginger, enveloped in a sumptuous treacle sauce.

Now you can also enjoy a Farmhouse Fare luxury pudding whenever the mood strikes you, and not just on those special occasions when you’ve got the whole family round for lunch. The twin-pack puddings are perfect for sharing with a loved one, or even for treating yourself to a little “me-time” whilst the rest of the troops are off doing their own thing.

The twin-pack range includes an exciting new taste sensation Luxury Sticky Chocolate and Orange Pudding, a gorgeous chocolate sponge with orange oil, topped with a creamy dark chocolate and orange sauce. Plus the recognisable Farmhouse Fare flavours Luxury Sticky Carrot Cake Pudding, Luxury Sticky Toffee Pudding, Luxury Sticky Chocolate Pudding, and their organic variations.

As with many Farmhouse Fare puddings, the inspiration for these delectable delights, can be traced back to the hearty and indulgent treats served up at the kitchen table of Janet Anderson, the Grandmother of Farmhouse Fare’s founder, Helen Colley.

Today, Farmhouse Fare dedicates the same care and attention to their puddings as could be found in those created by Granny Anderson for her family many moons ago. Winners of over 50 pudding awards in the last 5 years.

The Farmhouse Fare range also includes seasonal treats (such as Luxury Summer Fruit Pudding and Luxury Strawberries & Cream Bread & Butter Pudding) and there also organic versions available of some of the puddings.

We tried the organic Luxury Sticky Toffee Pudding and Luxury Sticky Chocolate Pudding and they were very nice, although we increased the cooking time by 10 seconds in the microwave as they weren’t quite hot enough. I know it’s National Baking week and I’m supposed to be encouraging everyone to bake at home but there are sometimes when you want chocolate pudding and you want it now! So being able to succumb to temptation in less than a minute is quite nice and very necessary sometimes!

Click here for more information about Farmhouse Fare.

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A decade of Divine

Sarah Cabral — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:00:37 +0000

An opportunity to see a collection of striking images by leading photojournalists giving an insight into the lives of Kuapa Kokoo farmers, and follow the enterprising journey that took Divine from being “a great idea – that could never happen” to an award-winning example of a more equitable trading relationship with smallholder farmers in Africa. Immerse yourself in a delicious world of chocolate and find out how Divine is building a brand for the 21st century.

Images by Aubrey Wade and Kim Naylor

“….We got behind Divine Chocolate and then in 2000 launched a new kids’ brand, Dubble, with them – to create a vehicle to reach young people with the Fairtrade message. We have really valued that relationship and would like to acknowledge the amazing passion, resourcefulness and persistence that has made the company the success it is today….” Richard Curtis, Film-maker and Director of Comic Relief

“We’d walk 500 miles for Divine – but fortunately we can get it in our local shop. Happy Birthday and keep up the good work” The Proclaimers

“Happy 10th birthday Divine!! You grow even more beautiful with age! Congratulations on a wonderfully successful decade. You do such important work, empowering the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo – which is truly heart warming and encouraging. I’m seeing Divine in increasingly more outlets and I smile to myself every time. You will always have my support and long may you continue to grow and expand…” Freema Agyeman, star of Dr Who and Torchwood

“My wishes for Divine for the next ten years is that Divine Chocolate is sold in every part of the world”
Long live Divine! Long Live Fairtrade! Long Live Kuapa Kokoo” Comfort Kumeah, Kuapa Kokoo farmer

A Decade of Divine – Building a brand for the 21st century: the.gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London, SE1 9PH
6th-9th November 2008. Open 11.00am-6.00pm. Admission Free
www.divinechocolate.com, www.coinstreet.org

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Chocolate Crème Brûlée

Sarah Cabral — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:00:41 +0000

All week I have been thinking about how to end my chocolate features in style…I’ve already made a chocolate mousse, experimented with chocolate in chilli con carne and shown how gluten free flour works just as well in brownies, but this occasion deserves a purely indulgent treat and I have chosen one of my favourite desserts – Crème Brûlée.

For me Crème Brûlée is decadence itself, there is a thrill when you smash through the glass-like caramel lid, to be rewarded with unctuous, velvety custard, heaven! Again, the People’s Cookbook website has provided me with an excellent recipe for this classic, with a chocolate twist.

Chocolate Crème Brûlée
4 Servings

Ingredients

425ml double cream
1/4 tspn vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
80g golden caster sugar
50g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C/ gas mark 2.

Mix the vanilla extract in to the cream and bring it up to the boil over a low heat. Turn off and allow to cool slightly.

Add the chocolate to the cream and stir with a balloon whisk until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks and half of the sugar. Whisk in the cream and chocolate mixture. Pour into four ramekins.

Place the ramekins in a roasting tin and half fill with hot water. Place a piece of foil loosely over the tin.

Cook in the oven for approximately 25-30 minutes until firm around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of the remaining sugar over each ramekin so that it thinly covers the surface of the brûlées.

Use a blowtorch or hot grill to caramelise the sugar. Serve.

Oh so very yummy! My grill is not quite hot enough to give that glass-like caramel I wanted but almost…think I may have to invest in a blow torch!

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Wild Cocoa Chocolate from Amazon Rainforest

Sarah Cabral — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:00:40 +0000

A local cooperative takes care of picking and collecting the cocoa fruits, fermentation and drying the cocoa beans. There is a guaranteed price for collection and the processing that is higher than the average earnings potential in this region and sales are guaranteed for the families. The fair pay earned by the pickers (equal to a genuine fair trade relationship) means that the riverside dwellers have an improved quality of life.

The Wild Cocoa de Amazonas range includes 45% cocoa milk chocolate and 70% cocoa dark chocolate. The 45% cocoa bar has a mild tangy, but sweet flavour and smooth texture. The 70% cocoa bar is sweet and mildly spiced, very nice indeed.

Only stocked in small, independent retailers, to get your paws on some, email stockists@sarunds.co.uk with your postcode and they will send you a list of your closest stockists. For more information click www.sarunds.co.uk

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The Chocolate Menu

Sarah Cabral — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:30:08 +0000

In partnership with Divine Chocolate, the Terre à Terre restaurant in Brighton has developed a menu honouring all things chocolaty from chocolate drinks to puddings, to exquisite sweeties to take away.

The menu includes Dark and White Chocolate Martinis, and a Real Chocolate Soup with Cognac Chantilly and a shortbread dipper which we tasted at the outset of the chocolate workshop. The soup was deeply flavourful with a cheeky alcoholic kick from the cognac, very yummy and warming.

We also got to taste the Chocolate Tea – an afternoon tea plate to share, comprising five other dishes from the Chocolate menu:

Divine Chocolate Cookies

Rain Vodka Cherry Chocolate Churros

Chocolate Hazelnut Meringues

Muffin Malt Teaser

Big Chocolate Truffle cake

The array of dishes looked beautiful and we couldn’t help just pausing and taking in the spectacle of them before tucking in. When you put delicious looking food in front of people, they will taste it, add in the factors that it contained an enormous amount of chocolate and it was free, you can understand that it didn’t last more than a few moments. As you can see, I was taking photos and in my distraction missed out on tasting two of the dishes as they were hoovered up before I had a chance! However, the vodka cherries, chocolate and churros combination was heavenly, I could have dunked and dipped my way through dozens of them.

Evidently, the Chocolate Menu is proving very popular at Terre à Terre, so much so that they’re keeping some dishes on the menu after Chocolate Week is over and on into the future, which is very good news because I really want to go back for afternoon tea!

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Chocolate three ways

Sarah Cabral — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:30:12 +0000

Enjoy the ultimate organic chocolate with cocoa nibs in the Organica Food of the Gods organic, fairly traded 100g bar.

Food of the Gods is the ultimate treat for discerning chocolate fans. This smooth, dark 65% cocoa solids chocolate bar contains 10% crunchy cocoa nibs reminiscent of the early days of chocolate, when the Maya priests presented cocoa seeds as offerings to the gods. It is organic, vegan and fairly traded and costs around £2.39 from good independent health food stores and online at www.naturalgrocery.co.uk among other online stockists.

Spread Essential’s organic, fairtrade milk, dark or swirly chocolate spread on your toast.

Essential specialises in fairtrade chocolate and cocoa from sustainable resources. There are three chocolate spreads in the range to choose from: Dark Chocolate Spread is lusciously dark, rich and silky smooth and Vegan Society Accredited. The Hazelnut & Chocolate Spread is a classic combination of hazelnuts (10%) and milk chocolate: smooth and creamy. And the Duo Swirl is a delightful mix of the Hazelnut & Chocolate Spread and a wickedly creamy white chocolate spread. These wonderful spread are available at www.face-of-flowers-organic.co.uk

Relish in the rich, velvety Criterion Ices Award Winning Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream.

This velvety ice cream is made from 100% dark chocolate to give the ultimate depth of flavour to satisfy true chocoholics. This exclusive fresh cream dairy ice is made in the traditional way at the Criterion Ices Suffolk farm creamery. The family-run business uses fresh cream from local herds, British sugar and natural flavours of the highest integrity. Find the Belgian Chocolate dairy ice in 500ml pots priced around £4.50 from delis, speciality and farm shops. For stockists visit www.criterion-ices.co.uk.

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Divine chocolate at Terre à Terre

Sarah Cabral — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:00:41 +0000

The hot chocolate soup on arrival, courtesy of the lovely folk at Terre à Terre, was very appreciated by the 20 odd wind-blown, damp guests. Very happy soup slurping and introductions were followed by a presentation on the history of chocolate, the story of Divine and their relationship with Fairtrade.

5 chocolate facts

The UK eat more chocolate per capita than any other country in the world.
On average, each Britain eats 10kg of chocolate each year. Although, actually more women eat chocolate than men.
Cocoa trees take 5-6 years to mature and have a life expectancy of 25 years.
The husks of the cocoa pod are used for making soap or animal feed, there is no waste in the cocoa making process.
The UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.4 billion a year.

Our host then demonstrated how a microwave can be used to make chocolate ganache, in to which we then dipped strawberries, marshmallows and other lovely dippy things. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to do any ‘hands-on’ chocolate making ourselves but it was a large group and time was restricted, so ho hum.

We learnt how to test chocolate using our 5 senses; looking at the appearance, listening for the ’snap’, smelling the aroma, judging the ‘mouth-feel’ and finally experiencing the taste and flavours using the whole of our mouths, not just our tongues. This testing can be compared with wine or coffee tasting and some experts can identify a cocoa’s source to the very plantation where it was grown.

There were delicious tasters for everyone as well as a goody bag from Divine to go home with and the whole experience was topped off with a delicious chocolate based afternoon tea from Terre à Terre. All in all, a lovely afternoon learning about and celebrating chocolate in all it’s glory!

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Going Loco for Cocoa!

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:00:10 +0000

After the late Autumn sunshine at the weekend, Monday was gloomy but a visit to Cocoa Loco brightened my day in a very delicious way! The first thing I noticed when entering, is the wonderful smell of chocolate which cocoons you and then my eyes rested on the huge range of goodies. The beautifully laid out displays of truffles, cookies, brownies and buttons are so enticing, it’s a chocoholic’s dream.

Cocoa Loco’s lovely Sarah was at hand to explain how the truffle making is a craft in itself, requiring training, experience and flair from the maker (the talented Dawn), to produce these decadent bites of heaven. There are various ways to eat a chocolate truffle, some people pop the whole thing in and munch away but I like to eat half at a time, biting through the crisp shell and savouring the intense flavour as the creamy centre melts on my tongue, filling my whole mouth with chocolaty loveliness- sublime!

Ingredient provenance is of vast importance to the team and Cocoa Loco’s Soil Association certification means that their products are organic, additive free and mindful of the environment at every stage of production – luxury with a clear conscience!

The truffles are just a part of the delights that Cocoa Loco offer, the handmade cookies and brownies really are divine – I bought one of their blondies at our farmers market this weekend and how I managed to get it home before tucking in was pure will power! I love the fact that special diets are taken into account, so even those of us with intolerances and allergies can indulge without having to worry.

As well as the truffles, brownies etc, there are fruits and nuts dipped in luscious chocolate, including mango, Brazil nuts and spicy ginger, which are available in gift jars that look almost too pretty to open! I am trying my hardest not to think about Christmas yet but there were so many gift ideas, I couldn’t help but come away with a milk chocolate ‘12 Days of Christmas’ – an enormous bar divided into scenes from the traditional song, to keep you going for those days after your Advent calendar has run out!

The funky Chocolatiere set for making supreme hot chocolate has already gone on my wish list and hopefully with enough not-so-subtle hints, I’ll be getting one as a pressie this year (Dave are you taking note? Hehe!).

On Friday 17/10/2008, Cocoa Loco are running a chocolate making session, where participants will be able to make their own bars and truffles as well as learn about tempering chocolate and you’ll get to take all your goodies home. Times: 9am-1pm, Cost: £40, To book tel: 01403 865687

Finally, if I haven’t already given you reason enough to go and visit Cocoa Loco this week, Sarah’s son Oscar has come up with a yummy competition where you have to guess the weight of an enormous jar of chocolate buttons and if you’re correct, you get to win the jar and entire contents! So get over there, have a guess, try some truffles and meet the lovely welcoming team from Cocoa Loco and have a fabulous chocolaty time!

Thank you so much to Sarah, Rory, Dawn and Enza for creating award winning chocolate heaven in a little piece of West Sussex.

For more info about Cocoa Loco, check out their website or better still go and see them this week!

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Enjoy chocolate with less calories

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:30:32 +0000

So this year, why not stock-up on Slim.Fast Chocolate Caramel and Chocolate Peanut bars. With less than 100 calories per bar, the rich and chewy bars are a great way to enjoy your cocoa without all the calories.

Slim.Fast chocolate bars are available from all major supermarkets, Boots, Superdrug and independent chemists.

Slim.Fast Chocolate Caramel Bar
99 calories
3.3g fat
49p

Slim.Fast Chocolate Peanut Bar
99 calories
3.3g fat
49p

For stockists and information call the Slim.Fast careline on 0800 587 4471 or visit www.slimfast.co.uk

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