One of our favourite chocolatiers is Charbonnel et Walker and we’ve reviewed several of their truffles and chocolates over the past few years. They recently very kindly sent me more of their lovely chocolates to try and I was lucky as I was sent a box I’ve been wanting to try for a while, English Rose & Violet Creams. I adore dark chocolate, fondants and the old fashioned tastes of both roses and violets.
I couldn’t wait to get stuck into these when I got home from the gym. Both boxes were very regal and splendid looking – fit for the Queen, it has the Queens seal of approval after all. As soon as I opened the box and the powerful aroma of rich dark chocolate hit me, I knew I was in for a treat.
On top of each chocolate are hand finished crystallised rose and violet petals. The fondants recipe used is Madame Charbonnel’s original and are infused with attar of Roses and Violets (the essential oil extracted from the petals). As I bit into the violet cream some of the fondant started to come away from the centre. This was a delicious taste of violets and was enrobed in fairly thick dark chocolate, not too much to take the taste away from the violet, just the right balance of each.
The Rose was the same although the fondant seemed just slightly thicker. Rose always reminds me as being rather old fashioned and reminds me of another era. A wonderful taste of Rose, very flowery and a little more ‘perfume’ tasting than the violet which is slightly more subtle.
At first I wasn’t sure sure how many I could eat in one sitting. But now I’m finding myself reaching for another….
Charbonnel’s Fine Milk Chocolate Selection was up next. Now, I’m not a great lover of milk chocolate, I much prefer dark, so it would be interesting to see how I found these.
The selection contained a mixture of marzipan, truffle, fondants etc., something for everyone.
Fraise (strawberry) really tasted very fruity indeed, it was lovely and the fondant was soft and almost runny. As soon as I bit into it it collapsed. Superb.
Truffle Café had a wonderful taste of coffee with a soft truffle centre and a thick chocolate bottom. there was a slight salty taste from the butter.
Falstaff, very much like a marzipan. I could taste the almonds and black cherry quite easily. A very nice combination.
I’ve not yet had my dinner and I’m on the fifth from this box (plus two of each of the Rose and violets!) but I couldn’t resist one more…
Barrel has a lovely taste of both rum and raisin, a smooth dark ganache centre with a couple of raisins hidden within.
I wasn’t disappointed in this box after all, although I do still prefer Charbonnel’s dark chocolates. There are boxes of dark and milk chocolates available. My husband Geoff had a couple and he enjoyed them very much, he prefers milk chocolate anyway and is not a great chocolate eater so it was good to test them out on him. He gave them the thumbs up.
We were also sent boxes of our favourite truffles (although, believe me, they are all delicious), Pink Marc de Champagne and Dusted Strawberry. Both are truly amazing, you’d think you’d died and gone to heaven. The truffle balls melt wonderfully and the soft creamy centres are just divine. We’ve reviewed these and several other Charbonnel truffles like Dark Sea Salt Caramel and Raspberry Marc de Champagne in the past and you can use the search bar on our website to find them.
John Lewis and Waitrose have a selection of Charbonnel et Walker chocolates and truffles and if you happen to be in London they have a couple of shops there and also in Harrods. Failing that, they are available to purchase online.
By the way, I ended up eating both boxes by the evening – oops 😉 (I skipped dinner though).
Living life, loving Charbonnel
A x
[…] It was our wedding anniversary at the weekend so I treated myself to some Charbonnel et Walker Pink Marc de Champagne truffles from Waitrose. A different box than normal but they still tasted […]