Product Spotlight: Hotel Chocolat's Pink Champagne Truffles

Something about Hotel Chocolat is their Engaged Ethics program. Here is a quote from their site:

"Prior to our arrival in St Lucia, the outlook for a cocoa farmer wasn?t very bright. After harvesting there was no guaranteed market for all of your crop. After finding out how much of it was going to be bought, you might have to wait 6 months to be paid. As we found out for ourselves, growing cocoa under these conditions is a loss-making enterprise.From our base at Rabot Estate we have reached out to the wider cocoa-growing community with our Engaged Ethics Cocoa Program.- we guarantee we will buy all the quality cocoa that farmers in the program wish to sell.- we pay farmers 40% more than they received previously.- we pay within 1 week.- we buy the cocoa ?wet? i.e not fermented to ensure consistent taste quality and leaving the farmers to concentrate on growing and replanting.- All this above is supported by advice and technical expertise. Phil Buckley (Estate Director at Rabot) has already carried out four workshops to farmer groups throughout St Lucia and continues to do them. The industry model for the global chocolate industry is to buy only the commodity crop from the developing nation and then to add all the chocolate-making value to it back in Europe or the US. Our initiative turns industry practice on its head and creates a more even distribution of benefits from those who love fine chocolate to those who actually grow it.In addition, when our chocolate factory is built at Rabot Estate, further St Lucians will be drawn into the supply chain, adding value locally to the cocoa bean; chocolaterie workers, drivers, tour guides, engineers, support staff, will all be trained and developed. Our other main focus for Engaged Ethics is in Ghana."

A beautiful product, a beautiful company, a beautiful heart. Here is their story:

"The story so far?
All good stories need a bad guy, an antagonist who sparks the action. For us that bad guy was the mediocre quality of chocolate available in UK stores. So, 15 years ago, co-founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris embarked on a journey to do something about it.
Starting as a mail order catalog business, we began making our brand of exclusive chocolates available to UK consumers for the first time. An award-winning website soon followed and in 2004 the first of many Hotel Chocolat retail stores appeared across the UK. The company and their chocolate have a loyal following all over the world, and have established a presence in the United States to better serve the American chocolate connoisseur.
The combination of authentic, premium ingredients with plenty of imagination and flair is something we?re passionately committed to. And it?s a position that we have strengthened by growing our own cocoa at our historic plantation, Rabot Estate in St Lucia. This exciting step allows us to extend our expertise all the way from the bean to the bar ? making a unique connection between you the consumer and the cocoa plantation.
We think that chocolate should be exciting, whether you?re having some quiet me-time, or making someone?s day with a gift. For us, chocolate made with passion and imagination is more than just chocolate ? it?s a state of mind, a place, a feeling that can take you on a journey. Where you go is entirely up to you?"

So what does a Pink Champagne Truffle taste like? First you the scent is a glorious combination of fruity chocolatyness (made up the word). The outside is pink with a firmness as you bite into it. The inside is smooth and dark. With complex flavors of chocolate and champagne....mmmm. My husband who doesn't like chocolate loved it. He said..this is different..not typical chocolate. Even the packaging is superior. So then I thought..do I sit around and eat truffles all day? Nah. That's not me. I made a cupcake to highlight the truffles subtleties. I made Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream. The truffle sat right in the middle of the cupcake. What a wonderful surprise! I was playing on the colors of the packaging. The vanilla bean is black, the frosting pink, and the cupcake liner is white. When my stepson Joshua got to the middle of the cupcake with the truffle...he went.."Yeah..oh yeah...(mouth full) that is good!"

I want to thank JR Mushrooms and Specialties for the delightful Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans that they sent me to test out. I wish you could have smelled my kitchen...oh my goodness..pure heaven.

Here is the requirement. Go to www.hotelchocolat.com and sign up for their free email newsletter. I promise you won't regret it! Come back here and tell me you did it. Now I am trusting you...scout's honor right? If you want an extra entry just tell me which of their products you wouldn't mind trying out.

Here are the recipes:

Vanilla Buttercream by Fields of Cake

1/2 lb. unsalted butter (softened)

1 stick salted butter (softened)

1/2 pkg. White Chocolate instant pudding mix (I used Vanilla)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp. Vanilla extract

1/2 cup (or more to suit your tastes) powdered sugar

In mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth and silky. Turn the speed to low and add the pudding mix, when it is all incorporated, slowly add the cream, a little at a time. When fully incorporated bring speed up to high and beat for 5-7 minutes. Turn speed back down to low and add powdered sugar by Tbsp., tasting along the way. When it is sweet to your taste, beat again at high speed for a good 5 minutes to really break down any graininess that you might get from the powdered sugar. Bring back down to low speed and beat for a while that way to get rid of air bubbles.

Vanilla Butter and Cream Cake Batter By Nosheteria

2 1/2 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour

1 cup bleached cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

seed scrapings from a plump vanilla bean

2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar

2 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

5 large eggs

1 cup cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the inside of a plain 10 inch tube pan with shortening. Line the bottom of pan with a circle of parchment paper, cut to fit, and grease the paper. Dust the inside of the pan with flour, and set aside.Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.Cream the butter and shortening in an electric mixer, on moderate speed, for 4 minutes. Blend in the seed scrapings from the vanilla bean. Add the superfine sugar, in 3 additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Blend in the extracts. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each egg is added.On low speed, add the sifted mixture in 3 additions with the cream in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the batter even-textured. The batter should be smooth and creamy.Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan. Gently shake the pan from side to side to even out mixture. Bake the cake for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until cake has risen, set, and a wooden toothpick withdraws clean when inserted.Let the cake stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Invert the cake, remove pan and paper, and place an additional sheet of waxed paper under the rack to catch any drips of glaze.