I found the Vosges Barcelona Bar at my local specialty chocolate shop and I could not wait to give it a try. Why? Well sea salt plus chocolate is one of my all time favorite chocolate combinations and this one is done particularly well and is available in a .5oz size that is perfect for avoiding over indulgence.
The Chocolate: Vosges Barcelona Bar
Type of Chocolate: Milk chocolate
Cocoa Content: 45% Cacao
Best Eaten: With a high quality vanilla ice cream or alone
Price: $7.50/3 oz bar
The Vosges Barcelona Bar is only one of the wide variety of exotic chocolate bars available from Vosges but it also happens to be one of my all time favorites!
Taste:
The Vosges Barcelona Bar comes inside a silver plastic foil envelope within a cardboard sleeve. The small Vosges box for the .5oz bar is decorated in typical Vosges style with the header and footer bars with the ingredients of the bar depicted on the front of the box. Upon opening the chocolate the initial scent is a sweet milk chocolate but one that is tempered by a lightly salty flavor.
My first bite of the Vosges Barcelona Bar is like revisiting an old friend because this is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. The chocolate is a little too soft upon biting in to it although this certainly changes depending on the room temperature at which it is kept. The milk chocolate is smooth and milky and punctuated with a few generous pieces of hickory smoked almonds. The subtle flavor of the salt within this milk chocolate is what I particularly enjoy with this bar. As though licking salt before drinking a margarita the initial salt flavor precedes the sweet milk chocolate as well as follows it after the sweet milk chocolate has dissipated. The small hickory smoked almond pieces are left on my tongue as the perfectly balanced milk chocolate quickly melts.
The aftertaste of the Vosges Barcelona Bar is one of hickory smoked almonds which is preceded by the savory flavor of the sea salt.
Ingredients:
The ingredients in the Vosges Barcelona Bar include: milk chocolate (sugar, dry whole milk, milk fat, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, soy lecithin – an emulsifier, vanilla) smoked almonds (almonds, peanut oil, natural smoke flavor, salt), sea salt.
The Bottom Line:
The Vosges Barcelona Bar is one of my favorite milk chocolate bars because it is light enough to leave a clean palate. The ingredients come together well to create a well balanced chocolate bar that does not overwhelm with sugary milky flavors. Another plus to this bar is that it is vegetarian friendly and gluten free! Overall this is a perfect example of what milk chocolate should be, a balanced clean flavor that does not taste sickly sweet.
You can purchase Vosges Barcelona Bar from your local Vosges retailer or via Vosges online store!
FTC Disclosure
I found this delicious double chocolate cupcake at my local Starbucks when I was in there yesterday getting my early release sampling of the dark chocolate cherry hot chocolate. Usually I walk right by the Starbucks bakery section because after losing 40lbs and managing to keep that 40lbs off for two years I consume my sweet treats in moderation. It is particularly difficult to maintain self control when standing face to face with a refrigerated case packed full of beautifully decorated goodies as opposed to standing face to face with a single chocolate bar. That said, yesterday I was feeling particularly brave and took a double chocolate cupcake back to my office with me to sample.
The Chocolate: Starbucks Double Chocolate Cupcake
Type of Chocolate: Milk Chocolate frosted Cupcake
Cocoa Content: Unlisted
Best Eaten With: A cold glass of milk
Price: $2.25
It is particularly difficult as a chocoholic to resist a chocolate cupcake frosted with chocolate icing topped with a chocolate candy and after giving in to temptation at my local Starbucks I regret resisting the temptation for so long.
Taste:
My concern when I purchased the Starbucks Double Chocolate Cupcake was that it would be disappointingly sweet or artificially sugary as is the case with a few of their baked treats. I even postponed eating my cupcake until after dinner, keeping it in the refrigerator for a few hours to prevent softening of the icing, for fear of ruining what I hoped the delicious treat would be.
The chocolate disc shaped candy that topped the cake was not overly sweet and eating this piece first I was pleasantly surprised. The first mouthful of cupcake I ate was simply chocolate sponge cake from the base. The cake itself was moist but certainly not as flavorful as I would have liked. Resolving to be a little less compartmentalizing about my food I slipped a sliver of icing on to the fork with my second bite of the sponge cake and found that the delicate cocoa powder taste of the icing meshed well with the sponge cake and made up for the lack of bold flavor in the cake itself. The icing was creamy and sweet without being overpoweringly sweet and the low hum of cocoa powder just melted in my mouth as I quickly finished off half of the cupcake.
The after taste of the Starbucks Double Chocolate Cupcake is a delicate chocolate memory rather than the overly sweetened sickly scream that I experienced with the Madelaine chocolate sitting rabbit yesterday. An almost refreshing hint of cocoa lingered softly on my palate and there was a distinct lack of sugary icing coating in my mouth.
Ingredients:
The ingredients in the Starbucks Double Chocolate Cupcake are somewhat of a mystery but include: milk, egg, soy and wheat.
The Bottom Line:
The Starbucks Double Chocolate Cupcake is pleasantly satisfying and were it not for the mind blowing nutritional data or the significant price tag I truly believe that this surprisingly delicate cupcake could have rated as the first five pod chocolate treat.
You can buy Starbucks bakery products from your local Starbucks found using their store locator here.
FTC Disclosure
I found the Vosges Barcelona Bar at my local specialty chocolate shop and I could not wait to give it a try. Why? Well sea salt plus chocolate is one of my all time favorite chocolate combinations and this one is done particularly well and is available in a .5oz size that is perfect for avoiding over indulgence.
