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Everyone deserves a special treat now and again, and mine today was kindly sent over by Pembrokshire-based chocolatiers, Wickedly Welsh. My goodies included a bouquet of roses (the edible kind rather than the less tasty variety) and sachets of their new hot chocolate flakes.
While chocolate is a great gift for pretty much any occasion, these items seem ideally suited as Valentine's Day gifts, Mother's Day treats, as a romantic gesture (or an apology, perhaps), or simply as a pick-me-up present for yourself. How about running yourself a bubble bath and spending some quiet time relaxing with a good book, a mug of hot chocolate, and some chocolate discs?
Wickedly Welsh Bouquet of Flowers Review
This white hexagonal board box is topped with a clear plastic lid and sealed with a blue card band. The band is embellished with silver-foiled print, adding more impact to this gift. A floral design completes the look.
Described as "a bouquet of flowers", this is Wickedly Welsh's chocolate interpretation of a bouquet of fresh red roses. Using Belgian milk and dark chocolate, each chocolate disc is cast with an imprint of a rose, and is finished with a bronze shimmer.
Handcrafted in Haverfordwest, this 115g box contains 21 chocolate discs. Mine contained 10 milk chocolate roses and 11 dark chocolate roses. Wickedly Welsh reckons that while it's a natural Mother's Day gift, it's also perfect for saying "I love you", "thank you", or "I'm sorry".
On the reverse of the blue band is the list of ingredients and nutritional information.
Wickedly Welsh Bouquet of Flowers ingredients:
Milk chocolate (49%) (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring), dark chocolate (49%) (sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring), colour (iron oxides). Cocoa solids: 53.8% minimum (dark chocolate); 33.6% minimum (milk chocolate). Milk solids: 21.8% minimum (milk chocolate).
On average, the sugar content of these flower-shaped chocolate discs sits at around 51%. Suitable for vegetarians, this product contains milk and soya, and is produced in a factory that handles milk, tree nuts and gluten ingredients.
My box had an exceptionally long life span, with a best before date extending to over a year in the future - not that they hung around that long!
The milk chocolate roses exhibit that classic Belgian chocolate flavour and aroma, with a sweet, creamy, general cocoa flavour with a hint of caramel notes in the background. The dark Belgian chocolate discs have a richer flavour; still sweet but with a more intense general cocoa flavour. It's ever so easy to eat these, and they won't last long. I liked both, but felt the dark chocolate discs had a more chocolaty flavour. My son chomped both down in the blink of an eye, and preferred the milk chocolate discs (but only marginally).
My only suggestion is that it would have been good to see some sort of rose flavour added, either in the medium of a thin fondant centre (picture a rose-flavoured After Eight in a rose shape) or essential oil added to the chocolate itself. I suppose that might dissuade some people from purchasing this, as not everyone loves Turkish Delight chocolates as much as I do, so maybe they are better the way they are? Which would you prefer - plain milk/dark discs or rose-flavoured chocolate discs? Let me know in the comments below.
Wickedly Welsh Bouquet of Flowers Review
RRP: £8.99 | Wickedly Welsh | Shop now
This is a cute little box of rose shaped milk and dark Belgian chocolates. They are sweet, chocolatey, and very easy to eat without realising - so pacing yourself will be hard. This gift box of chocolate flowers would be ideal for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, as a small romantic gesture to a loved one, as an apology, or as a indulgent treat for yourself just because.
Wickedly Welsh Hot Chocolate Sachets Review
What goes well with chocolate? More chocolate! These sachets are from Wickedly Welsh's new hot chocolate collection that launched in 2021.
Sold in packs of five sachets, each 60g pouch contains chocolate flakes made from the same Belgian milk chocolate used in the roses above. So, if you like those, you'll enjoy a mug of Wickedly Welsh Belgian hot chocolate equally as much. It's worth noting that 60g is enough to make two mugs of hot chocolate, so you get ten servings in total.
The film pouches are black with grey Wickedly Welsh text decorating them. A card topper is stapled to the top, with 'milk hot chocolate' printed on the front, and the ingredients and nutritional information on the reverse.
Wickedly Welsh Hot Chocolate Sachets ingredients:
Sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavouring. Cocoa solids: 33.6% minimum; Milk solids: 21.8% minimum.
Sugar levels sit at around 50% for each sachet of chocolate flakes (excluding the milk of your choice).
Now, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but since discovering this hot chocolate gadget, I've become obsessed with hot chocolate. So, I heated up a mug of semi-skimmed milk (around 200ml), and added this together with 30g of the chocolate flakes to my Hot Chocolate Shaker. The flakes are very fine, so it only took a few shakes to make a velvety smooth hot chocolate with a delightfully fluffy head.
The resulting hot chocolate is very sweet, but that was expected given the high sugar content. It's creamy, with the Belgian chocolate's creamy quality enhanced by the dairy milk. The vanilla flavouring comes through much clearer than in the flower discs above, but at the expense of the general chocolatey flavours, which pulls up the rear of the flavour.
Personally, I'd like to see a higher cocoa content chocolate used for the flakes, which would make a richer, more indulgent beverage. Alternatively, the addition of flavours may help here. I expect we'll see the likes of mint, orange and salted caramel enter the range in due course, perhaps alongside milk, dark and white hot chocolate flakes.
On that note, Wickedly Welsh is looking to expand its range of hot chocolate flavours. I'd love to see a dark variant, but what other flavours would you like to see in the range? Let me know in the comments below.
Wickedly Welsh Hot Chocolate Sachets Review
RRP: £6.99 | Wickedly Welsh | Shop now
These two-portion sachets of milk chocolate flakes are ideal for making hot chocolate for two in the blink of an eye. Mix with hot milk and voila! The result is very sweet and creamy, although the cocoa flavour isn't punchy enough for my liking, and it feels dwarfed by the vanilla flavouring.
Where to Buy Online
The Wickedly Welsh Bouquet of Flowers gift box is available on their website here (£8.99). The 300g bundle of hot chocolate sachets is also available direct on their website here (£6.99).
You can also purchase these from the factory shop and café in Withybush Trading Estate, a short hop north from Haverfordwest town centre, near Haverfordwest Airport. If you are visiting Tenby or the Pembrokeshire coast on your holidays, you might enjoy a quick detour through Haverfordwest.
Tell Wickedly Welsh You Saw It On Chocolatier.co.uk!
Please mention Chocolatier.co.uk in your order notes when you place an order with Wickedly Welsh online. It means the world to me, and lets Wickedly Welsh know Chocolatier.co.uk helped you decide to make a purchase today. Thank you for your support
Which occasions would you buy chocolate roses and hot chocolate, and for whom? Let me know in a comment below.
