Chocolate fantasies

Image copyrighted to Sunith Shyam

 

 

I am a raging chocoholic. It all started during my childhood. My dad who was working in Bahrain when I was growing up in Kerala used to follow the normal Gulf return routine and bring back cartons of chocolate. It also didn’t hurt that my dad’s cousin who stayed in the gulf along with him, worked at Cadbury and would send all those extra sample cartons.

To give a perspective of the 80’s chocolate situation in India, Cadbury dairy milk was the most popular at that time and other players were Amul Chocolate and Campco.  Kit Kat wasn’t yet introduced, Lindt was unknown and kids waited eagerly for relatives to come from abroad bringing Mars, Snickers and other famous brands.

Cadbury Rose Chocolates

I had my favorites as a kid. The distinct blue box of Cadbury Roses   filled with multi color foil wrapped chocolates of different flavors always bought a smile to my face. Then there were the usual culprits, Toblerone, snickers, Mars, bounty. I also love the Cadbury’s flake. Its melt in the mouth texture is just heavenly. It was addictive since the folded chocolate is so light and airy that you keep wanting more and more.

As time flew by and different chocolate brands started entering the market, the choices seemed limitless.  Chocolate was everywhere in all shapes and sizes. It was paradise. After the ecstasy filled ride of tasting all kinds of chocolate and chocolate dessert, I became more discreet and selective in my preferences.

My top 7 chocolate experiences are:

Chocolate Molten Lava cake

7. The chocolate lava cake at Chilis, Dubai:  I know it is a casual food joint, but they just make the yummiest molten chocolate lava cake I have ever eaten. Cutting into the cake with a fork and watching chocolate ooze out all over the plate. It is a sight to behold.

6. Chocolate fudge brownies at cakewalk, Bangalore. This dessert shop has been in Bangalore for quite a few years. But I had read some bad reviews about this place and decided not to visit it. When I shifted to Bangalore from Dubai, I stayed in a place which was 20 feet away from Cakewalk. So one final day, I went in and ordered a couple of brownies. It was so crumbly, moist, and chocolicious that I was wondering how many great brownies I had pass over based on one dim-witted review.

chocolate avalanche

5.  Chocolate avalanche, Mocha – Chennai : I had been on a trip to Chennai to visit my cousins. Though there are Mocha branches in Bangalore, the visit to Mocha in Chennai was the first time I had been to a Mocha franchise. They have a desert called chocolate avalanche available in regular and junior versions. I never consider myself the junior types so I went for the regular one.  The Chocolate Avalanche is a combination of chocolate and coffee icecream, chocolate cake, bits of chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate syrup served in a humungous coffee mug. I used to be a big fan of the Death by chocolate at Corner House. However, the quality of the icecream and the chocolate fudge has gone to the dogs. Mocha’s Chocolate avalanche beats the corner house death by chocolate any day.

Layered cake

4. Twenty layered chocolate cake  at Café Frescos , Bangalore:  This place is known for its sinfully indulgent desserts. It is a restaurant and dessert shop set in an antique house in the center of Bangalore. The twenty layered cake has layers of sponge, chocolate ganache, cream and a whole lot of chocolate. Finishing the cake at one sitting is an frightening task even with another person to share it with, and I normally don’t share my desserts! But with the twenty layered chocolate cake you start getting foozy even before you finish half of it. It has a dangerous chocolate kick to it. The chocolate knockout is the stronger version of the twenty layered chocolate cake, in the sense that it is just one big ass piece of gooey chocolate cake.

Chocolate mousse cake

3. Dark chocolate mousse cake at the Taj, MG road. Bangalore:  It was almost 12 in the night and we just realized that it was our colleague’s birthday. So I set off to buy a chocolate cake at this godforsaken hour. I knew that the only places that would be open were the 24/7 cafes in the five star hotel. So I drove to the nearest one which was the Taj hotel and ordered the only cake they had at the moment. I don’t remember the exact name of the cake which is a shame because I tried going back over the years and tried out their chocolate cake options but never came across this version. Maybe it was a twilight special cake.

Ooty chocolates

2. Ooty Chocolates, Bangalore– This is by far my favorite place to buy consistently great chocolates. The variety on offer and the freshness makes me crave it atleast once in two weeks.  Rum and raisins, cripsies, black current, caramel, marble, bitter, white, milk, almond, walnuts you can have a piece of all these for around 100 bucks. The chocolate fudge which they make in limited quality tastes so much like the ones my mom used to cook.

1. Chocolate Mousse @ My Kitchen:  In my humble opinion, I make the best chocolate mousse that I have ever eaten. I found the recipe in the Friday Magazine of Kaleej times. It was by some executive chef working in a star hotel in Dubai.  The recipe is simple and I have memorized it down to the quantities used for each ingredients( I find it hard to remember my own phone number, so this is a big deal) Most chocolate mousse recipes call for gelatine sheets, but I usually avoid using it and depend solely upon the egg whites to give it that subtle firmness. The rest depends on my instincts and I usually add an extra element to it to make it pop.