Ritual Chocolate: Peru Maranon 75%

Some chocolates I'm surprised that I have never had before. Ritual Chocolates looks familiar in some way and yet this appears to be my first encounter with them. Perhaps they just remind me of Original Beans. The color scheme of matte purple with silver accents and the style that straddles the line between classy and trendy very much puts in mind Original Beans from back when.

This is one of those card boxes that opens up in a unique way and showcases some info about the chocolate on the inside. Ritual Chocolates is based out of Utah, but the Nacional cocoa they've used for this bar comes from the Maranon River valley in Peru. Tearing open the sealed package inside releases a strong chocolate scent, what I want to call a very blended scent. The type of scent in which you can already imagine that the texture is going to be extremely smooth, like it's been conched for a long time. Mainly a sweet scent if you had to call it something, but with a hint of bitterness when you breathe in deeply.

On the tongue, a zing develops that is a flavor more than it is bitterness but is in actuality bitterness, set against a bed of sweet-edged chocolate. So it's a full taste experience, the tang with the sweet to form the chocolate flavor. The tasting notes are floral, herbal, toasted peanuts, and stone fruit. I considered calling the chocolate smoky but wasn't sure if that was quite right. And I'd wanted to say tangy but thought that it wasn't fruity or citrusy. So yeah, those notes sound about right.

The chocolate leaves an almost bitter aftertaste. That is, it isn't exactly bitter but neither is it that rich, red aftertaste that chocolate sometimes gives. This is loftier.

So there is plenty of flavor development going on here, plenty that they have coaxed out of the cocoa beans. Which is wonderful: it's been a while since I've had chocolate like this. Reminds me of how I keep posting about Star Wars books, so I was thrilled to read a Willa Cather book for a change (a change, no less, to more the type of thing I used to solely read). I've reviewed some good chocolate lately, but I've also been looking at plenty of mediocre or middle range quality level chocolate. So it's nice to get a reminder of the other type of chocolate, artisan chocolate.

Unfortunately, this chocolate was a gift from someone who'd been traveling out of state. That means I'm unlikely to come across more Ritual Chocolate anytime soon. If I ever do, though, I'll definitely want to try some more of their chocolate.

Ethereal: Dark Chocolate Topped with Apricots, Honey, Marigold Petals, Bee Pollen

A pretty summery chocolate is on the table today. It is Dark Chocolate Topped with Apricots, Honey, Marigold Petals, and Bee Pollen by Ethereal Craft Chocolate. I would call this part of the emerging chocolate scene: it has that boutique gift shop look to it and yet it is also called bean to bar, organic, and ethically sourced (and since I've been on the soapbox so often lately, I'll also mention that chocolate like this can [though of course isn't necessarily] in fact be more ethical than chocolate that has a certified fair trade label). Cute but with some substance?

The pretty bee and honeycomb paper is quite thick and slightly textured. The chocolate bar, too, has a lovely, curvy design to the mold on one side and then all of the flowers and fruit on the other side (with a chocolate like this, you can't really call the toppings side the back). All of the toppings mean that this is essentially chocolate bark.

Being that those toppings are mainly dry, they don't get across in the aroma; that simply consists of semisweet chocolate. Trying the chocolate first smooth side down reveals that same semisweet chocolate flavor akin to Ghirardelli chocolate. I thought about what other flavors I was supposed to be picking up--there was perhaps something floral? Ah, yes, that would be the marigold petals. Interesting choice: usually rose, violet, and lavender are the standards for chocolate, so it's nice to see another flower.

Trying topping side down next brought in some texture, though at first I didn't taste anything more. Then as I settled into something crumbly, I found sweetness. That would be the honey. The ingredients list this as honey granules, which are made with cane sugar and honey. While under other circumstances it would be undesirable to mix honey and sugar, in this case the sugar gives the honey texture so that it can be a topping of its own instead of just something mixed into the chocolate. I mean, bee pollen has some honey flavor, too, but adding in the honey granules probably gives more of a typically-expected honey taste.

Moving inward, I came to the apricot. I suppose I never really eat dried apricot, so I haven't much to compare this one to. Yet it was excellent, nice and sweet. The size is big enough to taste and also not so big as to interfere.

I do have one little note, though. I didn't get a picture because I didn't notice it until later, but one side of the bar was half the thickness of the other side. Given that I'm sure that isn't intentional, I just had to give it a little mention. It doesn't negatively impact the chocolate: I enjoyed the thin side just as much as the thick side. It's just, as I mentioned, a note.

Overall, it's a lovely bar, one I'm enjoyed much more than I'd expected to. Sometimes with the pretty, boutique gift shop chocolate bars, I expect them to just look nice and sound nice but to not delivery much. Not the case here. This chocolate delivers exactly what's promised: dark chocolate with pretty, summery toppings.

Madecasse: Mint Crunch Dark Chocolate

Time to make our way through more Madecasse chocolate. This time the familiar lemur sits against a green background--because this is the Mint Crunch Dark Chocolate bar. The cocoa content is 63%.

As soon as I broke the seal on the foil wrapper, out came the scent of Andes Mints. This was, for the first moment, a welcome and inviting scent--Andes Mints, after all, can be rather nice. But then I began to wonder if that was really the scent association that I wanted to find--Andes Mints, after all, are also rather cheap.

The same mint scent carries through to the taste, so the mint aspect of this chocolate bar is the same as in Andes Mints. Andes Mints are labeled as containing "peppermint oil" and this bar lists "organic mint oil." Pretty much that's the same ingredient, at least as far as taste goes. While this particular mint taste is often the flavor that we get in products, it just . . . doesn't taste all that much like a mint leaf.

Here's my problem. Andes Mints, while they're marked as something to add sophistication to get-togethers (like Ferrero Rocher), they're in the same category as Hershey's Kisses--that is, the mass-produced candy category. So that's the scene with which I associate this particular mint flavor. But the other elements of this Madecasse bar suggest a different scene.

I have spoken favorably in the past about most of Madecasse's dark chocolate, and the same goes for this case. In addition to the chocolate (which is already a different species from candy chocolate), there are nibs in this bar. This is where the Mint Crunch part comes in. The use of cocoa nibs to give that crunch is a smart idea. Nibs do have that pleasant and particular crunch that's hard to describe but impossible to not recognize. So I like the idea of just adding this basic chocolate product instead of adding cookie pieces or something like that, in which case you'd also be adding in at least another five ingredients. The thing is, though, nibs elevate the chocolate and draw more emphasis to the richer, more flavorful notes.

This would be great--except that then there are two opposites in this chocolate. Fresh and flavorful cocoa and watered down mint oil.

It's kind of a shame.

And it isn't that this chocolate is bad. It tastes fine and maybe majority of people wouldn't be pausing over it as long as I am. I just think that it could be (and was so close to being) better. I'm only being hard on Madecasse because I expected more from them. You know when you unwrap certain chocolates and get a fresh mint scent, like there's a mint plant right next to you? That's what I wanted here.

Vintage Plantations: St. Martin, Peru

Vintage Plantations really does do some pretty packaging. The artsy green, purple, red-brown, and yellow shades of this paper envelope excite attention and bring that same attention back to the source of this chocolate, the cocoa plantation. You can see the purple pods growing off of the tree there on the right. 

I believe this is my third bar from Vintage Plantations. It's a standard cocoa content at 75%; the origin is St. Martin, Peru. Given what I have said before about the store where I've been buying these bars, I should have opened this one up as soon as I bought it: they tend to sit on those shelves for a while. But I guess I was so busy with other chocolate products that I let this one sit even longer, so that it is, sadly, now far from its prime. So no comments on texture or melting: it has turned kind of stiff with age, as chocolate does. But the flavors are still in there, so that is what I will turn the focus toward. 

This chocolate tastes exactly like the packaging. Bright and bold, yet with a deeper subtlety. I always describe cacao nibs as having a blue or purple taste--that's very similar to what I'm getting from this bar. That deep fruit richness, as opposed to the bouncier fruity notes of chocolate made with cocoa beans from Madagascar. It isn't bitter at all, which makes its depth smooth and tranquil. After you've had a few pieces, maybe you start to get just a hint of sugar sweetness (the only sweetener, of course, is organic evaporated cane sugar). The only other ingredients, I might add, are cocoa beans and some additional cocoa butter. No vanilla, which is a testament to how well Vintage Plantations can bring out flavor: most companies add vanilla.

Honestly, I wasn't too excited on starting this bar (despite the pretty packaging) because I knew it was probably getting a little old. But I find that I'm still enjoying it: there is still so much more depth of flavor than so many dark chocolates have. I'm beginning to wonder why I don't see or hear more about Vintage Plantations; maybe it's because they're on the East Coast. Because, otherwise, they have so many factors right: organic, bean-to-bar, attention to the plantations, nice packaging, and depth of flavor. 

Fearless Chocolate: Midnight

You know, sometimes that's just how the world tumbles. There I was, all set to give a pretty positive review of this chocolate bar when I took a moment to first visit their website. And what do I find there? News, from one week ago, that the company has had to close down due to funding issues. Well, that will make my review more glum. I can't exactly recommend a chocolate that you won't be able to buy for much longer. So if Fearless Chocolate never returns, then what I will be doing is saying what I think worked about this particular bar of chocolate.

There were I think around three Fearless bars on the shelf. I'd never heard of the company, so I wanted to try something, but they were mostly superfood-type chocolates. I have absolutely nothing against eating healthy, believe me, but I don't like to eat foods just because they're trendy--or superfood. Cabbage is healthy and tasty, thank you very much. And chocolate is mighty tasty on its own, without the addition of weird ingredients to try and make it healthy. So I ignored the flavored bars for the plain one. At 75% cacao, it's a dark chocolate of average cocoa percentage. Interesting to note, though, is that the other ingredient is cane sugar. That's right, no vanilla. Most chocolate has vanilla. So if a company can pull off a great-tasting chocolate without vanilla, then their chocolate making process has things right.

This chocolate is bean to bar, organic, and fair trade, made with cacao from family farms in the Mata-Atlantica rainforests of Bahia, Brazil. The company is based out of Berkeley, California. The outer card box is made of 100% recycled material, and with its simple, matte coloring, it gives off that cool hippie vibe. But once you start unwrapping, there's more color, both on the inside flap of the box and on the chocolate's clear wrapper. They're like psychedelic, flying elephants--that colorful sequence in Dumbo meets Greek mythology. 

The colorfulness continues onto the chocolate bar, though in a plain shade of brown. The chocolate squares are covered in stars of different sizes and one elephant towards the bottom--this time, for some reason, without wings. The bite mark out of the top the portion of proceeds the company donates to help make a better world. All admirable, but given that the company just closed, perhaps they needed more focus on their own income instead of giving donations? After all, just by promoting ethical and sustainable chocolate, you're already helping make a better world without putting donations on top of that. 

From the aroma of this chocolate, I was putting it somewhere in the same range as the Dark Chocolate Lover's Bar from Trader Joe's--you know, the one that kind of has those marshmallow notes coming out of the dark. But, really, there's a lot more going on than that. As you begin to taste, berry notes come in and the flavor becomes so tender. There was just a moment where I felt like the texture was a tad grainy, but that quickly faded; I read later that Fearless used a "low temperature environment" so perhaps if the chocolate was refined and melted at a lower temperature, that would explain any slight graininess. Going back to taste, there is no bitterness in this chocolate. Those berry notes hint at what I call brownie richness, nice and warm, although there is also something cool about the flavor of this bar. It really does have a layering of flavors. It's nice. I would recommend it if you still see it for sale anywhere.

I have one final point to ponder. If anyone watched the EAT: The Story of Food documentary series recently, you'll recall something they said during the section about beer. Someone on there said that beer was the only product that you can be knowledgeable about, etc. without being snobby. That's true. There is wine snobbery. Bread snobbery. Steak snobbery. And chocolate snobbery. That's why I always try and tell people that the best kind of chocolate is the kind that you enjoy best, though I do also encourage them to taste different kinds of chocolate so that they can see what's out there and find what they ultimately do like best, apart from what marketing tells them they should like. I don't want to be a chocolate snob. I just don't like Hershey's chocolate anymore. I just can't stand overpriced, cheap chocolate when there are such amazing chocolate products out there. 

All of this brings me back to the image I got from this one bar of Fearless chocolate. The hippie outer shell, the colorful inside. There's nothing snobby about it--and there isn't much gourmet about it. It's rustic in some ways, silly in others. It's casual. It's approachable. Yeah, they mention their ethics, but they don't shove them down your throat. Yeah, it's great tasting chocolate, but it comes in a simple, matte card box. Gourmet in taste yet approachable in design. Goodness knows I love Amano with their amazing chocolate bars in glossy boxes, but nothing needs to be like that. We could use more chocolate like this. Fearless chocolate may be gone, but they understood many of the important facets of chocolate making.

Ciao Bella: Dark Chocolate Gelato

You know how it is, when you decide to go outside and sunbathe for just a few minutes, you turn on some music, and then three songs in your iPhone stops playing and says to please let it cool down before trying to use it. Oops. If the iPhone's too hot, maybe it's too hot for me, too? Nah, I'll stay out a few more minutes, anyway. And I did. 

Then I thought I'd do something more typically summery than sitting out in the too-hot weather. Ice cream is summery, right? Time to bring out that container of Ciao Bella Dark Chocolate Gelato again.

The problem is, I don't like ice cream that much. I'll enjoy a little if I'm eating it, but I don't crave it and I don't eat it by the bucket. Then again, I tend to buy the smaller, more expensive ice creams, and it's the big tubs of cheap stuff that have that addicting quality like fast food, isn't it? However the case, I opened this little Dark Chocolate container before and had some, then left it in the freezer without taking any pictures--or without finishing the gelato before it started to crystallize. As you can tell by the picture I finally took.

So in my weirdness, I have mixed commentary to give. One, I appreciate that Ciao Bella used Fair Trade cocoa in this gelato; they also use organic cane sugar. As far as you can tell from an ingredients list, the ingredients look pretty pure. That's always good to know. If you look at the little "story" on the back, you will also find that the chocolate used (both chocolate and cocoa powder are added) is from TCHO. That's how Ciao Bella can get fair trade and organic chocolate for their gelato: they get it from a chocolatier. I've seen TCHO around, but haven't tried a huge amount of their chocolate; mainly I think I've dismissed it as probably good quality but not particularly interesting to me personally.

Now we come to the reason why I think this gelato is good but don't like it that much. It tastes like dark chocolate. When it melts, the melting of cold gelato into room temperature mimics the melting of room temperature chocolate to body temperature. It's a great analogy of a melting mouthful of chocolate--except that the temperature is off and I can't get over that fact. I like the temperature of chocolate, not the coldness of the gelato. When I eat ice cream, usually what I enjoy best is a good quality, plain, vanilla ice cream; to me, that's the flavor that goes best with the temperature and texture.

So this gelato is not for me. But if you are looking for a dark chocolate gelato that tastes of real chocolate and has real ingredients, here it is. 

World Market: Dried Strawberry Bits with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Salty chocolate is one of the trends I'm starting to get tired of. But I do love salt and I do love chocolate, so I decided I might as well try one of the bars from World Market's "Exotic Collection of Sea Salted Chocolate." Goodness, "exotic." I should get out my Jules Verne volume for a background then, eh?

This bar is possibly slightly overpriced for its 85 gram size that is in the shape of 100 gram bars. But it's in a pretty card box instead of the simple wrapping of World Market's standard range, so it's pretending it's fancy. And, yes, the ingredients list isn't full of fillers--the worst item might be the strawberry flavor that accompanies the freeze-dried strawberries, and even that could be natural and not artificial flavor. So this isn't going to work out to be a downright terrible quality bar of chocolate. The question is just whether or not it's going to be very nice. 

The box folds out to an envelope, from which I wanted to slide out the bar. Instead, however, I had to pull on the glue marks once more to lift away the other cardboard flap and free the chocolate. World Market has used their standard mark and eight piece shape. The look is rather reminiscent of Ghirardelli, come to think of it. But Ghirardelli keeps to a simple standard that tends to work--while World Market tries to provide copies of quality chocolate with different flavor pairings that don't always come over flawlessly. 

The Dark Chocolate Dried Strawberrry Bits with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt bar does, in fact, appear very dark in color. It's a dark brown, almost black. But this being World Market, I wouldn't expect it to be any higher of a cocoa percentage than 75%. And, indeed, for all its dark color, it's a fairly sweet dark chocolate. I almost wonder if it's below 70%. Perhaps not. After eating a full square (which is around three pieces for me), I lose interest in the chocolate part of this bar. It's too lukewarm, sweet of a dark chocolate, with no texture of layered flavor. 

The chocolate aside, what's interesting about the added flavors is that the salt is pink Himalayan. Himalayan salt has been in fashion lately; I've been using it (but I started using the Himalayan salt lamps some time ago; they're so pretty). And I'm thinking that it's particularly well-suited to chocolate. When you first taste straight Himalayan salt, it doesn't taste very salty; then you get used to it and don't notice anymore. And since I've been getting tired of chocolates shoved full of salt, maybe this lighter flavor is a better idea. This isn't to say that World Market is the first company to use pink salt; I don't think it's the first time I've even had it in chocolate. But it's certainly a less common route. This also isn't the first time I've had salt and strawberry together in chocolate, but the other time was so long ago that it might as well be. 

Somehow I can't taste the strawberry much. I can see the little strawberry pieces, but I can't taste them all the time. The salt isn't horribly salty, so I'm not sure I can say that it's just a matter of the salt overshadowing the strawberry. I think it's more a case of the sweetness of the strawberry siding with the sweetness of the chocolate. If you look for the strawberry flavor, you can find it. But if you're not thinking of it, the salt comes to mind first. In fact, it's a rather interesting exploration of sweet and salty--or sweet and sour, if you will. It's pleasant. I only wish that the chocolate backdrop were a tad more developed; it would make the experience as a whole rather richer. 

Peanut Butter Americano: Dark Chocolate

You know how it is, I'll take any excuse to go to Anthropologie. They had one of their Pop-up Markets at the Scottsdale location yesterday, and so I naturally found myself there feeling very much at home, as usual. The format was similar to a regular Farmer's Market, with little booths from local companies who were giving out samples and selling their products. There were about ten or so booths, all around the inner part of the store (that is, near the inside door). The difference was that these were mostly the fun companies. We wouldn't get as excited to go to the mall to buy potatoes, cabbage, and bread. Instead, there were cookies, caramels, jellies, toffees, truffles, and peanut butter. It is on the peanut butter that I shall now focus.

Even Peter Pan likes it.

I'm a strange person, as you know. One of the reasons I am strange is that I'm used to the stiffer, more dense Trader Joe's peanut butter. I won't even go near Skippy. If a peanut butter is too creamy-oily, I probably won't like it much. I know, how inhuman of me. So when I had a sample of Peanut Butter Americano's Cinnamon Honey variety, I thought that it was nice but that I probably wouldn't want a jar of it. And then I saw the Dark Chocolate variety and said, oh, well, yeah, I guess I'll have to try that. So here it is, this $5, 8 oz. jar.

Even if I don't eat peanut butter out of the jar (I never understood the ice cream or cookie dough obsessions, either), peanut butter is one of those incandescent flavors that can meld so well with chocolate (coffee and hazelnut also go rather well). The PB Americano website just says that they use chocolate chips for their chocolate varieties; I should have asked, at the booth, what brand they use. I kind of think I heard it was 60% cocoa, but I could be making things up. In any case, I noticed from the packaging that the chocolate was made with milk fat, vanillin, and artificial flavor. Really? You see, from what I've seen and read, this seems like a really cool company. They care about details, the ingredients, the look, the social and ethical side, the nutrition side, everything. So I'm kind of wondering if they can find a better chocolate source (all this said without even knowing what the chocolate company is). 

Enough rambling. Here is a view of the chocolate peanut butter in its jar:

As you can see, there are tiny peanut pieces interspersed in a chocolate-filled base that is not at all thick. Interestingly, PB Americano recommends not putting their peanut butter in the refrigerator; I wonder how many people do find themselves accidentally polishing off a whole jar. Especially because there are peanut pieces, the prominent flavor is still peanuts, not chocolate. But the longer you allow the peanut butter to sit in your mouth, the more chocolate you will taste. (I don't mean to leave it sitting for an hour; I just mean more of a licking than a chewing experience.) Of course, I can't give you any detailed chocolate commentary from this context. I'll just say that there is enough chocolate presence to merit the Dark Chocolate label. 

I just had a thought. A wicked, wicked thought. Imagine breakfast. Picture a cup of chocolate tea from the Republic of Tea or someone. Then picture two pieces of toast, one spread with CC Pollen Co.'s Chocolate Honey and one with this Dark Chocolate peanut butter. Oh, that must be sin. Creamy and chewy at once, chocolate plus peanuts. Oh, my. 

And I have (mostly) saved the last tidbit: Peanut Butter Americano works with other companies/organizations that help to benefit the Americas. For instance, 100% of the proceeds from the Dark Chocolate variety go to Techo. Building homes, providing jobs, reducing poverty. I think this company will go a long ways. 

Trader Joe's: Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee

Alas, I am not expecting to review much in the way of Valentine's Day chocolate this year. World Market had one or two that looked alright, but I didn't buy any. And much as I am enjoying ogling the Valentine's selection online from Valerie Confections, the reality is that I won't be getting any of their delectable creations. So instead I give you a very normal chocolate confection, wrapped up in a red bag. 

Since the Tahitian Vanilla Caramels from Trader Joe's were nice, I thought that perhaps the Almond Toffee would be worth trying. These toffees, though still rounded, are flatter than the caramels were, presumably because toffee is usually made in flat sheets. The almonds are broken into pieces and dispersed within the toffee; this is definitely preferable to a toffee-dipped almond that is then covered in chocolate. As it is, the crunch is the squeaky crunch of toffee and not so much the harder crunch of almonds. The chocolate coating could possibly be thinner, but that might just be my opinion. Both the chocolate and toffee have equal impact on the flavor, so perhaps only a major toffee person would want the chocolate to have less impact. 

It's just that, eating these, I'm reminded of how much I enjoy toffee and how little I usually end up eating it. It isn't one of the things I usually think to buy. Maybe that's a good thing, considering how jammed it ends up in your teeth. I still, like with the caramels, wouldn't call these toffees particularly amazing. But they're pleasant. The chocolate has a nice reddish flavor, the almonds add the nutty element, and the toffee brings in a touch of salt. For something in between a snack and a dessert and something just above candy, this little red bag is, after all, worth trying out for the toffee lover. 

Casey's Cupcakes: Gingerbread & Dark Chocolate

A very long time ago (about three and a half years ago, that is), I visited Casey's Cupcakes at their original location at the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa for the first time. I put my review of the place and one of their Milk Chocolate cupcakes onto Chocablog; click here to read it. Since then, the Mission Inn has become a bit of a California destination. It's a beautiful feat of architecture and design, with endless bits and pieces to look at and admire. Sunday Brunch at the main hotel restaurant or pasta at the Italian restaurant are fantastic (I've never been to the steakhouse), but it's easiest to sneak into Casey's for a cupcake or two on your way through town. 

I usually try different flavors. The Milk Chocolate is good, as are the Cinnamon and Peanut Butter and Strawberry; I think I've also tried the Red Velvet. This time I finally picked up the Dark Chocolate, as well as the flavor of the month, Gingerbread. In the top row, you can see two Dark Chocolates on the ends and the Gingerbread in the middle. The bottom row has German Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet, and Lemon. (I don't believe I'm giving all the exact names, just the flavors). But only the two I mentioned were mine. 

The thing about Casey's, from the store to the product, is that looks matter. I don't get that with all cupcake companies (like Sprinkles . . . which always strike me as plain and frankly don't taste nearly as special). The pink and white stripes on the boxes and bags speak for an occasion, whether it's a birthday or simply a special spark on a regular day. The cupcakes are decked out with their thick frosting, chocolate shavings, sprinkles, circles of chocolate with the Casey's logo, and all that makes them stand out. The designs are always simple, but the individual pieces are all pretty. The chocolate shavings, I've noticed, change from time to time. This time, I was admiring their shape: they're pointed into a triangle on one end, but the other flat end curls upward. How do you even get a shape like that? 

If you looked at my other review, you'll hear of my admiration for the frosting. Because, you see, my confession is this: I don't like most frosting. I know I'm not the only one. But it just seems sad and wasteful when you find yourself scraping the frosting off a cake, or looking down on a cupcake layered high with cheap frosting. And if it's supposedly nicer frosting because it has cream cheese, I'm still not always won over: I only like cream cheese occasionally, in small amounts. Whereas some handmade (is that even the right word?) frostings will be butter-based, Casey's must, I think, add more sugar than that. Their frosting isn't quite like other frosting. It's light and airy, but its stiff enough to stand on its own (as evidenced by the three light-colored cupcakes in the picture). It tastes sweet like sugar, not like artificial whatnot. In other words, I never want to scrape off this frosting. 

But alas, all praise must be tempered with criticism. This pretty Gingerbread cupcake with its peppermint coloring didn't delight me entirely. The color of the cake was light brown, an instant foreshadowing of my displeasure. I was just talking about this when I reviewed the Theo Gingerbread bar. Gingerbread needs the flavor of molasses, otherwise it's just Spiced Ginger. If there is any molasses in this mix, it isn't enough to darken the color and therefore also not enough to affect the flavor. I taste ginger, perhaps accented by other gingerbread spices. But without molasses, the flavor just isn't right; I also thought the cake was drier than usual on this one. 

The Dark Chocolate, on the other hand, was better. A cupcake, by nature, shouldn't really be decadently rich. This one isn't, but it is still enough in that direction to provide contrast to the Milk Chocolate cupcake. The Milk Chocolate is lighter; the Dark Chocolate is more layered and chocolate-flavored. This particular one was also, I might add, moister than this particular Gingerbread cupcake. So, yes, I will be back at Casey's Cupcakes time and time again--and you should stop there, too, next time you find yourself nearby.