Burst of Spring for Easter or Mother's Day from Ococoa

If you have been reading the Chocolate Cult from the beginning you might recall a fairly early feature we did about Ococoa about their butter cups. They have expanded beyond butter cups now and now do a lot of products centered around holidays throughout the year. Right now, for a limited time, you can find their Forget-Me-Not collection which might be a lovely treat for Easter or Mother's Day or just to say "I'm so happy it is finally Spring!" I used a black or Easter Egg backdrop depending on the chocolate of the cup to show them in a more interesting fashion in several photos today but these are not only around for Easter. Today we're going to look at this current seasonal collection and give you our full sensory experience with them. Ococoa sent us a free 4 piece favor box of Forget-Me-Nots in exchange for writing an honest review of them; no other form of compensation was received.

The cups have salted butter caramel, vanilla marshmallow, and dark chocolate ganache -- all handmade in small batches. I'll show you the layers inside the cups when I reveal each type but for not here's another view of the cups as they were packaged in recyclable materials, well cushioned so they were not damaged at all. The tops of each cup has vintage style flowers in different colors. These are so cute to look at, aren't they? The cups themselves are dark chocolate or white chocolate. When I first opened the box, the white chocolate fragrances, creamy, sweet, with a strong hint of vanilla, was dominant. Separately the two types from each other for a while I then breathed them in individually. The white chocolate cups smelled the same but the dark chocolate cups had a strong vanilla scent with a deep undercurrent of darker cocoa to them. No caramel, salt, or marshmallow fragrance at this point.

Let's begin with the white chocolate cups. The layers are from bottom to top: marshmallow, ganache, and caramel. For my own enjoyment I'd just bite them open but to show you I used a very sharp knife and careful pressure. The white chocolate is still the main fragrance but not there is a hint of salt as well. I pop one half into my mouth and the first flavor I get is the salted caramel, tangy not sweet then the vanilla from marshmallow and white chocolate, and finally a light darker essence. The I try each layer by itself, well as much as I can bite it off clearly. The marshmallow is fluffy and really just has a very light vanilla taste that makes the white chocolate seem creamier. The dark ganache layer covers up the vanilla taste and brings out the creaminess of the white chocolate even stronger. The caramel layer's saltiness is lowered when I taste it with just the white chocolate and the caramel tastes even tangier. I rinsed my mouth out and rested my taste buds for 15 minutes before moving on to test these. Remember that to get the taste of an individual chocolate, whatever kind it is, don't mix it with other food or beverages when you first have it. That's the only way to learn what the chocolate itself is like. After that feel free to experiment with ways of eating it or combining it with drinks.

The dark chocolate cup layers are a bit harder to make out in the photo but I think it still turned out fine so you can see them.  The fragrance from the cut open cup is well balanced between the salty tangy, the darker chocolate, and a hint of sweetness. I try one half of the cup in two bites to see how the triple layers interact with the dark chocolate cup. The initial flavor is the dark chocolate followed immediately by a salty tangy and a creaminess, as the salt fades the tang and the dark chocolate return until the chocolate is the final taste on my tongue. Wonderful! Testing layer by layer adds a deeper experience. The marshmallow layer greatly intensifies the bitterness of the dark chocolate and I loved that. Interestingly the ganache layer makes the flavor very smooth and creamy. The caramel layer has the strongest salt flavor and the tangy of the caramel is very intense as is the chocolate, this was my favorite of the individual layers.

I liked both cups a lot but as you know, darker chocolate is my favorite so it isn't surprising that I loved the darker cups best. Both are worthy Sacraments for us so I hope you check them out. Even though Easter is tomorrow and it is too late to get Ococoa unless you live near one of their retail partners, you can order these online in time for Mother's Day easily.