Let’s set expectations early: this won’t be one of those “daily update” blogs that slowly becomes weekly… then monthly… then “are they still alive?”. I’ll be posting sporadically — whenever I make something interesting, or when I feel like rambling about chocolate. Could be once a month, could be several times a week. No promises.

Last weekend I had a go at making a bunch of flavoured bars. In between tempering sessions, I spent my downtime with my good friends Google and Copilot, coming up with names and logos. Here’s what I made:

Chocolate Bars Tried

• Jaunty Jaffa - Milk Chocolate, Orange Flavour

• Dusky Dalliance - Dark Chocolate (54.5%), Orange Flavour

• Escape (The Pina colada Bar) - Milk Chocolate with Macadamia, Coconut & Pineapple

• Almond Anarchy - Milk Chocolate with Almonds

• Neapolitan Nirvana - Ruby, Gold & Dark Chocolate

• Crimson Cloud - Ruby & White Chocolate

• Cream Calamity - White Chocolate, Cheesecake Flavour

• Mocha Maynem - Dark Chocolate (70.5%), Coffee Flavour

• Peppermint Eclipse - Dark Chocolate (54.5%), Peppermint Flavour

  

It was a fun session and I learned a lot — especially since it was my first time using oil flavours directly in chocolate. I’ve used them before in bonbon fillings and cake icing, but this was new territory. And yes… I made mistakes.

First mistake: no dropper. I was using LorAnn oils and didn’t want to overdo it, so I estimated the amount. As a result, Jaunty Jaffa, Dusky Dalliance, Mocha Mayhem and Cream Calamity all ended up a bit too subtle. I realised just how far off I was when I switched to the Iconic brand peppermint oil, which does have a dropper. The moment I added the drops, I realised I’d been under‑flavouring everything else.

Still — they tasted good. And let’s be honest, no sensible person says no to free chocolate.

I took a selection to the family for feedback. My family is honest… but tactful. (This is the same Mum who once called me fat by saying “you’re eating well”.)

The verdict?

• Peppermint and Almond were the clear winners.

  • The roasted, caramelised almonds worked beautifully, and the peppermint had a proper flavour punch thanks to the dropper. I might make the peppermint as a thinner bar next time — something “after dinner mint” style.

• Crimson Cloud (Ruby + White) and Cream Calamity (White + subtle cheesecake) came next.

• Escape (the Pina Colada bar) was… controversial.

  • Mum said “less coconut, keep the nuts.”

  • My sister said “less nuts, keep the coconut.”

  • So the official answer is: keep experimenting.

  • Also, naming it “Escape” meant the stereo got a full 80s workout for the rest of the day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXG_I_tf_i4).

• Neapolitan Nirvana was another odd one. The ratios were off in the main bar, but the thinner test bar I made with the leftovers — perfect layers, great balance — was a big hit. So that’s something to refine.

• The others were fine but lacked the flavour punch. Definitely worth revisiting.

I took a bunch to work today and handed them out to my three test groups. Working in IT, this naturally led to jokes about TSRs, raising an Incident for flavour failures and submitting a Change Request before deploying new chocolate bars into Production. I’ll get their feedback over the next few days.

Meanwhile, I’ve got about a dozen more ideas brewing, and new oil flavours on the way.

The journey continues…