Petit Fours & I Don’t Like Summer
I’ve never been a fan of summer, despite the fact that school was out for nearly 3 months, I still didn’t like it. It may have something to do with the fact that I grew up in Florida and the relief from the heat never came. It wasn’t uncommon for Christmas day to be in the upper 80s and that silk sweater I was so proud of, brought me to my knees. Christmas felt like summer and summer felt like an inferno. I’ve tried to change my perspective because summer is just a fact of life, there is no escaping it.
One of the reasons I love fall so much, is that it cools off and the light changes. There are also dozens of things surrounding the autumn season that I adore. So essentially, I unintentionally curated a season with things that make me squeal like a 5 year old girl. So what if I curate summer and fill it with things I love? This is a thought that I had last summer, and sorta kinda worked on it, but this year, I am back in Florida, so I’ve got to be more intentional.
As you know, I am a food nut, I’ve used the term “food snob” before, but I don’t really like that term. It’s kind of negative. I like to go on adventures for the most delicious treat / food in specific categories like: croissants, chocolate, ice cream / gelato, French fries, German pretzels, cannolis, hamburgers, fried green tomatoes and about 1000 other different things. Food is a love language for me and the pinnacle of any season or event. Last year I reviewed CompartĂ©s chocolate. I tested their Velveeta x CompartĂ©s truffles and their lavender chocolate bar. It was fun and I loved it, it was some of the nicest chocolate I’d ever had. This year I decided that I needed to try Vosges chocolate. I received a variety of chocolatey concoctions, however today we’re looking at the Vosges Lemon Raspberry Cakes.
These petit gateaux are from the Vosges spring collection, though I think they fit in with summer quite nicely. The luxurious box is thick and sturdy and the inserts are beautiful. I’ve purchased plenty of chocolates that come in nice boxes with pretty inserts, however Vosges’ packaging doesn’t skimp anywhere. Their boxes can be reused for storing your favorite trinkets or keeping your jewelry safe. The insert was printed nicely on thick card with a beautiful handfeel. Vosges has a strong focus on the entire experience. They even infuse all of their chocolate with a 528 Hz frequency. I won’t get into frequencies, but you can clearly see that they love what they do.
One of my gripes about chocolate is the same as I have with perfume. Many chocolate companies have a flavor base that they use, as do perfumeries. Every chocolate has the same flavor base despite its unique flavor profile. Like you bite into it and you know “I am eating XYZ brand chocolate” or you smell an offshoot of an original perfume and you know “that’s Cocoa Canal”. I don’t like that. When I bite into a chocolate, I want to be surprised by the maker. I don’t want a branded flavor base. Just make the chocolate excellent. That was the thing I was most nervous about with Vosges, I didn’t want to be disappointed by a branded flavor base. I was very pleasantly surprised as Vosges doesn’t seem to use a repetitive flavor base. I tested all of the items that came with my order and there wasn’t that cloy undertone of flavor repetition. I could focus on the flavor of the entire chocolate, I wasn’t distracted by: I just tasted the same flavor in the Viola truffle as I did in the Sale del Mare truffle. For me, that was a very welcome relief. It shows that they are skilled in cholatierring, they are proud of what they do and they are unapologetic.
So let’s talk about these tiny raspberry lemon cakes. In all honesty a Little Debbie cake is a 4 bite petit four, it’s not very satisfying, but it’s a large petit four nonetheless. Anytime I see a petit four equivalent, I am reminded of a Debbie cake and I compare it: Debbie cakes are on the 1 end of a 1-10 scale and almost anything else goes up from there. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still like the “1 rated” Debbie cakes, but it’s not likely that you will ever hear me rave about them. The Vosges cakes I feel should be rated at an 8. Why? The white chocolate shell is tempered perfectly, it doesn’t crumble off the cake, it’s more likely to melt into your fingers before it ever tempted to crumble off. When I say melt “into” your fingers, I actually mean “melt into”. Vosges chocolate is almost moisturizing to the skin. I know it sounds really weird, but it’s not greasy or tacky, it feels like a shea or cocoa butter moisturizer. The lemon pound cake is soft and tender with a hint of tart lemon. There is a touch of fresh raspberries right under the top shell of white chocolate, it’s lovely, but I would have liked a bit more fresh raspberry. The top is sprinkled with gorgeous dried raspberries which are overall a nice touch, but I don’t like how they get caught in my teeth. Obviously raspberry seeds do the same thing and it’s just what happens, but it’s not my favorite. The way the flavors, textures and artistry come together, the cakes round up to a solid 8 for me. That’s pretty good considering a 10 is nearly impossible to achieve.
These cakes are a grownup “much too good for children” treat, that should be savored slowly bite by bite. My recommendation is to eat each cake in 4 bites and slowly chew, letting the flavors hit the different areas of your tongue as the flavor develops in your mouth. You gobble a Debbie cake down because there is little flavor variation; it’s all kind of the same. The Vosges petit cakes are more complex, there are multiple levels of texture and flavor. Don’t eat these when you’re hungry, savor them after eating a satisfying meal. Make it an experience.
Vosges chocolates have a very low melt point. Despite the low melt point, they arrived on my doorstep and sat for an hour during the hottest month of the year and they were in perfect condition. The low melt point makes for more of an experience when consuming. You feel like you can take the time to let it melt and meld in your mouth. Vosges chocolates are some of the meltiest, smoothest, most standalone chocolates I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.
After the undeniably, pleasurable experience of tasting Vosges chocolates, I may be well on my way to curating summers that I can look forward to. I think with continued intentional effort to curate the summer season with things that I love, I can come to love summer. It may not be on the level that I love fall, but finding a way to be grateful for a season that I don’t love, will very likely lead me down a path to good things.
