La Rocca Revisited Part 3—Here's the Scoop 🍦

(Note—this is the final post of a series.

1) The first review was for Mango Coconut Cheesecake.
2) The second review was for S'mores Cheesecake.)

The seasons change. The head chefs might change. But one thing that doesn’t change? La Rocca’s desserts remain breathtakingly beautiful, and their summer collection is no exception!

Avid readers may recall this previous post I wrote about La Rocca Creative Kitchen’s Christmas Collection.

With summer coming to a close, I decided to try some of their summer desserts before they’re gone.

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And now, for our final dessert. 

What screams summer more than a big scoop of ice cream? And in a waffle cone too! Presenting: Here’s the Scoop. 🍦

The first thing that hit me when I opened the box was a wonderful waffle cone aroma. A great start!

Although the scent was strong, the taste was milder. I find waffle cones a bit too sweet, so this was just right for me. It was softer than a typical waffle cone due the chilled nature of the dessert. However, it still gave a good crunch.

Unlike the waffle cone, the pink ribbon was over-the-top sweet. The tiny chocolate ball enclosed within actually helped temper this.

Time for the inside Scoop.

You may recall I found La Rocca’s pistachio cake from their Christmas collection extremely disappointing. Then, this particular dessert, Here’s the Scoop, also included lemon anglaise. And as you may recall from my Mango Coconut Cheesecake review, I don’t like lemon/sour things. So needless to say, I was more than a little apprehensive about trying this.

Thankfully, I spoke with Jessica, the head pastry chef, (who was wonderfully gracious 🙏) and she eased my concerns.

Regarding the lemon anglaise (the yellow triangle in the photo below), she swore that it would not taste sour because it was mixed with vanilla. And in case I still didn’t like it, the dessert was designed in a way whereby I could simply eat around it. I still didn’t like it; it tasted too creamy to compensate for the lemon. As she promised though, it wasn’t sour.

I was interested in Here’s the Scoop for the scoop part—pistachio (my favourite nut). My other concern was that it would only offer a faint flavour like the Christmas version. She proudly proclaimed that if one of her desserts is promoting a particular flavour, it would definitely come through strong. Again, Chef Jessica lived up to her words. 👩‍🍳💯

If the previous pistachio dessert had the intensity of a lazy river, this one, and in particular the praline, hit like a tsunami! 🌊

The pistachio mousse (light green) was very flavourful. They sprinkled some pistachio pieces to give it even more flavour and some added texture. It was also airy, melt-in-your-mouth soft. The mousse was creamy, but this time, the pistachio got to shine.

Somehow, the pistachio praline took the taste to another level. You’ll notice in the photo that it’s a deep green. This is indicative of its phenomenal potency. Every spoonful was intoxicating! They also added pistachio pieces in here too, so there was a terrific crunch to it. It was brilliantly balanced, with just the right amount of sweetness, also allowing the pistachio to shine. 

It’s fitting that the last component we cover is the chiffon cake. With everything else happening inside the cone, it would’ve been easy to overlook it. It was simple in its sweetness but so sublime. Also, it was fantastically fluffy, providing a different enough texture from the mousse to add some depth. I could eat this chiffon cake plain and straight as it is, so I can see why they charge $55+ for a whole cake!

Verdict (aka Here's My Scoop on Here's the Scoop):
The pristine praline and magnificent mousse were immaculate. The first-class chiffon cake and wonderful waffle cone were lovely. Combined, they more than make up for the sub-optimal lemon anglaise and pink ribbon. To wit—this dessert was so nice that I had it thrice!

Summer may be over, but I’ll remember this perfect pistachio praline forever!

(Since this series is about summer, we're swapping out stars for suns.)

P.S. Thank you for reading this review series on La Rocca’s Summer Collection. Follow me on Instagram for more sweet content!

What's Wrong With Just Right 🤔

To commemorate National Cereal Day, I figured I would spotlight one of the most underrated cereals I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating — Just Right.

I still remember the first time I tried it. My first-year university floormate had kindly offered me some. After growing up on a steady diet of super sugary cereals, I have to admit that I was rather unimpressed by its appearance. One had to squint to see the sugared sheen on the glazed flakes. Plus, the presence of oat nuggets almost scared me off outright, as I conflated those to mean that it was “healthy.” (At that point in my life, a healthy cereal was about as appealing as an 8:30 am lecture!)

I voiced my concerns to him but he urged me to just give Just Right a shot. And am I glad I did! To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an enormous understatement. Propelled by my below-the-floor expectations (inside joke — our floor was halfway underground), it immediately shot up my list of favourite cereals.

Although Just Right did not offer the overload of sugar I was accustomed to, this was a good thing. It occupies the sweet spot on the cereal sugar spectrum: it is neither bland nor super(fluously) sugary. Here is the sugar content per 100 grams to help put it into perspective:

Cereal                Sugar/100g
Plain Cheerios                4g
Corn Flakes                  10g
JUST RIGHT                  17g
Life                              20g
Honey Nut Cheerios      31g 

In terms of texture, there is an assortment of different shapes and sizes. The crispy corn flakes are by far the largest, while there are also much smaller flakes made of rice. Then, there are little crunchy oat nuggets too. This helps ensure that every bite is different.

Mixing with milk has both benefits and drawbacks. As with many cereals, it can quickly become soggy and compromise its terrific texture. On the bright side, Just Right's aforementioned optimal sweetness helps ensure an equally enjoyable endmilk.

So since Kellogg’s got all the key aspects of this cereal Just Right 🙃, what’s wrong with it then, as the title of this blog post questions? Well, no one has ever heard of it, let alone tried it! And after doing some quick research (including consulting the preeminent voice in cereal reviews), Just Right does seem to be universally under-consumed. To wit, to this very day, my floormate and roommate are the only ones I know who have eaten it!

So now it’s my turn to do some urging. You can help right this wrong by getting Just Right!

4.5 Pleasant Surprises out of 5

(images from Kellogg's Canada)

The Cure for Ferrero Fatigue 💡

 

La Crème de La Crème 🍫

 

(Ragusa) Blonds Have More Fun

Ever since I first heard about it a couple of years ago, the idea of blond chocolate has intrigued me. On the one hand, I am a white chocolate connoisseur, so almost any decent variation will pique my interest. On the other hand, I am generally averse to caramel. I find it to be superfluously sweet and overpowering, even when accompanied by chocolate and nuts.

I recently met with a friend for a “Sweets Swap,” where we exchanged and sampled a smorgasbord of sweets. We both raved about the Ragusa Blond, and it inspired me to write this review.

An interesting aside - “...Bloch discovered blond chocolate during a trip to Quebec at the beginning of 2013. Impressed...Bloch asked his team in charge of innovation to produce a Ragusa Blond.” Go Canada Go! 🇨🇦

👀 Appearance

The version I purchased was entitled “For Friends” (no relation to the classic TV show). This name is derived from the fact the chocolate has been conveniently split into 12 individually wrapped bite-sized pieces that are perfect for sharing with one’s friends, which is exactly what transpired during my Sweets Swap. The bright, bold packaging is definitely eye-catching and is helped by the enlarged product photographs that show off its terrific texture (more on that later).


🍽️ Taste

The richness of the Ragusa Blond is the first thing that hits me. This richness is probably also the reason why despite registering “only” 48 grams of sugar per 100g on the sweetness spectrum, it tastes noticeably sweeter than that. It ventures very close to being too sweet although luckily it doesn’t quite cross that line.

In terms of flavour, while white chocolate can sometimes taste synthetic, Ragusa Blond tastes authentic (the website promotes the product as being "100% Natural"). The caramel infusion is incredible and elevates the white chocolate to heavenly heights. The simplest way I can describe the Ragusa Blond is that they took the best attributes of white chocolate and infused it with the optimal amount of caramel flavour, conceiving a truly unique tasting confection. 

The hazelnuts were not flavoured at all but given the fact that the chocolate component was sufficiently sweet, this was definitely the right decision.


⚖️ Execution
As awesome as it is taste-wise to eat a Ragusa Blond, it is an equally enjoyable experience texture-wise. The super soft, creamy chocolate melts in your mouth like butter. Meanwhile, the hazelnuts' crunchiness provide the perfect compliment to the chocolate's smoothness.


💰 Cost
I purchased this on sale for $3.99; the regular price was $7.99. The best compliment I can pay is that I would pay the regular price without any hesitation.



🏆 Verdict
Correction from the previous sentence – the best compliment I can bestow Blond is that it is one of the best chocolates I have ever eaten in my entire life! (My friend wholeheartedly agreed – he bought his own pack right afterwards!). The only reason I docked half a star is because of its richness. After about three pieces, I'm sufficiently satisfied. Although that is probably a good thing, since these are so sublime that I want to savour them until the end of time!

4.5 Sweets Swaps out of 5

⏩ Epilogue
Not to be outdone by my friend, I was so bedazzled by (this) blond chocolate that I have ordered seven other variations to try out. It’s safe to say there will be (more) blond (reviews to come)!