Hotel Chocolat: The Eggsibitionist - and a Giveaway #3

Hotel Chocolat make good quality chocolates. They may not be in quite the same league as some of the artisan chocolatiers whose chocolates I've been lucky enough to try over the past year, but I still find them highly desirable. They are certainly the best I'm able to acquire from any shops in my neck of the woods. I've entered many a blog giveaway to win Hotel Chocolat goodies and have had no success so far. However, not only have I now been sent one of their Easter eggs to review, courtesy of Jam & Cream PR, but I also have my very own Hotel Chocolat giveaway for you.

The Eggsibitionist - I liked the play on words and wondered whether the artistically marked mini eggs lurking within were straight out of some modern art gallery. It has a properly thick shell, like those I remember from childhood. It's made of their house 40% milk chocolate, which I couldn't wait to get my teeth into (and didn't). The chocolate had an almost coconutty aroma with a smooth, creamy mouth feel and a satisfying depth of flavour. The egg contained 12 mini eggs in 6 flavours - one each, no squabbling:

Vanilla Custard Egg - this had the consistency of custard but more reminiscent of good vanilla ice-cream in a milk chocolate shell with a hint of bitterness to it - very pleasant.

Milk Praline - mmmmm hazelnuts roasting on an open fire. No mistaking the flavour here, hazelnut to the core. A fine quality praline, this was our favourite.

Mouse au Chocolat - for the dark chocolate lover, this is ideal. A 70% dark chocolate shell filled with a smooth and not overly sweet dark ganache. It was rich and the taste of chocolate lingered long on the palate - CT thought that one of these was a meal in itself.

Strawberry - we both found this white chocolate rather too sweet and a bit sickly for our palate. The strawberry ganache, disappointingly, tasted artificial.

Chocolate Brownie - this was very nice but I could see no real connection to a chocolate brownie. It tasted of cocoa pops, which I guess is no surprise as this is what it contained.

Caramel - this was the one I was most looking forward to. Unfortunately, the caramel was overly salty which detracted from the enjoyment. It did, however, have a really nice 50% milk chocolate shell.

To enter a giveaway to win The Eggsibitionist, leave a comment answering the following question:

What would you most like to see in your Easter egg?

For a second chance to win: tweet the following (not including quotation marks) "I want to win The Eggsibitionist @HotelChocolat Easter Egg from @Choclette8 http://choclogblog.blogspot.com/" then leave a separate comment telling me you have done so.

For a third chance to win: follow @HotelChocolat on Twitter and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so.

For a forth chance to win: follow me, @Choclette8, on Twitter and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so.

Giveaway Rules:

1. This is, once again, open to those with postal addresses in the UK only.
2. Separate comments are needed for each entry.
3. A winner will be picked at random from all eligible entries.
4. The giveaway closes on 22nd March.
5. The winner will be posted at the bottom of this post on 23 March.
6. Ensure you leave a contact name.