Nothing Careless about this collection – The Careless Collection Chocolate #Review

Victoria Hayes
5th August 2019

From time to time at Taste Cheshire we are contacted by local producers to sample their wares, review and advise on their products. We try to look at everything from packaging, to taste, to route to market and see where we can be of help.

When The Careless Collection got in touch to ask us to trial their chocolate bars, you can imagine there was a little excitement in the office, as there always is when sweet treats are on offer!

The excitement only grew when the box arrived. A gorgeous deep midnight blue box with gold accents instantly gave the impression of luxury and we were like children at Christmas running into the garden to enjoy the chocolates in the sunshine (better lighting for photos was our totally legitimate excuse!). 

For those of you not familiar with David Crichton, he shot to fame through MasterChef 2018 and that is actually where the Careless Collection was born. Contestants were tasked with creating a dish for an idol. He chose George Michael and decided to do a take on the title of his song, “Careless Whisper” with a famous UK chocolate bar, the Cadbury’s Wispa. David presented 2 different bars on the show. One was filled with a rich chocolate mousse and balsamic vinegar, and the other with salted butter caramel. All served up with a delicious Greek yogurt ice-cream. The one he was “careless” with, he broke on purpose.

Sadly, the fresh chocolate mousse from the original has only a three day refrigerated shelf life which doesn’t make it very commercially viable. and David has worked hard to alter the recipe to add shelf life and bring the product to the public, so that you can enjoy it too.

This actually is the first ever Masterchef dish that was created for the show and brought to life for retail.

It is immediately clear that all the bars are lovingly hand made in David’s development kitchen in Cheadle Hulme, each with a unique filling with flavour profiles that beautifully pair with the main chocolate shell. The freshly tempered chocolate shells are made with exacting specifications to bring out the finest texture and appearance of the chocolate.  A truly artisan product.

We loved ripping into the box to try our first goodie. I am always a dark chocolate fan, so we began with that, The 71% Ecuadorian dark chocolate bar is filled with a salted butter caramel, olive oil and balsamic vinegar ganache.

It did not disappoint, creamy, rich with a long lasting unctuous truffley centre. The hint of salt completing the well rounded flavour profile. This ended up being Briony’s favourite of the four. 

David only uses top quality, fair trade ingredients such as Ecuadorian Nacional cocoa so the products are of a gourmet standard and make an indulgent after dinner treat or gift idea.

Next up, slightly lighter ,the Venezuelan milk chocolate variant containing an exotic blend of toasted coconut and lime. This was immediately my favourite, I have always adored a Cadbury’s Bounty bar and this was like a Bounty for grown ups! The lime flavour just elevates it with a great naturally citrusy flavour, and the right chocolate balance meant I could have eaten ten of them.

On now to the pop of Pink in the box, the striking pink bar is a unique combination of fruity ruby chocolate filled with muscovado caramel and a dark chocolate ganache with notes of rose and lychee.  The smell of this one immediately put me in mind of Laurent Perrier Rose Champagne, and the taste was reminiscent of childhood Turkish delight.

The flavours are quite unusual and not what you would expect but David clearly wants to push the boundaries of sweet, savoury, herbal, floral tastes, textures and aromas and combine them in a way that hasn’t been done before.

This is especially true when it came to the final bar, the white chocolate. I am not usually a fan of white chocolate, I usually find it too sweet, too sickly for my palate but I was not expecting the incredible flavour if this bar. I was stuck immediately by the taste of basil.

The white chocolate bar has a blueberry, Tonka bean and basil filling and the combination is down right delicious. The colour from the blueberries is a gorgeous contrast to the white surround, the rich vanillery tones I suspect were a combination of acutal vanilla and the hint of vanilla that comes from Tonka beans.

Overall this bar was light, fresh tasting and transported us to Italy on our Friday afternoon in the office.

The Careless Collection definitely offers unique flavour combinations for sophisticated palates, you can almost taste the passion, care and energy David has put into each bar.

I know he still works as a commercial pilot for Thomas Cook airlines, usually long haul, and has done for the last 19 years. He dives straight back in to the kitchen on his returns home. I suspect it won’t be long though before the chocolate takes over completely, and that will be great for everyone!

Also available, The dairy-free Careless Vegan Collection box features rich dark chocolate bars made from the highly sought after Nacional cocoa in two unusual flavours – smoked chilli and gianduja, and speculoos truffle. I can’t wait to try these as a particular fan of Speculoos.

All varieties are available to buy in gift boxes of individual flavours. Each 200g box contains four bars and is priced at £12.50. to get yours just visit The Careless Collection website: https://thecarelesscollection.co.uk

*Taste Cheshire received these chocolates as a kind gift from The Careless Collection, we stand by all our comments though, don’t believe us, try them yourself, you won’t be disappointed.