Hot Chocolate Festival 2015 - French Made Baking

Hot Chocolate Festival 2015 - French Made Baking - Only Thyme Will Tell

On Saturday I did a Hot Chocolate Crawl for Hot Chocolate Festival 2015 with a fellow Yelper and we hit three places. French Made Baking had the best hot chocolate of what I tried that day.

It's a tiny place but they've sort of opened up the back to have seating parallel to the kitchen area. You have to walk through to get to the one washroom shared by patrons and staff anyway.

HOT girls cooking away in the kitchen. Of course we're not talking hot-because-of-your-tight-black-Cactus-Club outfit type hot. More like sweet girl-next-door feminine hot. Not having hairnets help with that.

Each day a different hot chocolate will be featured, however some flavours may be available every day. As well, the popular "Lord of the Hot Chocolate" - a festival favourite of previous years - will be on the menu every day. All drinks are made with Valrhona chocolate.

#25 - "ONLY THYME WILL TELL"

Orange and Thyme infused Dark Chocolate (72% single origin, Venezuela).
Served with "orangette" candied orange peel dipped in dark chocolate.
Available: January 19, 23, 27, 31 and Feb 4, 8, 12.

#26 - "SMOKIN' HOT ... CHOCOLATE"

Maple-smoked Caramelia Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt (Valrhona Caramelia).
Served with "caramel mou" soft, salted caramel bonbon.
Available: January 17, 21, 25, 29 and February 2, 6, 10, 14.

#27 - "CHAUDS LES MARRONS"

Dulcey Caramelized White Chocolate with Chestnut.
Served with "Le Pleyel" dark chocolate cake with almond and wheat flours.
Available: January 18, 22, 26, 30 and Feb 3, 7, 11.

Back by popular demand:

#28 - "BEYOND THE MILKY WAY"

Pear-infused dark chocolate (72% single origin, Venezuela), with non-dairy milks (almond and coconut).
Served with "Marocaine" (almond flour ball flavoured with orange blossom water (dairy free).
Available: January 20, 24, 28 and February 1, 5, 9, 13.

Only Thyme Will Tell ($4, candied orange peel is extra)

The only place where the accompaniment to the hot chocolate was an optional extra cost. I gave it a pass since they wanted ~$2 for an orange peel. Really? Maybe I should have checked how big a peel first.
This hot chocolate, at $4 without the orange peel, was far and away the best one considering all the hot chocolate offerings I've had in the festival.

I really liked that the orange peel was optional. It's like you could get a hot chocolate at the Hot Chocolate Festival without having a possibly overpriced extra.

Only $4 for a hot chocolate, done properly, and with premium chocolate -- but approximately half the quantity, or maybe two-thirds of the usual mug you get elsewhere. For a rich drink, the quantity at least is a nice size.
I didn't get any of the orange flavour but yes to the thyme. And there was just something about it that was so reminiscent of yummy biscotti.

Rum and Vanilla Cake ($2.75)

This was advertised in the counter as being like nothing you have tasted before. Actually the rum in it made it taste like rum cake I got in Victoria.
Anyway, it was only slightly bigger than a ping pong ball.
Porous and chewy on the inside. Toasty on the outside but chewy thanks to having been soaked (?) in some sort of mixture that nevertheless did not make it heavily rum-like in aroma or taste. Fun chewiness, though, if you like that sort of thing.
$2.75? Really?

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