Vera's Counter
Handmade in small batches, by people who taste as they go.
Vera O'Brien tempered chocolate on a marble slab in Shepherd's Bush with a black cat watching from the counter. These are made the way she would have approved of: by hand, with real cream, and nothing you'd need a dictionary for. Here is what's on the counter, so you know which to save for last.
The twenty-two below are the assortment. The Vera First Edition carries twelve of them, the Signature Chocolate Box twenty-four, and the Grand Chocolate Archive forty, each box drawn from this list, so no two boxes are quite the same. Each box also comes with a printed card of these names, and every item carries its own ingredients label.
The chocolates
The one to start with. Dark chocolate whipped until it's light, rolled by hand, dusted in cocoa.
Smooth pecan praline in caramelised white chocolate, cocoa nibs for the crunch.
Pistachio and cardamom: white chocolate ganache warmed with the spice, crushed pistachios on top. Where the actors wait.
Milk chocolate ganache with a proper measure of champagne, under a fall of icing sugar.
Milk chocolate ganache with English honey and a breath of lavender. Summer, in a square.
Dark chocolate and olive oil, infused with fresh rosemary, finished with rosemary salt. Odd on paper, right in the mouth.
Milk chocolate ganache with a pinch of sea salt, dusted in cocoa. The quiet one everyone comes back to.
Smooth hazelnut praline in milk chocolate, with cocoa nibs.
Dark chocolate strawberry ganache with freshly ground black pepper. The pepper arrives second.
Dark chocolate ganache with real mint leaves, topped with crystallised mint that crunches.
Dark chocolate ganache with smoked chipotle. Warm, not hot; it waits a moment, then says hello.
White chocolate ganache with lemon and orange oils, a curl of candied orange peel. Say the bells.
Milk chocolate and tahini in a smooth praline-style centre, scattered with toasted sesame. Halva's smarter cousin.
Almond marzipan dipped in dark chocolate, with toasted flaked almonds.
Milk chocolate ganache with London dry gin and strawberry, dusted in pink fizz powder. Yes, it fizzes.
Dark chocolate ganache with freshly ground coffee, topped with crunchy demerara. For after dinner, or instead of it.
Milk chocolate ganache infused with warm spices. Roll it once for luck.
Pink white-chocolate ganache flavoured with Marc de Champagne, dipped in milk chocolate.
Smooth almond praline in dark chocolate, with cocoa nibs.
Cherry almond marzipan dipped in dark chocolate, a whole sour cherry on top.
Raspberries and crunchy meringue folded into a white chocolate ganache. The schoolboys' pudding, grown up.
Milk chocolate ganache with rum-soaked raisins, dipped in dark chocolate and dusted in cocoa.
The extras
The Broken Hive · honeycomb shards dipped in dark chocolate. In the First Edition and the Signature.
The Soft Landing · honey and vanilla marshmallow dipped in dark chocolate. In the Signature and the Grand Chocolate Archive. Contains gelatin.
The Embers · cinder toffee dipped in dark chocolate. In the Grand Chocolate Archive.
Frederick, the House Frog · a milk chocolate frog with popping candy. In the Grand Chocolate Archive, and occasionally elsewhere, by his own arrangement.
Allergens
The chocolates contain milk, soya, nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios), sesame, wheat and egg, and some contain alcohol; the extras contain milk and soya. The full ingredients for every box are on its product page, and on the label in the box. If you have an allergy, ask us before you order and we'll tell you exactly what's in it.
Fifty pence from every box goes to the cats of London. Buttons insisted.
