History tells us that chocolate making was invented over 3,000 years ago by the Atzecs and they had several emperors called Montezuma.  With such a noble name I would have thought that one could reasonably expect chocolate from the “award winning” Montezuma’s to be something quite special.  Sadly not.

I tasted this several days ago and cannot bring myself to have another nibble.  The first impression was of sickly sweet chocolate and an overpowering taste and smell of (to my palate) artificial* lime followed by a massively hot kick of chilli, which mercifully obliterated the taste of both the lime and the chocolate.

The blurb on the packet says

Having made this limited edition bar for a famous chilli festival in the beautiful South Downs, we have once again been persuaded by a hard core of loyal customers to make this a permanent resident in the range.  Until you taste it words will not do justice to how well this unlikely combination works

I honestly do not like writing bad reviews, but I can only conclude that I am in receipt of a batch where something has gone horribly wrong (Best Before Date 08/09/11) as I cannot imagine how, having tasted it once, anyone would want more of this chocolate.      For £2.75 for 100g (Waitrose, Fleet Services) it was an expensive mistake, I would rather have some retro chocolate limes at £1.99 for 250g.

* The ingredients state that the lime is from natural lime oil, so it is not artificial but it certainly did not taste natural to me.

This week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient is hosted by Jenn who is responsible for the wonderful Jenn Cuisine,  she has choosen honey as her secret ingredient.

For my submission I wanted to make a springtime deeply feminine cake, with spelt flower and almonds, sweetened with honey and flavoured with orange blossom water.   I would have liked few drops of pink food colouring in the frosting to make it even more spring like, girlie and carefree!

Having written the post I discovered that sadly the cake is utterly horrible – with a nasty bitter aftertaste.    If anyone has any ideas why please let me know.     At least the frosting is nice – I do recommend a bowlful and a spoon!  I still really like the idea of a apricot and orange blossom cake, I shall try again without the nuts and honey.

Honey, Apricot & Orange Blossom Cake (serves 6)

Dry Ingredients
4oz / 100g spelt flour
2oz / 50g ground almonds
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
6 or so dried apricots chopped up small

Wet Ingredients
2oz / 50g  honey
2oz / 50g sunflower oil
40z / 100g milk – I used soy milk
1/2 tsp orange blossom water

Give the wet ingredients a good whisk to dissolve the honey, throughly mix the dry.    Pour the wet into the dry fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in a linied 6″ / 15cm cake tin for 20 – 25 mins until risen (when a tooth pick poked into the middle comes out clean it is done).   Leave for a few minutes, turn out (I find cakes made from spelt are very crumbly so be gentle) and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1 oz / 25 g butter or diary free spread
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp orange blossom water
4oz  / 100g icing sugar

Place all ingredients into a pudding basin and mix for a good few minutes with an electric beater until light and fluffy.   You may need to add a little more icing sugar or a drop more orange blossom water.

Frost cake, and decorate with a few nuts.