Thursday, September 4, 2008

Moonstruck Election Collection

Since we now have officially nominated presidential candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties, I thought it was time for another election-themed candy review.

These are from Moonstruck Chocolate Co. in Portland, Oregon. They’re called the Election Collection composed of two truffle shapes, in the shape of an Elephant, the mascot of the Republicans and in the shape of a Donkey, the mascot of the Democrats.

Moonstruck Election Truffles

I picked these up at Chocolate Maya in Santa Barbara over the weekend. They weren’t cheap, I paid $3.50 each. On the Moonstruck website they’re going for $15 for a set of four. This is how they describe them:

The Donkey Truffle features Moonstruck Chocolatier’s Mayan Ganache (milk chocolate, cinnamon and crushed almonds), while the Elephant Truffle features a dark chocolate Extra-Bittersweet Ganache.

(Honestly, I didn’t know they were different until after I bit into them ... cuz I didn’t get any literature with them and just assumed that political truffles, like Americans, were all the same on the inside.)

Moonstruck Elephant (Republican) TruffleThe elephant was quite cute and survived the trip home very well. I was afraid an ear or his trunk would break, but he did really well. They’re pretty big pieces, larger than a walnut.

The shell is a white confection, perhaps white chocolate, colored a pale gray. The detail is quite nice (though mine was missing an eye ... or maybe it was closed and winking at me).

I was curious what was inside his ears (LA Burdick does little mice that have almond slices for ears), so I snapped one off. Inside is a piece of chocolate.

The inside of the Republican is pure darkness. The truffle ganache is a frothy but melt-in-your-mouth-good bittersweetness. What surprised me most after that first bite shown was what was inside the elephant’s head. I expected truffle all the way through, instead he has a white chocolate ganache brain. While I think it’s a cute idea and perhaps a wry political comment (I won’t go into all possible interpretations) I found it watered down the chocolate punch of the body.

Moonstruck Donkey (Democract) TruffleMy little donkey looked kind of sad, like Eeyore. I was a little more disturbed by his lack of legs than the elephant’s, but of course that meant more ganache!

This filling is sweeter, it’s a milk chocolate cream with crushed almonds and a little spice of cinnamon. It’s not quite a gianduia type nut and chocolate confections, more like an almond butter mixed with milk chocolate. Smooth, but slightly textured. At first it was a little coconutty to me, but that could have been the gray confection shell or just the way the milky chocolate reacted wtih the almonds. As a sweeter confection overall, I wasn’t as thrilled with it as the elephant’s dark ganache, but the donkey had nothing in his head but the milk ganache, so at least he was consistent.

The pieces are quite nice to look at and good quality and distinctive flavors. I would have preferred that they were both just bittersweet through and through (and perhaps a real dark chocolate shell under the gray coating). It’s nice that they’re more than a novelty item; they have as much substance as style ... how often does that happen in partisan politics?

Related Candies

  1. Kai’s Candy Campaign 2008 Candies
  2. The Politics of the Candy Jar at Work
  3. Regennas Clear Toys
  4. Endangered Species: Peanut Butter Brittle & Rice Crisp
Name: Election Collection
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Moonstruck Chocolates
Place Purchased: Chocolate Maya (Santa Barbara)
Price: $3.50 each
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, Novelty, White Chocolate, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:01 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. “...maybe it was closed and winking at me”

    That would be my guess.

    Comment by Russ on 9/04/08 at 8:10 am #
  2. “just assumed that political truffles, like Americans, were all the same on the inside”

    Tee hee!

    Comment by April on 9/04/08 at 8:25 am #
  3. callie's avatar

    “The inside of the Republican is pure darkness.” - I’m a Republican and this is hilarious.

    “but the donkey had nothing in his head but the milk ganache.” -Also a classic.

    The candy does sound pretty good though. I wonder if their available in the SE.

    Comment by callie on 9/04/08 at 9:45 am #
  4. LOL!  This is a good one.  I’m impressed that you were able to bring the political into the confection-al!

    Comment by Karen S. on 9/04/08 at 3:18 pm #
  5. Hmmm, I wonder if they made a Nader chocolate what it would be filled with…Nougat?

    Comment by Snackgirl on 9/04/08 at 4:39 pm #
  6. they’re always so cute but i’ve always been severly underimpressed with everything they put out.  same with joseph schmidt; gorgeous but lacking.

    Comment by Alison on 9/04/08 at 5:58 pm #
  7. LOL!!! They look like these keychains I used to have.  They were rubber animals, and when you squeezed em…this bubble of brown gel came out the butt!

    Comment by mandy_Reeves on 9/06/08 at 7:02 am #
  8. I can pick up a lot of inspirations here. wow, what a blog !

    Comment by Anamika : The Sugarcrafter on 9/15/08 at 10:44 am #
  9. They look so graphic after they’re cut open!
    Poor little things. :D

    Comment by Megan on 10/05/08 at 3:20 pm #
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