ChoCo’a: Boutique Chocolate Cake

Posted by Edmund in Bakeries & Sweets, Featured Articles, United Arab Emirates | 1 comment

 

Cuisine: Chocolate.
Specialty: Bon Bons, Chocolate Cake.
Address: Marina Plaza Tower, Al Muroor Street No. 4.
Price: 22 dirhams for cake (~$6).

Ever since coming to the UAE, I’ve been going around town relentlessly—to patisseries, cafes, restaurant, ice creameries, chocolate shops, etc.—looking to get my chocolate fill. But good chocolate isn’t easy to come by in the Middle East, and I’ve as yet had no luck.

I’ve been hearing, though, that there might be one place that can satisfy even me: ChoCo’a, a local chocolatier based in Dubai. Better known for its pralines and bon bons, many of which come with interesting Arab flavors (honey, spices, nuts, etc.), ChoCo’a is supposed to serve the UAE’s meanest dark chocolate cake—a decadent, hedonistic delight filled with countless layers of rich, buttery ganache. The cake is also one of the best-kept secrets in town, hidden away for only true chocolate connoisseurs on on the sides or near the back of the stores.

So I took a trip to Abu Dhabi’s local ChoCo’a boutique, right off the ever-popular Hamdan Street. Entering the glimmering shop, full of all sorts of colored chocolates and sweet desserts, I went immediately to the side, found the one remaining piece of gigantic, thick chocolate cake, and ordered it to go.

As soon as I landed home, I ripped open the box and pounced on the cake, but not before taking a moment to admire the beautiful make—a step up above what I’ve seen at most patisseries in the country. Not only do you get nine layers—four of immaculate jelly-like ganache and five of glistening, buttery cake—but the cake comes topped with two milk chocolate swirling band (think of roller coaster-like loops).

Unfortunately, that presentation serves little use, as the dark chocolate cake at ChoCo’a simply does not deliver the cocoa high that its intense black-and-brown exterior promises. The ganache more or less manhandles the very dry chocolate cake into submission, forcing flavor and creaminess into it. That ganache, though, has a bit of lecithin-like waxiness and blandness, which you get in chocolate candies. More positively, I appreciate the light dusting of powdered sugar across the bottom—perhaps the only real mark of sweetness in the whole cake—as well as the smokiness in the finish, but it’s all too little, too late. The milk chocolate bands on top also taste like wax, amplifying the already gelatinous richness of the cake.

And, for that utter disappointment, the chocolate cake set me back 22 dirhams (~$6), the same price as you’d pay in a restaurant here.

ChoCo’a thus fails to cure the UAE’s dearth of good chocolate pastry. My search for chocolate cake continues…

Values

Taste: 2.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0
Verdict: 2.0/5.0

 

 

Chocoa: Boutique Chocolate Cake

Cuisine: Chocolate.
Specialty: Bon Bons, Chocolate Cake.
Address: Marina Plaza Tower, Al Muroor Street No. 4.
Price: 22 dirhams for cake (~$6).

Ever since coming to the UAE, I’ve been going around town relentlessly—to patisseries, cafes, restaurant, ice creameries, chocolate shops, etc.—looking to get my chocolate fill. But good chocolate isn’t easy to come by in the Middle East, and I’ve as yet had no luck.

I’ve been hearing, though, that there might be one place that can satisfy even me: ChoCo’a, a local chocolatier based in Dubai. Better known for its pralines and bon bons, many of which come with interesting Arab flavors (honey, spices, nuts, etc.), ChoCo’a is supposed to serve the UAE’s meanest dark chocolate cake—a decadent, hedonistic delight filled with countless layers of rich, buttery ganache. The cake is also one of the best-kept secrets in town, hidden away for only true chocolate connoisseurs on on the sides or near the back of the stores.

So I took a trip to Abu Dhabi’s local ChoCo’a boutique, right off the ever-popular Hamdan Street. Entering the glimmering shop, full of all sorts of colored chocolates and sweet desserts, I went immediately to the side, found the one remaining piece of gigantic, thick chocolate cake, and ordered it to go.

As soon as I landed home, I ripped open the box and pounced on the cake, but not before taking a moment to admire the beautiful make—a step up above what I’ve seen at most patisseries in the country. Not only do you get nine layers—four of immaculate jelly-like ganache and five of glistening, buttery cake—but the cake comes topped with two milk chocolate swirling band (think of roller coaster-like loops).

Unfortunately, that presentation serves little use, as the dark chocolate cake at ChoCo’a simply does not deliver the cocoa high that its intense black-and-brown exterior promises. The ganache more or less manhandles the very dry chocolate cake into submission, forcing flavor and creaminess into it. That ganache, though, has a bit of lecithin-like waxiness and blandness, which you get in chocolate candies. More positively, I appreciate the light dusting of powdered sugar across the bottom—perhaps the only real mark of sweetness in the whole cake—as well as the smokiness in the finish, but it’s all too little, too late. The milk chocolate bands on top also taste like wax, amplifying the already gelatinous richness of the cake.

And, for that utter disappointment, the chocolate cake set me back 22 dirhams (~$6), the same price as you’d pay in a restaurant here.

ChoCo’a thus fails to cure the UAE’s dearth of good chocolate pastry. My search for chocolate cake continues…

Values

Taste: 2.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0
Verdict: 2.0/5.0