The History Behind Chocolate and Valentine's Day

A Recipe for Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes + The Valentine's Day Menu Collection

You can’t make it through Valentine’s Day without seeing or hearing about chocolate. We’ve got Richard Cadbury to thank for this. In 1861, he decided to sell heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. This was also the time of the Victorian age when nature and nature-inspired motifs were trendy, and Cadbury adorned his boxes with rosebuds and the Roman god of love, Cupid. People would reuse the boxes to store stuff, and kids would remove the top of the box with the artwork to keep in their scrapbooks. The result was a massively successful marketing marvel; more than one hundred and sixty years later, chocolate and Valentine’s Day remain synonymous.

Photo by Dan Page on Unsplash

Of course, you can make or gift anything you want on Valentine’s Day or be naughty and send them a Vinegar Valentine (no, don’t do that, what was happening in the Victorian Age?).

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This week’s recipe, and just in time for Valentine’s Day, is my easy and quick Molten Lava Chocolate Cake. Hot and luscious, the saucy chocolate lava makes it a classic and delightful, sweet finish to Valentine’s Day. This cake is also great for a birthday if you can’t be bothered making a fancy cake but still want to feel like you did something fancy without doing much work).

A Few Chocolate-Themed Gift Ideas for Valentine’s Day

Cookbooks on Chocolate

Seriously Bitter Sweet – Alice Medrich

Making Chocolate - Dandelion Chocolate

Chocolate

When it comes to chocolate as a gift, I prefer milk chocolate over dark; some dark varieties are way too bitter tasting for me to enjoy comfortably. I also lean more toward bars of chocolate than truffles. These stores below produce some of the best chocolates (milk and dark chocolates and truffles) I’ve tasted, and they sell plenty of spectacular options.

Läderach, La Maison Du Chocolat, Compartés, Fortnum and Mason (The U.K.), Paul A. Young (The U.K.), Koko Black (Australia), and Miann Chocolate Factory (New Zealand).

Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash

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I’ve got some homework for you. This week’s upcoming newsletter is about SALAD STORAGE. Please send me your salad storage questions via the comment section below, and I will answer them in the newsletter.

Thank you,

xx

Nik

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