This was kind of an accidental recipe, as I had originally set out to make some vegan white chocolate; which I had attempted many a time but just can’t seem to come up with a recipe that I’m truly happy with yet! Anyway, I was about half way through the process and although the mixture was tasty pretty incredible, it’s slightly too golden to be classified as white chocolate and did have quite a caramel like taste running through it. Therefore, what else was there really to do other than throw in some sea salt and call it salted caramel?
Salted caramel is one of the most delicious flavour combinations ever created in my opinion. It’s the ultimate sweet and savoury flavour fusion that just takes dessert dishes to a whole other level! The base for this bark is coconut butter; which is amazing because it tastes of coconuts, is pretty easy to work with and sets to a really firm texture when left in the freezer. Another key component in this recipe, to add a really gorgeous creaminess, is macadamia nut butter. I was recently sent some of the new Meridian nut butter range and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give this flavour a go.. and it went down an absolute treat, I would definitely recommend you try it out! The subtle sweetness from the macadamia butter just adds an extra dimension of flavour to the bark and really helps to enhance the creaminess of the coconut butter and give you that melt in the mouth consistency. For the sweetener, I’ve opted for date syrup here (coconut would probably work well too) as this has a slightly richer and more caramel like taste then maple syrup and also gives a stunning caramel coloured hue.
One of the wonderful things about a chocolate bark recipe is that you can be really rough and throw a load of things into a chocolate mixture and still manage to create something beautiful. There is no precise pouring into chocolate moulds or careful slicing to avoid cracking the chocolate here.. just chuck everything into a dish and you’re good to go! I’ve added a few of my favourite toppings: coconut (of course), a drizzle of raw chocolate and then some rose petals to make everything look pretty!
