Dark chocolate and seasonal rhubarb combine to make a stellar dessert

Eating seasonally doesn’t have to be difficult when it tastes so delicious. Finding inventive ways to incorporate locally grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables into breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes is all well and good. However, whipping up decadent, creative, and innovative desserts is definitely our calling here at Hotel Chocolat. And did you know that chocolate and rhubarb pair beautifully to create a delectable dessert?

We tend to assume that desserts are packed with refined sugar and instantly gratifying ingredients. But this doesn’t have to be the case. There are lots of ways to incorporate fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables into your puds. (Bonus points if you grow the produce yourself).

Spotlight on: Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a hardy perennial with long stalks coloured in an aesthetically-pleasing blend of pink, red, and green. It has large, deep green leaves and is easily identifiable. As it returns year on year, you might even find some growing in your garden that you never knew about.

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable but, luckily for us, it’s mostly grown for use in desserts. If you’re interested in growing or harvesting your own, The Royal Horticultural Society has a wonderful growing guide.

We simply adore rhubarb. So much so, in fact, that we created our quintessentially British Rhubarb & Custard Chocolat Selector. Tart rhubarb teams with creamy custard for mellow yet tangy notes.

Why do chocolate and rhubarb work well together?

When making desserts, chocolate and rhubarb bring very different flavours to the table. The result? A perfect balance. High-cacao chocolate is rich, subtly sweet, and creamy. Fresh rhubarb, meanwhile, is tart and comes into its own when offset by a dash of sweetness.

What fruit and veg is available in March and April?

March to June is prime rhubarb harvesting season, which means now is the perfect time to prepare some fresh rhubarb recipes. If you’re growing your own rhubarb, double-check which variety you have (if possible). The best month to pick your rhubarb will depend on your cultivar, so work out the tastiest time for your harvest.

Aside from rhubarb (which many people treat as a fruit), March isn’t a great time for seasonal fruit. Veg-wise, you’ll find that cabbage, cauliflower, kale, leeks, parsnips, and potatoes are ready to eat at this time of year.

Into foraging? If you live near a woodland in the UK, keep an eye out for wild garlic growing in March! Just make sure you identify it correctly before eating.

Our favourite rhubarb and chocolate recipes

Time to take a look at some chocolate and rhubarb dessert recipes…

Vegan Chocolate Tart with Rhubarb

If you’re dairy-free, this one’s for you. If you’re not, you certainly won’t miss it with this decadent dessert.

We adore Jamie Oliver’s vegan chocolate tart with rhubarb because it allows both seasonal rhubarb and dark chocolate to shine in their own light. Instead of baking the rhubarb into the tart, it’s cooked with ginger cordial, orange and sugar, then served on the side. Just scoop both the tart and rhubarb onto your fork to appreciate the complementary flavours.

Jamie’s recipe calls for 70% dark chocolate. Both our 70% Dark Chocolate Slabs and 70% Dark Chocolate Batons are packed with high levels of cocoa butter an irresistible melt-in-the-mouth texture. Other chocolatiers use vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter, but we find a high percentage of the good stuff straight from the cocoa bean is key to creating the most satisfying chocolate.

This is a perfect springtime dinner party dessert — particularly for those partial to cardamom, vanilla, and ginger.

Rhubarb Cacao Gin

Jamie Oliver certainly has a way with rhubarb — he’s also created this rhubarb gin recipe! We had to include this ‘spring in a bottle’ tipple recipe in our list. What’s better than a post-dinner G&T? Well, apart from a pre-dinner G&T…

To add a chocolate spin on this fragrant formulation, simply switch the 750ml quality dry gin for the same amount of our five-botanical Cacao Gin. We love that this recipe contains orange and vanilla, as we’ve found that these flavours pair perfectly with our London-distilled cacao gin.

Rhubarb and Chocolate Crumble

Nothing says comfort food like a big, warming bowl of crumble. You might have made apple crumble before, but seasonal rhubarb crumble is definitely worth a try too. To keep things simple, we recommend using this BBC Good Food rhubarb crumble recipe that uses just a handful of ingredients.

Fancy adding to the chocolatey component? You can chop up a handful of small pieces of dark chocolate and add them to the rhubarb mixture in the baking dish (they will melt into the rhubarb). Alternatively, leave the crumble as it is and whip up an indulgent chocolate sauce to drizzle over the finished dish. If you’ll be going for option two, see some of our tips for melting chocolate.

For an extra bitter chocolate crunch, why not add some raw cacao nibs into your crumble mixture? You’ll experience a burst of deep cacao notes in every bite.

Dark Chocolate and Rhubarb Brownies

If you’re feeling a little more adventurous with your rhubarb-themed dessert, have a go at creating these dark chocolate and rhubarb brownies from The Endless Meal. They look irresistibly moist and fudgy and we’re sure the sweet tang of the rhubarb works wonderfully with the dense, dark chocolate batter.

White Chocolate and Rhubarb Tart

We’ve already mentioned a dark chocolate rhubarb tart, but this white chocolate and rhubarb tart from Sainsbury’s Magazine also looks utterly divine. Roasted rhubarb, fragrant vanilla, and cacao-rich white chocolate mousse blend like a dream. We think our 36% White Chocolate Batons are ideal for this one. This is a great option for those who prefer their chocolate on the lighter side, but still want the heavenly indulgence of a creamy, flavour-balanced dessert.

Experiment in the kitchen

You can either follow these recipes or put your own spin on things. If you want to go down the creative route, there are a few particular ingredients that work incredibly well when paired with rhubarb.

Think about using the following ingredients to bring out the best flavours in your seasonal rhubarb dessert:

• Ginger
• Cardamom
• Coconut
• Berries
• Apple
• Custard
• Cinnamon
• Caramel
• Honey

We hope you enjoy these rhubarb dessert ideas and eating seasonally this spring. If you liked baking with rhubarb, why not explore the world of fruit and chocolate and give some more seasonal flavour combinations a go?