Here’s a taste of what to expect at Wicked. You’ll notice that we only stock the very best – and they may seem a little extravagant – but we’d rather offer you a taste of pure perfection rather than a glut of mediocrity.
BESPOKE SELECTION BOXES
Here at Wicked Chocolate, in the historic Covered Market in the heart of Oxford, we offer a unique service in that clients can choose from an
exquisite range of over 40 handmade English and Belgium chocolates. These have been very carefully selected by ourselves for their taste, quality and texture. You can handpick from a total of 8 chocolatiers to create your own bespoke selection for that special occasion or for a bit of self-indulgence.
CHARBONNEL ET WALKER
Founded in 1875, Charbonnel et Walker is one of Britain’s first chocolatiers & they are also Royal Warrant holders to the Queen. Their hand-made truffles and chocolates are still made to Mme Charbonnel’s original recipes and presentation is artfully elegant.
CAFE TASSE
We fell in love with Cafe TASSE on our first visit to Brussels, the exquisite shops and a style with which we immediately felt empathy. “Cafe TASSE is the reflection of an art of living, the gourmet’s luxury, the chocolate for the connoisseurs. Cafe TASSE crosses borders and times with elegance. Cafe TASSE is destined to the amateur curious to discover new horizons through our chocolates”.
BOOJA-BOOJA
Multi-Award winning English organic, dairy-free, gluten-free, soya-free and GMO-free chocolates suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians. Everyone needs a little Booja-Booja now and then.
FARRAH’S
Farrah’s was established in 1840 and their Original Harrogate Toffee was designed to cleanse the palates of patients who had been “taking the waters” in Harrogate. The toffee is still made in copper pans and packaged in the same blue and silver embossed tins as it has been for generations.
WILLIES CACAO
WILLIES CHOCOLATE is all about one man’s quest to create some of the finest chocolate in the UK. Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s passion for chocolate was born of a love of adventure;
“That spirit took me to Venezuela, led me to buy Hacienda El Tesoro high in the cloud forest, and remains with me as my quest to make great chocolate takes me on the cacao trail around the Equator into the forests of the world, in search of the finest beans.
My chocolate is all about flavour. Great cacaos are like fine wines, each one with its own stunningly individual flavour born of its specific genetics, soil and climate. One might taste naturally of nuts, another of summer fruits. It is to capture these subtle notes and unique flavours that I make all my chocolate from the bean- which is called bean to bar chocolate! I buy single estate cacaos direct from the farmers, roast them in antique ball roasters and make them into chocolate using just raw cane sugar and natural cocoa butter – no soya lecithin, no vanilla, nothing that gets in the way of the flavour of the bean”.
VALRHONA
Since it was founded in 1922 in Tain L’Hermitage, France, Valrhona has remained a chef driven company that values working in partnership with chefs. It employs 25 corporate chefs and also operates four premier baking schools under the name of L’École du Grand Chocolat. Chocolate gurus.
DOLFIN
At Dolfin, chocolate is a passion.
“The art of blending”
For decades, Dolfin’s philosophy has been to mix natural, high quality ingredients directly into the chocolate mass. Fruits, spices, herbs, flowers or even the great classics are combined in perfect and subtle blends with the best traditional chocolates.
Innovation lies at the heart of the Dolfin spirit,
which is why some of our recipes are true gourmet inventions. Our master chocolatiers seek out the finest ingredients selected from the best that Nature has to offer. They create surprising blends to produce flavours that are exquisite and full, yet devoid of sugar and fat.
Aurosó Chocolate
Catrin Burr, launched Aurosó Chocolate in 2020. Through her journey to a healthier lifestyle, Catrin felt frustrated at the lack of options for filled chocolates that were reduced sugar and preservative free. She set out to make a product that was delicious and pure, and that had sustainability credentials to match. Catrin feels passionately that we all deserve a little luxury in our lives.
Harris & James (AKA H & J)
Back in 2015, Harris & James started their journey into making chocolate at a small site in Suffolk, using a coffee roaster and a household wet grinder. Heartened by the initial results, they later launched a chocolate range in three retail outlets in 2016.
To ensure continual improvement and innovation, they plan each year ahead accordingly, with the aim of bringing quality chocolate back to the consumer and to make it special – how chocolate should be – not be a product driven by accountant-led confectionery giants.
Most of the world’s ‘chocolate’ is loaded with sugar – flip over the next bar you see and check. At Harris & James, they do this a little different. Hence, their mantra for making chocolate has always been and always will be ‘More Quality Cacao, Less Sugar’. High quality cacao will always be the main ingredient, even in milk and white chocolate. At Harris & James, this will never be compromised.
Holdsworth
It’s been over 30 years since Barbara Holdsworth started making chocolates from a small unit in their home town of Bakewell, driven by a passion for chocolate with a firm belief that a market existed for British handcrafted chocolates. Barbara began to blend the best possible ingredients from around the world in order to realise her dream. These unique recipes made to exacting standards, created an exquisite range of world-class chocolates. Their story was gaining a reputation as Holdsworth became one of ‘the’ chocolate experiences. Using only the finest ingredients, sourced both locally and from around the world, to create unique chocolate experiences that deliver truly sensational flavours, tastes and textures.
Tony’s Chocolonely
More and more people are discovering their chocolate. In 2020 they sold over 46,000,000 bars. This is great news because, growth is an important part of their mission. It enables them to work directly with more farmers who benefit from Tony’s recipe for slave free cocoa. It also means they can make more noise in the chocolate industry so the chocolate giants follow their example. They show that chocolate can be made differently, without slavery and exploitation. The other bonus is that it is great tasting and probably our biggest selling bar, with 11 different flavours.
Pump Street
Pump Street is an award-winning bakery in the village of Orford on Suffolk’s Heritage Coast. After mastering naturally-leavened bread, they ventured into making chocolate from beans imported directly from single estates and cooperatives around the world. Producing the finest craft chocolate.
Provenance and process are key to our finished bars. They source cacao from the best growers who ferment and dry the beans at origin. We then tailor our roasting, grinding and conching to yield the best tasting chocolate possible.
They believe that using only the highest quality ingredients, along with obsessive attention to detail in production, yields the most delicious bread and pastries – and the same applies for chocolate.
VENCHI
Beginning with a small boutique chocolate shop in Piedmont, Venchi has grown into a global phenomenon. They now offer a sweet taste of the Italian lifestyle to more than 70 countries worldwide. With over 350 chocolate recipes and 140 years’ experience of making the finest Italian chocolate, their reputation is enviable and well founded. Ask us about their Pick ‘N’ Mix range – a creative approach that makes it even easier for customers to become hooked. Not that much help was ever needed… Ask Graham about the pistachio truffle – it is his favourite truffle in the whole world!!!
Simon Coll
From 1840 to the present, six family generations have contributed in making Simón Coll what it is today. They have invested more than 180 years of love for chocolate, with extensive research and innovation. Throughout they have remained true to their roots and to the passion of those who founded the company in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Barcelona, from where they continue to write our history. In 2018 Simón Coll launched Casa Simón Aromatic Cacao Factory in the same place where Simón Mestres had started the first chocolate workshop 180 years before. Its purpose is to create aromatic-cacao-based chocolates using artisan traditional methods, preserving as much as possible the cocoa’s original aroma. The small-batch craft chocolates are sold exclusively at our Oxford shop.
Anthon Berg
Anthon Berg offered the first piece of chocolate way back in 1884. Since then, they have done what they could to sweeten the lives of chocolate and life-lovers in Denmark and the rest of the world. Towards the end of the 19th century, chocolate became more popular in Europe. And in Denmark, the greengrocer Anthon Berg decides to try his hand at cocoa beans. He has a passion for vegetables, and soon the chocolate shop on Gammel Strand in Copenhagen will be a hotspot. Anthon Berg’s chocolates are so popular that customers are starting to stand in long queues outside his business. To sweeten the wait, Anthon Berg and his staff hand out small marzipan breads to the loyal chocolate lovers. Anthon Berg is based on generosity from the very beginning. In 1898, production began on a larger scale. We have a large selection of delicious chocolates, so you can always find a piece from Anthon Berg when you are in the generous corner. Whatever the occasion and the season. Look in the chocolate bowl, maybe you stumble across something you have not tasted yet? They now have the Danish Royal Warrant – which cannot be too bad…
VISSER
It all starts with Passion
Visser Chocolate is the result of over 30 years of experience. It started from the moment rank Visser decided he wanted to be a chef. Countless hours spent learning about raw ingredients, preparation techniques and endless quests for new taste sensations. He amassed all of this knowledge to try and share with his chocolatiers, day in day out. Together, they continually work on improving our unique DNA. Whatever it is he is doing, he couldn’t do it any other way…Visser domes are all hand-made and hand-painted and really do genuinely taste as good as they look, try not to give them away, share with your loved ones, they are amazing.
Van Houten
VAN HOUTEN’S 180-YEAR LEGACY
Among the chocolate brands available today, few can claim a legacy that goes back over 180 years. Van Houten has been manufacturing cocoa powder since 1828, when its founder, Coenraad Van Houten, pioneered a process to manufacture cocoa in Amsterdam, Holland. The result was a tastier and more soluble cocoa powder which spurred the growth of the hot chocolate drink industry.
Cocoa mass was treated with alkaline salts to remove the bitter taste and make cocoa solids more water-soluble; the resulting product is called “Dutch process” chocolate. Today, this process is known as “Dutching”. The final product, Dutch chocolate, has a dark colour and a mild taste.
Riding on its success, Van Houten expanded rapidly and by the end of the 19th century, it had expanded into the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany. By then, the Van Houten name was synonymous with high quality cocoa powder. Their cocoa powder is one of our best kept secrets and only for the true connoisseur.
Niederegger
Niederegger was founded by the pastry chef Johann Georg Niederegger in 1806. He was responsible for the company’s rise to fame and the worldwide reputation still enjoyed by Niederegger marzipan to this day.
In the 200 years since its opening, Café Niederegger, situated in the heart of Lübeck, has become the secret landmark of this Hanseatic town. At their family-run business, the secret of Niederegger marzipan is handed down from one generation to the next.
Aromatic premium-quality almonds are the most important raw ingredient in the production of Niederegger marzipan. Kissed by the sun, the almonds have a characteristic sweet nutty flavour.
For generations, they have been heating the almond mixture in roasting boilers over an open fire. This method releases the unique aroma for which our marzipan is famous the world over.
