Recipe in progress: Hazelchoc Praline

[aktorsyl]

Because saying "Nutella" creates too high an expectation Although yes, that's what I'm trying to do.

So I took some ideas from online recipes (including HIC's Fererro recipes), and ended up with the following (not sure which one it is based off, apologies if credit is missing):

Brown Sugar (TFA) - 0.5%
Caramel (FA) - 0.5%
Cocoa (FA) - 1.5%
Cookie (FA) - 1%
Hazelnut (FA) - 0.5%
Vienna Cream (FA) - 0.5%

My recipe notes were:

Day 0: wtf. This smells like someone drank nail polish remover and then right afterwards puked in a half-full cocoa tin (of which the contents expired 17 years ago). This is a perfect clone of something that was probably used during the Inquisition. Not trying this for at least a few days. Colour of the mix is also very dark. It needs time..

Day 5: Okay. Smells a lot better. Tastes okay, but chocolate is rather weak and hazelnut almost tastes a bit more like peanut. Very dry and slightly harsh. Needs something to sweeten it up and a stronger cream base. Offhand I would suggest upping the Vienna Cream to 1% and adding 2% Cream Fresh. Also add 0.5% Sweetener. PS: The mix's colour actually got a bit lighter after 5 days.

(sorry, my recipe notes usually read like a blog because that's where they end up every week.. I could probably write them with less drama but then, what's the fun in that)

Ideally this needs longer steeping, and the harshness might tone down a bit after another week, but I think my suggestions on day 5 might work. The slightly creamier base should smooth it out a little bit (hopefully), and the TFA Sweetener should add that extra bit of sweetness without killing the flavour profile.

As for how it tastes? It's alright. It's not Nutella yet, obviously. In fact I think it needs less Cocoa (but not zero) and more Milk Chocolate... but getting chocolate right in a vape is bloody difficult as it is. Right now it tastes like a nutty chocolate. In fact, it's pretty close to Cadbury Wholenut. I will say this though: vaping this while having a cup of coffee? Amazing.

Will make v2 as mentioned above and keep you posted. Of course, any suggestions would be great too.

PS: Should go without saying, but don't vape this at too high a wattage. Burnt cocoa will take you back to that day 0 experience.

 

[Silver]

Ooohh, hazelnut choc sounds fabulous
Hope yget this right @aktorsyl - thanks for sharing your experiences

 

[Andre]

I have tried HIC's chocolate base, but do not like it. Have tried so many chocolate concentrates, but the only one that works for me is INW Milk Chocolate, which needs a 30 day steep. And, heard recently, that INW has changed the formulation and reports are that it is not as good. Back to square one.

 

[RichJB]

Before adding Cream Fresh, you should know that Kopel gets sour pickle flavour from adding Cream Fresh to Cookie.

I think the dryness is coming from the combination of Cookie and Cocoa, both of which are very dry. The obvious remedy would be to reduce the Cocoa and fill out with a less dry chocolate. Although good luck with that, I don't know of any good dark chocolates. HS Australian Chocolate and TFA Bittersweet have both received favourable reviews but I haven't tried either. There's also JF Milk Chocolate but Wayne noted in his review that it's also quite dry.

 

[aktorsyl]

After having another hard look at HIC's Ferrero recipe, I decided to combine the Nutella recipe above with elements of his Ferrero recipe, as follows:

Chocolate (FA) - 2.5%
Cocoa (FA) - 1.5%
Hazelnut (FA) - 1.5%
Acetyl Pyrazine (TPA) - 0.5%
Caramel (FA) - 1%
Cookie (Biscotto) (FA) - 0.5%
Vienna Cream (FA) - 0.5%
Sweet Cream (TPA) - 3%

The combination of Chocolate and Cocoa should result in a more milk-chocolate tone without the massive steep time. Because we're adding ingredients, the hazelnut goes up. Cookie was probably the culprit behind the harsness, and comes down to half a percent. I brought the acetyl pyrazine way down, because the suggested 1.5% sounded ridiculous. I left Vienna Cream as it is, but added Sweet Cream (TPA) to add the extra bit of Nutella creaminess and avoid the cookie&fresh cream side effect. Having the sweeter tones from sweet cream should also make the sucralose unnecessary, so I removed that from v2 as well.

I'll probably mix this next week (I don't have any AP left anymore), and do a first taste test after 5 or 6 days. But with the creams and chocolates, the ideal steep time for this would probably be closer to 2 weeks. But a day 5-test should be a good indication of whether this needs more cream. I think 3% TFA sweet cream is sufficient (on paper), but it has a lot of work to do with all the dryness to cancel out.

 

[aktorsyl]

Right, the next sample is mixed. Changed the formulation only slightly this time:

Chocolate (FA) - 2.5%
Cocoa (FA) - 1.5%
Hazelnut (FA) - 1.5%
Acetyl Pyrazine (TPA) - 1%
Caramel (FA) - 1%
Cookie (Biscotto) (FA) - 0.5%
Vienna Cream (FA) - 0.5%
Sweet Cream (TPA) - 3%

I accidentally added 2-3 drops of cocoa too many, so that probably equals out at 1.7% but should still be fine. Will do a first taste test after 3 days, another one 4 days after that, and a third one 7 days after that one.

Results to follow when I have them.

 

[aktorsyl]

Update as promised:

Day 3: Too early to tell. The juice smells like Nutella, sure enough. As for taste, it currently resembles a more hazelnut chocolate profile, rather than the more unique Nutella profile. Still pretty dry and lacks both sweetness and creaminess. Some more steeping might help, since the Sweet Cream should negate some of that. Low wattage required, or you get a burnt-coil taste. I'm not kidding here, folks - turn that wattage way down.

This version is by no means unpleasant, and still goes damn well with a cup of coffee. But if the sweetness isn't there by Day 7, I'll consider revising v3 to have more sweet cream. This recipe will most likely react negatively to sucralose, so I want to stay away from that for as long as possible. The one downside to increasing the sweet cream, is that it'll begin to mute the other flavours. The other idea I have is to increase vienna cream from 0.5% to 1.5% and leave the sweet cream unchanged at 3%.

What would certainly work is to increase the chocolate, cocoa and hazelnut proportionally to the vienna cream, and then you can safely add more sweet cream. It'll have a strong flavour (in a good way). But it'll also turn into the "Great Destroyer of Wicks and Nemesis of Coils".

 

[Silver]

Great stuff @aktorsyl
Enjoying following this
Looking forward to hearing what happens next

PS - nutella is amazing

 

[aktorsyl]

Great stuff @aktorsyl
Enjoying following this
Looking forward to hearing what happens next

PS - nutella is amazing

Damn straight Nutella is amazing. I could get lyrical about the stuff. Funnily enough I never actually use it on bread But in pancakes... ohh yeah.

This particular recipe isn't at the real thing yet, but we'll see if it can be tweaked. I vaped it this evening while having a cup of Douwe Egberts hazelnut coffee. Bloody fine combo that.

 

[Caveman]

Damn straight Nutella is amazing. I could get lyrical about the stuff. Funnily enough I never actually use it on bread But in pancakes... ohh yeah.

This particular recipe isn't at the real thing yet, but we'll see if it can be tweaked. I vaped it this evening while having a cup of Douwe Egberts hazelnut coffee. Bloody fine combo that.

Pancakes?? Ugh, that's why they invented spoons!

 

[aktorsyl]

Day 7: This took a whole new direction. Unintentionally. Instead of moving further away from the candies and closer to the spread, this vape now almost completely resembles Ferrero Rocher chocolates, and not Nutella. It's amazing, but it's not what I was going for. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Silver]

Day 7: This took a whole new direction. Unintentionally. Instead of moving further away from the candies and closer to the spread, this vape now almost completely resembles Ferrero Rocher chocolates, and not Nutella. It's amazing, but it's not what I was going for. Back to the drawing board.

Thats amazing @aktorsyl
I love ferrero Rocher chocolates!!

 

[aktorsyl]

Thats amazing @aktorsyl
I love ferrero Rocher chocolates!!

Hahah - then feel free to use the recipe as is But I'm upping the sweet cream slightly on the next one, I think. Had another taste test this morning (11 days of steeping) and it's really good, actually. The cream woke up a little. Definitely has a very strong Ferrero taste.