Vancouver’s 5th annual Hot Chocolate Festival is on now until Valentine’s, billing itself as "if not the biggest event, certainly the happiest!" (UM, CUTE). And how could it not be cheerful, with twenty-four local cafes serving fifty-seven creative and delicious flavours of cocoa, like banana at Bella Gelateria, pandan leaf at Gem Chocolates, smoke at French Made Baking and butter icing at 49th Parallel Roasters—whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the phone. Butter icing hot chocolate? We had to try it.
On a sunny Friday morning 49th Parallel & Lucky’s Donut maestro/manager Colter Jones dropped by V’Daily HQ, prepared for donut-and-cocoa making, but probably not for the boundless expanse of our love. "I was inspired by the flavours of a Nanaimo bar," he explained of the treat, composed of a perfect, buttery little financier-donut hybrid and a mug of dark hot chocolate topped with coconut whipped cream.
This whipped cream was not flavoured with coconut, but rather was thick coconut cream itself in squirtable form. Think about it. Together, the sweet buttery donut with coconut-frothed chocolate captured the Nanaimo bar and successfully took it to what we believe drag superstar RuPaul would refer to as a "whole notha level."
We highly recommend dropping by 49th Parallel to try it out yourself, and for a complete guide to the Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival, click here! —Adrienne Matei
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