Monday, March 30, 2009

Eclipse Chocolate: Revisit #.....hm lost count by now

Yup it's that time of year again. Time to trim some subcutaneous fat in time for beach season! Unfortunately this limits me to only one treat per week and being the sugar fiend that I am, I usually gravitate towards dessert rather than an interesting food post :(. That's not to say my favorite dessert stop in San Diego is boring, of course.

Let's take a look at some things I've been munching on at Eclipse Chocolat after dinner. Sorry for bad pictures. Lighting is not ideal at night and I didn't feel like lugging my tripod around. This leaves us with shallow DoFs, as you will see!


Sweet Potato Bread Pudding
custard-soaked sweet potato & brioche bread pudding+ cocoa nib-infused creme anglaise

Frozen Coconut Mousse Petit Four
frozen 61% dark chocolate & coconut milk mousse+ toasted coconut+ crispy rice crust

Dark Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding
chilled 61% dark chocolate-peanut butter pudding+ maldon sea salt

Grilled Fig Cake with Sticky Toffee Sauce
grilled black mission fig cake+ 38% milk chocolate sticky toffee sauce

How very appropriate for winter! These hearty items really warm you up. Will's bread puddings are real moist and still able to be fluffy and thick at the same time. How?! This guy sure is good. As always, flavors of the various ingredients are alive on the palate instead of getting drowned and suppressed by sugar like in other establishments. I hope some of you had a chance to taste this dessert platter. Ranks as one of my top 3 since I started visiting Eclipse. If you did miss it, fret not! The Spring Platter (see below) features another of Will's awesome puddin's.



Grilled White Chocolate Carrot Gateaux
grilled almond-carrot cake studded with 31% white chocolate chips

Butterscotch-Macadamia Pudding with Cocoa Nibs
whipped cream pudding+toasted macadamia nut+cocoa nibs+butterscotch sauce

Roasted Banana Bread Pudding with Dark Chocolate Sauce
custard-soaked bread pudding studded with roasted bananas+72% dark chocolate sauce

Frozen Plombiere with Cherry-Peppercorn Compote
cocoa-infused frozen plombiere+warmed cherry-pink peppercorn compote

The carrot gateaux is hands down the best item in the Spring Dessert Platter. Tastes of vanilla, almonds, and white chocolate with a carrotcake backbone. Crispy exterior, moist/fluffy interior. I couldn't get enough of this. I'd say this is one of the best desserts Will has made. Both puddings were fantastic. I've never been let down by the dessert-in-a-cup featured in every dessert platter. The bread pudding is perfect as usual. If you missed out on the winter tasting platter, here is your chance to "catch up" and admire Will's puddin'-makin' skills. I'm not too big a fan of plombiere, but this one is pretty good. Cherry-peppercorn compote is a great addition, but sometimes crunching on more than one peppercorn can get a wee bit intense for a light/delicate dessert like this.



Azteca Cinnamon Rolls on display

When I saw these featured on the Eclipse blog, I hightailed it over to El Cajon as soon as I could. They're really fluffy and the sugar + cream cheese frosting balance out the cinnamon's kick perfectly. Other cinna-rolls I've had usually just smack my tongue around with overwhelming sweetness. My only beef is that sometimes I wish my cinna-roll had more cream cheese frosting drizzled on top. Kinda like how these look, just not as drenched :P I usually take these to-go since I get to briefly nuke it in a microwave. Lemme tell ya, it is one helluva treat. Swing by and pick some up if you're ever in the area.


As for upcoming events at Eclipse:
Truffle, Wine, and Cheese Tasting - 4/8 7-8pm $20/person.
Oaxacan Feast - 3/25 $25/person
Mother's Day Brunch


Hot damn I love this dessert cafe...




2121 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104
619.578-2984

9 comments:

Little Miss Contrary said...

YUM!

RecipeGirl said...

I simply MUST check this place out. Lucky you getting to taste all of that good stuff!!

caninecologne said...

i think the dessert platters are a good deal - $12 for 4 diff't things!

Kasha said...

Roger, I am in love......with your blog! I am also a "health nut", but have to work quite a bit more these days since I just had our first child and can't stop eating good food! I am for sure adding your blog to mine! I was wondering if you would be so kind as to add my blog to your list. http://www.grubandstuff.blogspot.com/

Stacy said...

Thanks for recommending this place so highly. Tried the pb&j cupcake and cinnamon rolls on your recommendation. I'm head over heels for eclipse now. Can't ever go back to extraordinary desserts after that.

Stacy said...

Thanks! You should give it a try, it's not bad. Just make sure not to overbake -- I made that mistake...

I'm a UCLA girl through and through, but I think I just have one of those faces (I get that a lot).

Oh, and thanks for adding me to your blog list! :)

Indirect Heat said...

I have to agree with you on Eclipse. Their chocolate bars are some of the best I've ever had *anywhere*. I've only had one of their desserts, and it was outstanding.

Little Miss Contrary said...

Hey, Roger! Mr. Tall and I went to Eclipse this weekend (finally), and we enjoyed the experience although we weren't terribly impressed. We chose the seasonal plate, which had the cinnamon roll bread pudding, banana bread, grilled fig bar, and frozen chocolate dipped baby banana.

They were all pretty good, but I felt like there was something missing that I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps I was hyping it up for myself a little too much. However, their tea and lavender sparking lemonade were fantastic. We'll probably go there again and stick to the truffles and chocolate bars.

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