Thomas Haas: Cake Review

Imagine my surprise the other day when I came home to this:

If you can't quite read the side of that box, or if you don't recognize where the box comes from (Or if you didn't read the title of the post)...:

Yes! Thomas Haas. And don't get me wrong, this made me a very happy individual, but wouldn't you wonder why there was a box in your fridge from an expensive chocolate/bakery shop for no particular reason? Turns out it was a very late birthday treat from a family friend who dropped by. We had a conversation a little while ago about Thomas Haas so she decided to stop by and give us this.

But more important than the box, is what was in the box:

Boom!

Crispy Chocolate Raspberry -- Dark Manjari chocolate-raspberry mousse, light vanilla Bavarian, chocolate sacher sponge cake, and crispy hazelnut wafer (description off of their website).

Pretty, isn't it? The real question though, is did it taste good?
Unfortunately, compared to the other treats I've tried at Thomas Haas, I have to say no, this wasn't very good, and I say that with a heavy heart. I was so very looking forward to a good cake, but I felt like this wasn't one of them.

Don't get me wrong, you can taste the quality in the chocolate mousse; it was light in both texture and flavour. But perhaps due to personal preference, the combination of raspberry and chocolate really didn't work for me here. I've tried another fruit and chocolate combination from Thomas Haas (passion fruit vanilla truffle), and that was wonderful, so not all their fruit+chocolate combo's are unpleasant to me. 

The white centre I'm guessing is what they are calling the light vanilla Bavarian (cream). I did a quick read up on bavarian cream, and it is described as a gelatinous pudding which has the ability to slightly hold it's shape. However, I could not differentiate the taste of the this bavarian cream from the chocolate raspberry mousse, and it had the same exact texture as well. 

The wafer layer in the middle was not crispy as described, but I'm going to say my fridge is responsible for that, not Thomas Haas. We enjoyed the light sponge cake bottom layer though. The chocolate glaze also tasted fresh.

So out of the many treats you can get from Thomas Haas, this is one I wouldn't recommend.. But don't discredit Thomas Haas because of this, I still love most of his creations and they are truly wonderful, quality and (usually) taste wise. In fact, Thomas Haas's fruit+chocolate desserts were what got me to appreciate the combo.

My recommendations would be for the noisette chocolate, passion fruit vanilla truffle, almond mascarpone cake, hazelnut and praline cake, and when they make it (it's a special), the pistachio sour cherry cake.

The only question I have is, why would you make a cake in this shape? I personally don't find its shape very appealing.. hohum. Thoughts?

Sorry that this isn't a full review. I've been to Thomas Haas once before, and I could go on and on, but really, you wouldn't want to read that without photos. : ) The next time I go to Thomas Haas, I'll have pictures, promise.