Liberal Jeremy Rockliff commits $12m and says ‘chocolate experience’ at Claremont would be ‘the greatest thing to happen to tourism since Mona’

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Dubai is home to the world’s tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa. Nepal boasts Mount Everest. Soon, if Jeremy Rockliff gets his way, Tasmania could be home to the world’s largest chocolate fountain.

The Tasmanian premier on Sunday appeared to take inspiration from Willy Wonka by pitching himself to voters as the dreamer of dreams during a visit to the Cadbury chocolate factory – the largest in the southern hemisphere – near Hobart.

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Mushroom-infused bourbon with honey, sweet sherry and a dash or three of chocolate bitters

Every drink on our cocktail menu is named after something that fed into the creation of Bar Kinky and Kinkally , our Georgian restaurant upstairs. When the designers imagined the interiors, they proposed hanging branches from the ceiling, representing the raw materials found in the mountain regions where khinkali , or Georgian dumplings, are traditionally made. We loved the idea, so scouted out and collected many branches, which were then cleaned, dried and polished. They are now in situ and link to this drink, which is deep and complex, and has that lovely story behind it.

Andrew Pruts, bar manager, Bar Kinky , London W1

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Devour these caffeine-laced morsels warm, especially if they’re dipped in chocolate spread or jersey cream

Freshly baked madeleines are magic. Always a crowdpleaser, they take minutes to bake once the batter is made. I used to think that the only way to enjoy a madeleine was warm, but have since grown to appreciate how soft and buttery they remain once cool. They can easily be embellished, too. I’ve had citrussy madeleines served with lemon icing for dipping, while at Maison François in London they feature on the dessert trolley, piped with a pistachio ganache centre and dipped in a delicate white-chocolate shell. Here, I’ve put coffee grounds in the batter and recommend serving them with bowls of chocolate spread and jersey cream.

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Head to Danieli, in Richmond, for the perfect cup

I am in London. I could either stay and write chapter one of my book or run away and go and do something, anything else. I opt, like all good writers, for the latter. So I take the tube to Richmond, having texted my friend, Natalie, in the meantime to join and enable me in my bunking-off. But there is purpose: a trip to what’s been described as the best hot chocolate in London.

Now, for a central London girl such as I was, Richmond barely counts as London (anything Zone 2 is suburbs to me), but that’s a compliment not a slight. We head to Danieli , the original tiny one on Brewers Lane (there is a newer, bigger one on Richmond Green) where you can sit inside or outside or just take your wares and wander round Richmond. The ice-cream here is meant to be legendary, but that can be for another time.

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Nothing beats dipping your hand into a tin of festive chocs at this time of year

Who doesn’t love dipping their hand into a tin of chocolate at this time of year? Quality Street is the favourite, but while I love the childhood idea of them, they are just not my cup of tea any more. If they are yours please enjoy them.

More grownup versions exist with more grownup prices. I have a soft spot for Italian Venchi ’s offerings. This is in part because some of the chocolates therein remind me of the ubiquitous bowls of sweets and chocs every grownup relative had on their dining-room table. My mother always had one, too, but hers was under the TV, and now my eldest, at university, emulates this on her kitchen table. Venchi’s ‘ hampers ’ (actually round, colourful boxes) start at £25. You can also do your own mix (look for My Venchi Mix ), 100g plus a box starts at about £12 and you can get a really good blend of exactly what you want.

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Food Standards Agency says hygiene and labelling laws may not have been followed

Consumers have been warned not to buy or eat fake branded Wonka or Prime chocolate bars over fears they could be unsafe.

The Food Standards Agency said it had received reports of the bars being on sale, and was working with Trading Standards to protect consumers.

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Chestnut flavours remind Annalisa Barbieri of her dear old dad

Papa Barbieri, my dad, used to forage for sweet chestnuts in London’s Kensington Gardens; long before foraging was a thing. We’d eat them roasted and brought to the table in a dish cloth for shelling. At Christmas, my mum would turn them into Monte Bianco – chestnuts puréed with chocolate and covered in vermicelli cream. Later, when my dad opened his own ice-cream shop, the foraged chestnuts would go into the best ice-cream flavour ever: my dad’s chocolate chestnut gelato.

I’ve long wanted to incorporate chestnuts into something chocolatey, so I approached Peta Leith of Lumi Chocolates and asked her if she could use all her skill, both as a chocolatier and as a pastry chef, to make an homage to my mum and dad. And after quite a bit of to and fro-ing and a quasi indecent amount of testing in the process, she has come up with the most wonderful chocolate chestnut truffles. The innards are chestnuts, hazelnuts and 60% cocoa, which are then all covered in an organic, single origin 80% cocoa Ugandan chocolate and then given a dusting of cocoa. As ever with these collaborations, neither the Observer , nor I, make any money. But I really hope you enjoy them, because how excited am I to have my own truffles! They will cost £12.95 for 12 handmade chocolates if you buy them before 1 January. Also before that date, 10% of profits will go to Crisis at Christmas . They are only available on pre-order (because they are freshly made) and will be despatched from the 4 December onwards.

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Cookie chips can be nothing short of amazing

A few weeks ago, I spoke about baked goods in chocolate. Pump Street were, if not the first, certainly one of the first to do this with their sourdough ‘waste’ mixed into chocolate. Now there’s a new bar from them which is very much nothing short of amazing. The Cookie Chip (£6.75, 70g) is part of its Bakery Series. It’s chocolate chip cookie ‘baked to a caramelised crisp’ and enrobed in 60% Ecuadorian cocoa chocolate. It also heralds Pump Street’s new packaging, which is based on the ‘Suffolk pink’ of the bakery. A worthy entry into any Christmas stocking.

Lumi ’s caramelised nut milk chocolate bar is its worthy bestseller and now has a dark (ergo vegan) counterpart in the form of the Vegan Nuts (£6.75, 100g). This is perfect for those (like me some of the time) who like their dark chocolate not too dark (it’s 54%) with the excitement of inclusions.

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