Pierre Hermé’s Valentine collection

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Sweet delights to fall in love with, from the Dior of desserts

The gift of sweetness for Valentine’s Day is rarely anything but gratefully received. However, the choice needs to be carefully considered; a perennially available offering is unlikely to make Cupid’s bow quiver with joy as the objet d’amour unwraps it.

Turn therefore to one of the world’s most famous pastry chefs, Pierre Hermé – described as “the Picasso of pastry” – who is launching a special limited-edition Valentine’s Day collection of chocolates and macaroons in time for February 14 (available from Monday January 26 to Monday February 16).

Hermé’s latest chocolate discovery is the Paineiras Plantation in Brazil, the cacao source for these delicacies, which combine notes of lightly roasted cocoa nibs, citrus and red fruits and rich spices. Chocolate lovers will swoon for the Bonbons Chocolat Coeur Infiniment Vanille, which marry the intense floral and sensuous woody notes of three vanillas sourced from Tahiti, Mexico and Madagascar. Each morsel is adorned with a heart and is available in boxes of four (£11.50, first picture) or nine (£20).

The Bonbons Chocolat Coeur Mogador (four for £11.50; nine for £20) combine passion fruit and milk-chocolate ganache, and are wrapped in milk chocolate in order to balance the acidity and perfume of the fruit with melt-in-the-mouth sweetness.

Meanwhile, Chocolat Coeur Ispahan (four for £11.50; nine for £20) is a reinterpretation of Hermé’s most celebrated flavour, combining raspberry, rose and lychee paste – now covered in dark chocolate for the first time.

A less cacao-centric present for a more pâtisserie-inclined recipient comes in the form of the exquisite J’aime Les Macarons gift box (£35 for 16, second picture), for which the art-loving chef has collaborated with French illustrator Soledad Bravi.  

Finally, to make your love’s heart swell, there’s Syrine (24 macarons for £50; 40 for £80) in a beautifully handcrafted box made from luxurious Italian paper that has taken years to design. Is it any surprise that Hermé is sometimes known as the Dior of desserts?