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We recommend making this as your next weekend treat for all the family to enjoy. Made with fresh apples and dark chocolate, for a deliciously moist cake that is perfect paired with some greek yoghurt or vanilla ice cream!

Wet Ingredients:

3 x large eggs

2 x cups caster sugar

225g unsalted butter

1/2 x cup water

1 x tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/2 x cups plain flour

2 x tbsp cocoa powder

1 x tsp cinnamon

1 x tsp allspice

1 x tsp baking soda

1 x pinch of salt

1 x cup grated apples (approx 2/3 apples including the skin)

1 x cup 70% dark chocolate chips/buttons (good quality and ethically sourced please!)

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C and grease and line an 8" round cake tin.

Cream together the butter and the sugar, and in a separate bowl mix together the eggs, water and vanilla, then combine them all together.

In a large bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda and salt.

Grate the apple. (We like to keep the skin for extra fibre. It's ok to have a few larger pieces too to find in your slice of cake and save you grating your thumbs!)

Mix the apple and dark chocolate with the rest of the dry ingredients. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Pour the mixture into your cake tin and bake for 1 hour. Once baked allow to cool a little before removing from the pan.

Delicious enjoyed while still slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! You also might want to customise the recipe slightly by adding your favourite nut for a little crunch! We love chopped hazelnuts with this, but you could also try walnuts and almonds. Bon appetit!

This Easter, we’re working with Trees That Count to mitigate our carbon footprint over the next 50 years, by helping to fund the planting of NZ native trees right here in NZ.

$1 from every Easter Egg we sell this year will be donated to Trees That Count. Here are some of the ways your Easter Egg purchase is helping to make a difference:

- Strengthening New Zealand’s biodiversity

More than 4,000 New Zealand native plants and animals are threatened or at risk of extinction and in need of our protection. By supporting native tree planting, you’re creating more habitats for our threatened wildlife and helping build ecosystems that are more resilient to threats and diseases.

- Helping New Zealand's Economy

Native trees are great for the environment, that’s a given, but they also help our economy. Our beautiful landscapes and forests are part of our clean, green image and key to why our products and produce are so highly valued around the world. In our communities, more native tree planting also means more jobs and keeps local nurseries busy and thriving.

- Helping Kiwis breathe easier

Native trees improve the quality of our air by removing pollutants from the air. Plants are often seen as the “lungs” of an ecosystem because they absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. Research also shows that Kiwi kids who spend more time surrounded by nature are less likely to develop asthma. 

- Looking after our rare species

80% of our trees, ferns and flowering plants are endemic (found only in New Zealand). Our unique native trees such as the kōwhai, pōhutukawa, kauri and tī kōuka (cabbage tree) are something we’re all proud of and embedded in our identity as New Zealanders. By helping plant more of our iconic native species, you’re protecting our unique flora and fauna for the future.

- Improving Community Health and Wellbeing

As little as 10 minutes a day in a natural setting can help people feel happier and lessen the effects of both physical and mental stress. Supporting native tree planting in New Zealand helps create more accessible green spaces for people to unwind, promoting health and wellbeing.

- Honoring indigenous culture and tradition 

Our native trees are closely entwined with Māori mythology, art and traditional healing. From the creation story of Ranginui and Papatūānuku being separated by Tāne god of the forests and birds, to the koru that appears in the unfurling silver fern and in many forms of Māori art and whakairo (carving), our native trees are embedded in our indigenous culture.

- Creating habitats for native birds

Your support of native tree planting is creating habitats for native birds and providing fruit, seeds and nectar that are valuable sources of food. There are 32 species of birds living in our native forests, including the famous ‘ruru’ (morepork), pīwakawaka (fantail) cheeky kea and many more.

- A legacy for future generations

Native trees can live for thousands of years. Unlike pine, they don’t need to be clear-felled and replanted – they keep thriving. Supporting native tree planting today will leave a legacy for future generations that you can be proud of. As well as helping create a healthier environment, you’ll be growing natural playgrounds for the tamariki of tomorrow and sustenance to help our wildlife survive.

The choices that we make as humans have a direct effect on nature: what we buy, what we eat, how we travel.

This year our Easter Eggs are all about celebrating the beauty of our planet, and will hopefully make you stop and think about the potential impact of climate change. Our hand decorated eggs are inspired by the Earth, the Sun, the Ocean, the Clouds, the Night Sky, the Trees and the Birds.

We have committed to donating $1 from every Easter egg sold to Trees That Count, helping to fund the planting of NZ native trees right here in NZ. We have also ensured our Easter packaging this year is home compostable, so you can feel extra good when you bite into your Easter egg! If you’d like to do more, here are a few simple changes you and your family can make to help lower your ecological footprint...

Avoid single-use plastics

Shop local and buy second-hand

Reduce your meat and dairy consumption

Plan your meals to avoid food waste

Wash clothes in cold water and air dry instead of using the dryer

Re-use and re-purpose as often as possible

Walk, cycle, carpool, use public transport, or switch to an electric or hybrid vehicle.

Compost your kitchen scraps and garden waste.

Grow your own veggies and fruit.

Plant local flora and attract native wildlife in your own backyard.

Switch off lights and other electrical appliances when not in use.

Advent season is almost upon us and if you’re anything like us, you cannot wait to open that number 1 on the 1^st of December! Try and be strong! Advent Calendars are a popular festive tradition every year all over the world. Here in NZ this year (and particularly Auckland), we definitely feel like that countdown will be even sweeter after these last few months! Roll on 2022!!

We think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they eat their advent calendar! Are you a stickler for the rules, and eat one chocolate per day at the same time every day, or do you find that everything’s disappeared before the first week of December is out?! After a bit of online research, we can tell you someone actually holds the record for the fastest time to eat all 24 chocolates from an advent calendar, in 1 minute and 27 seconds. So don’t feel too bad if you don’t make it past the first week.

But where did the idea of advent calendars come from? The word Advent literally means ‘coming toward’. The idea is thought to be traced back to the Nineteenth Century, when German Protestants would mark walls or doors with a line of chalk  to count the days leading up to Christmas. The actual design of an advent calendar is thought to have come about in the early 1900’s in Germany as a printed version of 24 pictures. Fast forward to Christmas 2021 and the advent calendar options are mind-blowing! Including lego, alcohol, make up, and even plants! To us, a lot of that sounds wasteful and like a whole lot of packaging! Yes 24 little bottles of moisturiser sounds cute, but in reality I bet they’ll still be sat in your drawer come next Christmas!

We love the idea of an edible advent calendar because we see it as a way to take a moment each day to savour and to look forward to. Open the number for that day, take a bite, and zone out of whatever else is going on in your world. It’s a ritual that can create lasting memories and form traditions over generations. And if there’s ever a month to indulge a little bit extra each day, then December is it. The only question you need to ask yourself is, are advent calendars for gifting to others, or buying for yourself?

We have 2 advent calendar options available this year, each with 24 cute-as festive house boxes to add colour and cheer around the place throughout December. The Jolly Advent Calendar is more aimed at kids, but hey no judgement! It contains a selection of chocolates, caramels, marshmallows, hokey pokey, and fruit jellies. The Decadent Advent Calendar is exactly that, with a range of different flavoured chocolate bonbons inside, including Salted Caramel, Rhubarb and Custard, Gin and Tonic, Espresso Martini, and Christmas Cake to name a few. Both sets can be ordered with either one or two sets of treats, and are gluten free, dairy free and soy free. We hate the idea of waste and have done our best to minimise packaging, whilst protecting the all important edible treats, and encourage you to recycle and repurpose where possible. We also have advent re-fills available for filling your own advent calendar, or one of ours from previous years.

Each little house has an anecdote to read each day, and you can either decide to pop your treats right inside the house boxes, or have a little fun and add a note inside each one with a clue as to where you've hidden the treat each day. 

However you choose to enjoy your advent calendars, we hope ours can bring some festive joy to you and yours this Christmas.

We're newcomers to the Matcha Party, and now we're hooked! We love it's distinctive flavour, and when paired with white chocolate it blows our mind! It seems Matcha is just like chocolate, in that the good stuff tastes sooo much better, that it makes you question why you would bother with the not so good stuff at all?! We asked Enna and May from Thea Matcha to give us the lowdown on Matcha and why you need it in your life...

What is Matcha? 

Stoneground Green Tea

Why do you love Matcha?

It is a great caffeine alternative to coffee, as coffee can make our hearts race and give us the sweats! Plus anything green is good, he he!

What's the difference between Matcha and regular green tea? 

They come from the same plant, but they are grown, harvested, processed and consumed differently. Did you know there are 137 times more antioxidants in Matcha compared to your average green tea.*

Where do you source your Matcha?

We order our Organic Matcha in small batches from a farm in Japan. Organic farming is important to us not only because of the quality of the product, but also because of the impact on the environment.

Why did you decide to call your business Thea?

We chose the name Thea because of the serotonin/happy-inducing amino acid prominent in green tea, known as L-Theanine. Green tea is also part of the Theaceae family and Thea also happens to mean goddess! It was simple, relevant and captured the essence of what we wanted this venture to be.

We've partnered with Thea Matcha to bring you delicious Matcha at our Auckland Chocolate Bar and Boutique. Try the amazing hot chocolate using Vegan White Chocolate and Organic Matcha. Or enjoy a classic Matcha Latte alongside one of our chocolatey treats. And keep your eyes peeled for another batch of our limited edition White Chocolate and Matcha Chocolate Tablets, coming soon!

*https://www.theamatcha.com/