The Sweet Sensation Hamper: Who It Suits and How to Share It

Twelve sweet things, and not one savoury item among them. That single fact decides who the Sweet Sensation Hamper lands well with: an adult with a real sweet tooth, a household that still sits down to dessert, or a team that shares an afternoon tea. It is a box to put out on a table, not one to work through alone at a desk.

What an all-sweet box actually means

Most gourmet hampers hedge: crackers and a relish on one side, chocolate on the other, so nobody is left with a box they cannot build a plate from. This one does not. Four of the twelve are chocolate, two are shortbread, and the rest run from marshmallows and fruit jellies to fudge, brittle, macarons and a bag of Kangaroo Island honey popcorn.

The upside is range. Twelve packets are enough that two people can open something different every few nights, and enough that a table of eight can graze it in one afternoon without any one thing running out first. The trade is that nothing in the box breaks the run of sugar, so it is the wrong gift for someone who has a square of dark chocolate once a year and calls that dessert. For them, the mixed boxes on the Christmas hampers page suit better.

Who it suits, and who it does not

An adult with a serious sweet tooth

This is a box for the person who reads the dessert menu first. Twelve packets and no savoury half means none of it is filler to them: four chocolates that behave nothing like each other, two shortbreads, and six more that run from soft to brittle. Hand the same person a mixed gourmet box and half of it gets passed down the table.

The two boxes made with spirits

Two of the twelve are built on spirits, the detail most people miss when they buy this box for a room with children in it. The Chocolatier Pimm's Liqueur Truffles are Pimm's No. 1 mixed with fresh citrus in milk chocolate, and the Marc de Champagne Belgian dusted truffles are cocoa dusted Belgian chocolate carrying that spirit's flavour. Those are the two packets to bring out once the children have gone home. Enjoy responsibly.

Two people who share dessert

A pair will not clear twelve packets in a sitting, and that is the point of buying this size. At twelve the box stops being one occasion and turns into a run of small ones: shortbread and honey popcorn for a Tuesday night, the truffles and the peppermint bark held back for when someone drops in.

An office afternoon tea

Twelve packets open by hand, with no carving, no board and no knife, which is why one box covers an afternoon tea for a team of ten more easily than a platter does. Send it to a staffed reception rather than a desk, because it needs somewhere to be spread out. At $129.95 this box is past the $100 mark for free Australia-wide shipping, so nothing is added at checkout for freight.

Who it does not suit

Nuts run through several of the twelve: the caramelised cashew brittle, the Valley Produce Company macadamia shortbread and the almond flour shells of the macarons. If a nut allergy is anywhere in the room this is the wrong box, and the ingredient panels on the packs are the only thing to trust on the detail. It is also the wrong shape for one person living alone, looking at half an open box in February.

Sweet Sensation or Sweet Treats

The Sweet Treats Hamper at $89.95 is the same idea at eight packets rather than twelve, and the two share more than they differ. Both carry the Marc de Champagne truffles, the honey popcorn, the fruit jellies, the caramel sea salt fudge, the cashew brittle, the Scottie Dog shortbread and the strawberry macarons. What Sweet Sensation adds on top is the Pimm's truffles, the peppermint bark, the milk chocolate liquorice bullets, the macadamia shortbread, and salted caramel and coconut marshmallows in place of the choc coated vanilla ones. Choose on how many people will be eating it, not on which name sounds grander. If the gift needs more weight, the Sweet Sensation with G.H.Mumm Champagne Hamper is the same box with a bottle beside it, and our roundup of the sweetest gourmet hampers lays the sweet range out side by side.

How to share it

Do not tip twelve packets onto one board. Split them across three plates by texture, and the box reads as a planned spread instead of a raid on the cupboard.

The honey popcorn gets a bowl of its own at the start, because it is the one thing here people eat standing up without feeling they have broken into the chocolate. The macarons are meringue and go soft in a humid room, so leave that box shut until the day. Keep the chocolate out of the fridge. Chocolate that has been cold and then warms up again goes patchy and dull, which spoils the look rather than the eating, and why chocolate turns white explains the chemistry.

Everything is packed by hand in Corio, just outside Geelong, into a French blue box with a gold ribbon, with a free personalised gift card you write at checkout. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post. Deliveries land in business hours, so in December a staffed reception or a home address with someone in it beats an empty house.

Questions about the Sweet Sensation Hamper

Is anything in the Sweet Sensation Hamper savoury?

No, all twelve are sweet. Four are chocolate: Marc de Champagne Belgian dusted truffles, Chocolatier Pimm's liqueur truffles, milk chocolate liquorice bullets and festive peppermint bark. Two are shortbread: Scottie Dog fingers and Valley Produce Company macadamia. The other six run from soft to brittle: Borgo de Medici strawberry macarons, Sweet Dreams salted caramel and coconut marshmallows, Pimlico fruit jellies, buttermilk caramel sea salt fudge, caramelised cashew brittle and Kangaroo Island honey popcorn.

Does the Sweet Sensation Hamper contain alcohol?

There is no bottle in it, but two of the chocolates are made with spirits: the Pimm's liqueur truffles and the Marc de Champagne truffles. Treat it as an adult gift, and if you are sending it to a house with young children, say so on the gift card so those two boxes go on a high shelf.

Will the Sweet Sensation Hamper stretch to a table of ten?

Yes, as an afternoon spread. Twelve packets across three plates gives eight to ten people something to reach for without any one plate emptying first. For one household it works out closer to three weeks of dessert for two, or half that for four. Buy it for the number of mouths rather than the size of the gesture.

If the box is going to a table rather than a desk, and nobody in the room needs talking into dessert, the Sweet Sensation Hamper is the one to order, with your gift card message written at checkout.