Home chef raises the (chocolate) bar

Who will be the next American idol? That's up in the air. But the "chocolate idol" has been announced, and she won for luscious Earl Grey brownies.

Blanche Ip recently took first place at a Langham Hotel contest, and now she has unlimited access to its weekly all-you-can-eat chocolate bar buffet. Her winning brownies will be featured among the more than 100 desserts.

Langham executive pastry chef Alejandro Luna came up with the idea of a contest as a way of "giving back" to loyal customers. The Chocolate Bar, now in its 19th season, offers all kinds of confections, including chocolate cotton candy, mousses, cakes, tarts, crepes, ice cream, fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies, and warm chocolate-croissant bread pudding.

Luna said to qualify for the contest, each dessert had to be original, offer texture and a mix of flavors, and keep for three hours (no melting, dripping, or oozing allowed). By the Sept. 22 deadline, the chef had received 56 recipes.

Among them was a drink calling for vodka, Cointreau, Godiva chocolate liqueur, and cocoa powder. "The amount of alcohol was excessive," says the chef. Another recipe, for triple chocolate cake, was "way too sweet," he says.

After narrowing the field to 10 entries, Luna and the hotel's pastry kitchen baked, tasted, and winnowed the list to four. Attendees at the Oct. 6 chocolate buffet voted on the winner. Ip's rich brownies garnered about 70 percent of the votes.

Ip, who works in the nutrition lab at Tufts University, enjoys cooking, but this was her first time entering a recipe contest. "I love chocolate," she says, and also admits to a current obsession with Earl Grey tea. While the Hong Kong native grew up drinking tea, it was rarely the British blend, which she started sipping after moving to Boston about a year ago.

Ip said her dessert blends two favorite ingredients. "I started with Earl Grey truffles," she says. Then she added the creamy, tea-infused chocolate ganache to a pan of her favorite brownies. "The tea brings out something in chocolate," she says, searching for the right words. She finally settles on this: "It harmonizes."

The distinctive aroma of Earl Grey, a black tea, comes from oil of bergamot, which is extracted from the rind of the unusual oranges grown in Italy. It's that subtle citrus flavor that complements chocolate, says Ip. Her favorite Earl Grey is from Whittard of Chelsea, the British tea and coffee company, which opened its first US store on Newbury Street in April.

The three other finalists were coconut almond-crunch bars, peanut-coated chocolate thumbprint cookies with caramel centers, and chocolate and nut-covered toffee. Karin Dempsey of Weymouth, one of the entrants, who was dining with her husband, was hopeful that her peanut-studded chocolate cookies would win. She describes her treats as having "my favorite flavors of a Snickers Bar."

About 250 people sampled the desserts. At one table, Meredith Pomfret celebrated her 10th birthday with friends Emily, Zahra, Kate, and another Emily, as well as family members. The fifth grader from North Andover thought the dessert bar was "awesome."

Ip plans to use her chocolate bar pass about once a month. She loves to bake, but she also never tires of seeing what other people have come up with.

The Chocolate Bar at the Langham Hotel, 250 Franklin St., 617-451-1900, takes place Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. through June. Reservations are recommended.