Best: Range of flavours

Rating: 10/10

Crosstown has been making sourdough donuts since 2014, to rave reviews, and in 2017 the brand went on to create a vegan version, using chia seeds and coconut butter in the dough and oat milk and dairy-free chocolate in its various toppings. On top of donuts, Crosstown has branched out to include ice cream, cookies and most recently, chocolate, inspired by its donut flavours. There are a couple on offer that are suitable for vegans, with the standout for us being yuzu and passionfruit. It features a fresh-tasting zesty and fruity ganache, encased in 72 per cent dark chocolate: utterly delightful.

Best: White chocolate alternative

Rating: 7.5/10

In spite of being dairy-free, this vegan-friendly bar still manages to achieve the creamy notes you’d typically expect of white chocolate, thanks to the inclusion of gluten-free oat powder and dried rice powder in lieu of dairy. It looks like white chocolate, and is laid out in 24 neat little squares, so it can be easily broken off. It’s rich, creamy and tasty, and on the whole it’s quite difficult to tell that it’s vegan. We also like the fact that packaging is fully recyclable and compostable.

Best: Smaller chocolate bar alternative

Rating: 9/10

You’ll find vegan nut butter cups and “m:lk” choc bars in LoveRaw’s repertoire, but it’s the white chocolate wafer bars we particularly rate, which are also available in vegan milk chocolate or salted caramel. Think of it as a vegan Kinder Bueno of sorts: each packet contains two individually wrapped chocolate wafer fingers, covered in dairy-free chocolate and filled with delicious layers of wafer and a hazelnut and almond vegan cream centre.

Best: For texture

Rating: 9/10

When it comes to texture, it’s hard to beat Tony’s Chocolonely’s, as its bars are impressively chunky. What’s more, the bars themselves are set in an uneven design, so when you break a piece off, you don’t know what size piece you’re going to get (which, for us, meant we kept going back for more).

Each bite of this moresish vegan chocolate bar is filled with a wonderful marriage of chunky almond as well as a clean finish of sea salt. It isn’t just texture that Tony’s Chocolonely gets right either: it excels at flavours, too. Additionally, Tony’s is also a B Corp and Fairtrade certified company, while also being committed to ending slavery within the chocolate making industry.

Best: Milk chocolate alternative

Rating: 9/10

H!p – which stands for “happiness in plants” – creates a range of plant-based “m!lk” chocolate bars in a variety of flavours including: creamy and smooth, cookies no cream, salted caramel and salty pretzel. Considering how creamy the chocolate is, and its incredibly smooth mouthfeel, it’s impressive to think that it doesn’t contain any dairy at all.

The salty pretzel variety is the brand’s standout flavour. Made with Colombian cocoa, dried gluten-free oat powder and salted pretzels, it’s irresistibly moreish, and tricky to put down. We also love its bright and eye-catching packaging, which also happens to be recyclable and compostable.

Best: Fruit-flavoured chocolate

Rating: 9/10

Made with quality cocoa from The Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union in Ghana, this certified vegan Fairtrade chocolate bar from B Corp Divine is big on flavour as well as ethics (Divine happens to be co-owned by cocoa farmers too). Made with 70 per cent cocoa and 100 per cent pure cocoa butter, it also contains freeze-dried raspberries, the flavour of which marries perfectly with the dark chocolate. It really is exceptional in flavour and has a silky yet rich taste and mouthfeel. Considering the quality of ingredients used, it’s also great value for money.

Best: Fruit and nut chocolate

Rating: 8/10

With no added sugar and all-natural ingredients (just cacao solids, pistachios, almonds, cashews and dates), this is vegan chocolate in its purest form, and will particularly appeal to dark chocolate fans. Considering it features 100 per cent Rio Maranon cacao, this bean-to-bar chocolate is not as bitter as you’d expect and still offers a natural sweetness thanks to the light floral notes in the cacao, plus the addition of nuts and dates. With no added sugar, the resulting flavour is rich and nutty with a hint of coffee, and you only need a tiny bit at a time. A real treat.

Best: Nutty chocolate alternative

Rating: 8/10

Popular Swiss chocolatier, Lindt, has been making chocolate since 1845 – and in January 2022, it’ll be introducing two vegan chocolate bars to its range, too. Vegan smooth and vegan hazelnut are the two flavours that are launching, with the latter pipping the former to the post in terms of flavour and texture. Made with gluten-free oat milk, premium coca and crunchy hazelnuts, this is nutty yet creamy, textured yet smooth. In all, it’s utterly moreish and is guaranteed to appeal to non-vegans too.

Best: Coconut-based chocolate

Rating: 9/10

Since setting up shop in 2018, PLAYin CHOC has won a flurry of awards. And it’s easy to see why. Made from 100 per cent organic ingredients (just cacao mass, coconut sugar, creamed coconut, cacao butter and vanilla), this is a smooth, creamy and nutty chocolate that, despite being made from creamed coconut and coconut sugar, isn’t overpowered by coconut. Within the cardboard packaging, you’ll find six individually-wrapped chocolates, helping it to stay fresh – and delicious.

Best: Variety pack

Rating: 9/10

We couldn’t mention chocolate without including Hotel Chocolat, and its vegan offering is something to rave about. You’ll find an array of hot chocolate, vegan chocolate batons and truffles amongst its offering, but it’s the vegan “sleekster”, filled with 33 chocolates, that stands out for us. Included are a selection of pralines, truffles, caramels and batons, all made with Hotel Chocolat’s vegan “nutmilk” chocolate, made from hazelnuts in lieu of milk. It’s a great selection, especially if you’re looking for an introduction into the world of vegan chocolate, and you’ll find the chocolate impressively creamy too.