Kingdom Milk Chocolate & Cappuccino Coffee Centre

Product name: Kingdom Milk Chocolate & Cappuccino Coffee Centre
Calories: 168 per 30g serving (559 per 100g bar)
Country of origin: England

I received this bar of Kingdom Milk Chocolate & Cappuccino Coffee Centre as part of my prize from their Facebook page and, as a lover of coffee-flavoured chocolate (although not actual coffee!), I couldn’t wait to try it.

The overall concept and design was the same as the Dark Chocolate Lemon & Lime Centre, but this bar came in a dark brown and spearmint wrapper (which I thought gave the impression of mint-flavoured dark chocolate!), and featured coffee beans in the background and an image of a coffee cup.

Since the coffee centre also consisted of milk chocolate, it accounted for a huge 94% of the bar. Within this, 38% of the chocolate was sugar, and it also contained a minimum of 34% cocoa solids and 27% milk solids. Once again, the chocolate formed part of the Cocoa Development Project, and natural flavouring was used to achieve the coffee taste.

The slab had the same ridiculously chunky appearance but, obviously, was paler in colour than the dark chocolate. The filling was almost indistinguishable from the shell but it was just about possible to work out which bit was the core.

The aroma wasn’t very strong but there was an element of slightly bitter coffee about it. This bitterness was also present in the taste but the chocolate’s sweetness overruled it, with the two components combining to form a decent coffee chocolate experience.

 

To chew, the bar had the same texture, and I just loved the silky, smooth and creamy melt of the shell as the milky chocolate gave way to the coffee centre.

The best thing about this bar, for me, was that the emphasis was on the chocolate rather than the coffee, making it preferable to the Ritter Sport Espresso. That’s not to say that the coffee didn’t make a good impact – it did – it just wasn’t so strong that the chocolate became superfluous.

This was another great quality product from Kingdom and my appetite is now well and truly whetted to try the final bar from my bundle – thanks, guys!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Krispy Kreme Vanilla Cappuccino

Product name: Krispy Kreme Vanilla Cappuccino
Purchase details: £1.75 for a 94g doughnut (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts)
Calories: 409 per doughnut
Country of origin: UK 

I must confess that I was lucky enough to receive this Krispy Kreme Vanilla Cappuccino for free as a thank you for registering my reward card – I promise I’ll start paying for them again from now on!

 

I was really looking forward to trying this new variety but, as my first review of a filled doughnut, I was also a bit gutted I was going to have to cut it open and miss the magic of finding out where the filling was hiding! Prior to this, though, I was impressed by its outer appearance – it was decorated with swirls of vanilla and coffee flavoured icings as well as ‘crunchy shortcake crumble’. 

 

The Krispy Kreme website informed me that this doughnut contained a ‘smooth coffee kreme’ and, on opening it up, I could see that there was a lot of this pale substance. Of course, this excitement came at the cost of calories, but the good thing was that all of the nutritional information was available online so I was able to intentionally have a lighter dinner in order to accommodate this evening treat!

This doughnut wasn’t coated in the famous Krispy Kreme glaze and, as a result, its aroma was more like that of a standard doughnut – sweet and doughy. I found it to be less powerful, and there was no hint of a coffee scent, but it was delicious nonetheless. 

Before diving in, I couldn’t resist trying the different topping components on their own. The shortbread was quite soft but it was crumbly and I thought it tasted like Fox’s Party Rings. The sugary icings had a great texture – slightly crispy on the outside but soft in the centre. The vanilla was very sweet but, alone, had a slight chemical taste to it. The coffee one was better, though, with a decent but not-too-strong flavour. 

The coffee kreme centre tasted just like buttercream but with a hint of coffee thrown in for good measure. It was thick and very smooth. In fact, it tasted so beautiful I would have happily just eaten a jar of it on its own! 

The dough was the same as the Original Glazed (and the majority of other Krispy Kreme doughnuts) and, when everything was mixed together, it was a very tasty experience. It maintained the delicious sweetness that I’ve come to love about Krispy Kremes but added a bit of added interest with a mild coffee flavour. I say ‘mild’, but this was definitely stronger than the Caramel Macchiato that I’ve previously reviewed. 

I had been a little disappointed when I first noticed the absence of a glaze but it definitely wasn’t needed on this particular doughnut. The Vanilla Cappuccino was both sweet and crispy enough from the filling and the topping. 

Now...which one shall I have next?! 

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 9/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.63/10