Perugina Baci: Nocciole intere

Product name: Perugina Baci: Nocciole intere
Purchase details: £0.99 for a 150g bar (99p Stores)
Calories: 124 per 21.4g piece
Country of origin: Italy 

When I was 10 years old, I went on my first trip abroad. I’ve got fond memories of that family holiday in Italy and one thing I’ve never forgotten is a particular brand of little chocolates that came in midnight blue packaging and, within their foil wrappers, had little notes written in Italian – they seemed a bit like fortune cookies at the time. However, what I never have remembered is their name. That changed when I saw this bar of Perugina Baci: Nocciole intere recently – I knew instantly that I’d found something by the same brand and I just had to take a trip down memory lane.

Having checked out Perugina's website, I now know the pieces of paper were love notes, and since Google told me ‘Baci’ means ‘kisses’, everything suddenly makes more sense! Although there were no additional bits of paper within this bar’s wrapper, there were various relationship-related quotes printed on the inside, so I didn’t feel like I’d missed out.

I found out from Google that ‘Nicciole intere’ translates as ‘whole hazelnuts’ and, with the product description given as ‘milk chocolate and gianduja hazelnut milk chocolate with hazelnuts’, I couldn’t wait to tuck into one of my favourite flavour combinations. According to trusty Wikipedia, gianduja is a chocolate spread that consists of around 30% hazelnut paste. In my head, I was thinking ‘Nutella’, so it all seemed very exciting.

My nose was soon greeted with a relatively strong scent that was equally chocolatey and hazelnutty with a subtle sweetness thrown in for good measure.

The bar was split into seven oblong segments that featured the brand name. The whole hazelnuts (8%) were visible through both sides of the slab and the chopped hazelnuts (3.7%) were also noticeable throughout. In addition, the chocolate’s surface contained lots of darker flecks which looked a lot like vanilla but there was no mention of this on the ingredients list. The bar was also clearly split into two – the darker base appeared to be the gianduja layer whilst the paler upper layer was standard chocolate.

This Baci: Nocciole intere had quite a strong taste of rich cocoa and plenty of hazelnut. I was right to expect a Nutella-like flavour but it wasn’t as sweet and felt a lot more sophisticated. The texture contributed to this too since it didn’t have a praline feel to it but it wasn’t completely chunky either – it was solid but with a softer chew than most chocolate bars. The well-dispersed nuts provided a great crunch and, when melting slowly, only the whole nuts interfered – the chopped ones didn’t get in the way at all!

Due to the heavy weight of this bar, the pieces were of a pleasing size that were full of flavour. A serving may only have been one piece but this didn’t feel stingy at all...although I won’t deny I could have happily and easily eaten more at once! I just hope I won’t have to wait such a long time again before I get my hands on another Perugina product.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Cadbury Creme Egg

Product name: Cadbury Creme Egg
Calories: 180 for a 40g egg
Country of origin: UK 

I didn’t think I’d get a chance to review the wonderful Cadbury Creme Egg this year but then I found a friend of mine, who doesn’t like them (shock, horror!), had been given some that she didn’t want. She kindly gave one to me so, weeks after Easter, here it is!

There was no nutritional information provided on the red, yellow and purple wrapper of this Mondelez product so I obtained this from Cadbury's website. However, the packaging did provide the description of a ‘milk chocolate egg with a soft fondant centre (47%)’ which, I noticed, was 2% more filling than the mini version I’ve previously reviewed.

This larger egg had an almost identical appearance to the minis – it simply had stars on both sides instead of just on one. There was something about the bigger size, though, that made it even more mouth-watering to look at! The Creme Egg emitted a fantastic ‘Easter’ scent of chocolate combined with the famous sweet, sweet, fondant, and I found the incredibly chunky shell (just look at it!) was surprisingly hard to cut in half. However, doing so revealed the wonderfully gooey mass within, although I apologise for the flecks of stray chocolate that got mixed up with this egg-inspired centre.

Due to the way I cut this egg, I sacrificed my preferred method of consumption (biting the top off and licking out the middle), but I could still tell that the ratio of chocolate to fondant worked much better on this larger scale. The sugary centre oozed out of its chunky shell and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The taste was also pretty much the same as the mini eggs but I did think the chocolate tasted less sweet. I re-checked the wrapper and saw it contained a minimum of 14% milk solids whereas the mini variety's minimum was 20%. I’m not sure if this is what my tastebuds were detecting but, either way, I thought it was bit odd to use a different type of chocolate for what was essentially the same product!

Anyway, it didn’t matter, because I loved having this little reminder of Easter in June!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Tesco Cupcakes: Salted caramel

Product name: Tesco Cupcakes: Salted caramel
Purchase details: £1.40 for a pack of two cupcakes or three for two (Tesco)
Calories: 297 per cupcake
Country of origin: UK

When I bought my Tesco Peanut Butter Style Cupcakes on a three for two offer, it took me ages to decide what other sweet treats to get! I’m aware that salted caramel products seem to be everywhere at the moment but, in the end, this was one of the other new cupcake varieties I plumped for.

Once again, the cakes came in a simple but well-designed clear box. The cardboard sleeve was caramel-coloured to add to the ‘caramel flavoured sponge with salted caramel sauce and rich caramel frosting’. I must admit that I found the prospect of a caramel sponge particularly exciting!

 

The golden sponges looked incredibly moist and were filled with a deep shade of amber sauce which, despite only contributing to 1.5% of each cake, seemed plentiful. The swirled frosting was a fudgy colour, accounted for another 43% of the product, and was finished off with a mini puddle of more salted caramel sauce and a small ‘chocolate decoration’.

Despite being subtle, the cupcakes emitted a lovely scent that was like treacle sponge. I tried some of the sauce first and found this to have a deep and surprisingly creamy, brown sugary taste, with the salt coming through at the end – I was definitely grateful that the latter wasn’t too strong. The frosting had a great buttercream taste but felt a bit more grown-up due to the inclusion of the caramel. In the meantime, the incredibly soft sponge provided a sweet flavour with a subtle caramel hint, making the chocolate curls taste particularly dark in comparison (although these weren't that noticeable).

Possibly because I’m used to salted caramel being paired with chocolate, I expected these Tesco Cupcakes: Salted caramel to be quite intense. However, they were sweeter and less salty than I’d prepared myself for...and absolutely beautiful. I’m a fan of basic shop-bought birthday cakes (the ones consisting of plain sponge, jam and buttercream) and these cupcakes were like that but with deeper flavours and a much moister texture. They were also a lot more sophisticated!

I certainly wasn’t disappointed with this choice. 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 9.5/10
Overall score: 8.38/10

The Custom Cupcake Company Chocolate Decadence Cupcake (white chocolate)

Product name: The Custom Cupcake Company Chocolate Decadence Cupcake (white chocolate)
Purchase details: £2.00 for one cupcake (The Custom Cupcake Company)
Country of origin: England 

I think The Custom Cupcake Company has become my guilty pleasure – as soon as I have a non-diet day, I’m there!

Two of the apparently staple varieties that have been available on all my visits so far are the Chocolate Decadence Cupcakes that come in both milk and white chocolate. Since I’m a white chocolate fiend, I thought I’d opt for the latter on this occasion.

This cake was quite simply decorated but still looked beautiful. The yellow sponge was topped with a thick, swirled cream-coloured frosting and finished with three giant white chocolate buttons, a drizzle of melted white chocolate, and a sprinkling of edible glitter. The girl in the shop had told me that the treat was filled with a white chocolate ganache and this pale filling flowed almost seamlessly into the frosting.

As much as I love white chocolate, I often find that when it’s used in other things, its own flavour gets lost. However, on opening the carry box, I was surprised to be greeted by a white chocolatey scent. Having actually bought the cake two days in advance, I was also delighted to discover that the sponge wasn’t dry, and its sweet and creamy taste led me to believe that white chocolate had actually been incorporated into the mixture.

The generous frosting had a slightly crispy outer layer which gave way to a soft, grainy depth. As I’ve found previously, it was very sweet but, combined with the mellower elements of the Cupcake, I didn’t find this as extreme as the Berries & Cream Cupcake. The frosting and inner ganache also provided a lovely moisture, with the latter tasting gorgeously of white chocolate and having a fantastic smooth and partly solidified texture.

I’d definitely say that this was another treat for the sweet-toothed but the inner creaminess did offset this. As I’ve said, the subtle white chocolate flavour can be hard to pull off, and the sugary frosting did take away from this at times, but the desired taste was never completely lost and I think the addition of the fantastically sweet, creamy and chunky buttons played a part in this.

If I were to suggest an improvement, it would be to make the ganache a bigger feature – it was so delicious that it was a shame there wasn’t more of it! However, there is no denying that this was an indulgent treat exactly as it was.

I can’t wait for my next visit!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.75/10