Megaload Caramel Crunch

Product name: Megaload Caramel Crunch
Purchase details: £1.39 for a pack of three cups (cycbercandy.co.uk)
Calories: 110 per cup (330 per pack)
Country of origin: USA

A couple of days ago I reviewed the creative Megaload Original which was a twist on the peanut butter cup. Well, tonight, I bring you a further twist in the form of Megaload Caramel Crunch.

I purchased this packet from Cybercandy and it contained three chocolate cups, filled with caramel rather than peanut butter, each with a different topping (almond buttercrunch, candy coated chocolate pieces, and peanut butter crunch). I can’t say I was quite as excited about this packet due to the lack of peanut butter, but I was genuinely intrigued to try a caramel product in a cup format. (The knowledge of the peanut butter topping also helped!)

These cups were presented in the same way as Megaload Original (although with a golden yellow wrapper to reflect the caramel variety) and they had a strong cocoa aroma. Interestingly, the overall smells emanating from the cups really reminded me of the scents that drift out of selection boxes. I can only assume that what my nose was experiencing was a combination of the chocolate, caramel and nuts, rather than a specific ingredient, since all three tend to be consistently present in such boxes of chocolate.

Each cup was made from a solid, chunky milk chocolate which, whilst not the best quality in the world, was still very enjoyable, especially when combined with the amber caramel inside. This caramel had felt stiff to cut through, but it was actually really soft and runny which is just what I like in a caramel. Whilst the cups didn’t seem as deeply filled as their peanut butter sister products, the consistency of the caramel meant that this wasn’t an issue as a little went a long way. It also had a lovely buttery element to it.

The almond buttercrunch cup was attractively decorated with tiny pieces of almonds (far smaller than the picture on the packet!) that I could easily have mistaken for walnuts, along with slightly larger, toffee-like pieces (the buttercrunch). These provided a nice, caramelised flavour, but I have to say that I couldn’t taste the actual nuts over the inner caramel. I also found that they didn’t seem to add a crunch at all.

The candy coated chocolate pieces cup was exactly the same idea as the peanut butter version so, again, added a splash of colour and a great crispy texture. This was my favourite of the three cups as a creaminess could be detected from the cup’s chocolate and caramel, as well as the different chocolate within the candy pieces.

The peanut butter crunch cup had a similar appearance to the almond buttercrunch one, albeit with nuts that were more golden in colour. Sadly, I couldn’t smell the nuts, but there was a slight saltiness in the taste which hinted at peanut butter – this certainly wasn’t obvious though. Again, I found that despite the apparently abundant nutty topping, this cup did not have a crunchy texture. However, the buttercrunch pieces did give a slight chewiness. Whilst not what I was expecting, this was still pleasant.

I thought it was a nice change having Megaload Caramel Crunch – they were certainly satisfying and I did enjoy them. I don’t think the toppings on offer here were as exciting as the other Megaload variants, but I think this is fine as, ultimately, the idea of a cup filled with caramel rather than peanut butter is the unique selling point here. Personally, I’d always prefer the peanut butter varieties, but I’m sure caramel lovers would get more satisfaction from this version.  

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10