Elka Daily: Croissant (strawberry marmelade)

Product name: Elka Daily: Croissant (strawberry marmelade)
Purchase details: £0.40 for a 50g croissant or four for £1.00 (Asda)
Calories: 186 per croissant
Country of origin: Albania 

To finish off my reviews of the Elka Daily: Croissant range, tonight I bring you the strawberry marmelade variety (yes, that’s right – they can’t spell ‘marmalade’!). Following my experiences with the mille-feuille cream and cocoa cream flavours, I pretty much knew what to expect from the croissant itself at this point, but I did expect this strawberry filling to the be the sweetest of the lot.

This Croissant came in a very girly wrapper which was bright pink swirled with baby blue – I liked it! Unlike the other flavours, there was no image of the filling on this packaging but, instead, actual strawberries. On checking the ingredients, I saw that the filling would make up 27% of the product and contained strawberry pulp.

On removing the Croissant from the wrapper, I was aware that the smell was the strongest yet. Whilst I’ve previously found that the pastry itself had a fruity-like aroma, this one was obviously properly fruity in scent.

As expected, the outward appearance was the same as the other varieties, and the filling appeared to have the same kind of consistency, although it did look slightly more rough. I did find that the marmelade was darker than I thought it would be and was more of an orangey-brown than a pinky-red. I was pleased to see there was plenty of it though!

The Croissant itself tasted and felt exactly the same as previously whilst the filling was very sweet. Even though it was called a marmelade, I had been expecting the filling to taste like a jam, but there actually was a marmalade-like tang to the flavour. I enjoyed this taste but it wasn’t as fruity as I thought it would be. The moisture it provided, though, was fantastic and so the overall experience reminded me a bit of a Danish pastry.

This was the variety of Elka Daily: Croissant that I was least looking forward to trying but it turned out to be really nice and a winning combination. If only it were a bit fruitier... 

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

Mrs. Freshley's Fudge Bake: Brownie (candy topped)

Product name: Mrs. Freshley’s Fudge Bake: Brownie (candy topped)
Purchase details: £1.50 for a 78g brownie (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 330 per brownie
Country of origin: USA 

I’ve loved seeing all the new American baked goods in A Quarter of Sweets recently and, at fewer calories than some of the other offerings, this Mrs. Freshley’s Fudge Bake: Brownie (candy topped) was a product I decided to purchase. I’d not heard of the brand (let alone the product) before but the combination of the words ‘fudge’ and ‘brownie’ caught my attention as it sounded like a great texture – I hate dry brownies! 

I have to say that the packaging wasn’t the most exciting in the world, but I did like how the words ‘Fudge Bake’ were written in different coloured letters which reflected the colours of the candy topping. These candy pieces were unevenly scattered over the top of the brownie and were so bright and colourful that they reminded me of wax crayons! The brownie itself was covered in a fudgy-looking coating and, when looking inside, it was evident that the cake’s dark colour gradually lightened in texture. (The coating hadn’t really cracked by the way – I was just careless and it broke in my bag!)

This Fudge Bake had a good, cakey smell, but also the slightly odd element that I’ve noticed with a lot of American baked items. To be honest, I don’t know quite what that is! 

What I found slightly strange about the product name and description was that there was absolutely no mention of it being chocolate flavoured. However, the ingredients showed that it contained ‘dark chocolate flavoured chips’ (these were the candy pieces on the top) and chocolate liquor. I couldn’t believe that I’d ended up with another product containing alcohol (although under 2%) but I guess I’m learning that such small quantities in sweet food products are ok and I’ve probably been consuming it accidentally for years without realising!

The amazing thing about this brownie was the texture. Outside of the mouth, it had the most realistic feel of an imported mass-produced baked product that I’ve tried – it was quite weighty and dense, but also slightly moist. The only downside was that the coating felt quite waxy. When eating the brownie, though, it was properly doughy and squidgy and definitely had the desired moist brownie texture over the dry one. It was certainly fudge-like and provided the great sensation of sticking to the roof of the mouth. As a contrast, the candy topping provided some crispiness, although I did feel it was a shame that there were no further chocolate chips in the brownie itself – as pleasant as the soft texture was, I think it would have benefitted from a few chocolatey chunks here and there. The only other brownie feature which, for me, was missing, was the fact there were no crispy, crumbly edges.

As for the taste, it was as expected, really. It did provide a chocolatey flavour but, to be honest, because of the texture, I found it tasted more like a better-than-normal chocolate flavoured fudge rather than a more cakey-like brownie.

I didn’t expect this Fudge Bake to be so nice and with such a good texture. Having looked at the Mrs. Freshley's website, I’m pleased to see that they make a great variety of yummy-looking products so hopefully I’ll manage to get my hands on some more delights soon. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 7.5/10

Lindt Lindor: Caramel

Product name: Lindt Lindor: Caramel
Purchase details: £3.50 for a 200g box (tesco.com)
Calories: Unsure – estimate 73 per truffle
Country of origin: Switzerland 

I love Lindt chocolate and their Lindor truffles used to be one of my favourite products which I loved receiving as birthday and Christmas gifts. Then one day, to my horror, I ate a milk chocolate one and discovered I’d completely gone off them. I thought I’d previously eaten too many of them as it just tasted too rich and sickly, but I’ve not managed to enjoy them since – major sad face. I’ve refused to be defeated, though, so when new varieties have been released, I’ve still wanted to try them. It’s for that reason that today I’m bringing you my review of Lindt Lindor: Caramel.

I found out that this variety was being released a while ago and, despite having kept a look out for them for quite a long time, I nearly missed them on Tesco’s website when I finally did find them since the orangey-yellow box wasn’t too different in appearance from the gold box that contains a variety of truffles. Since these Caramel truffles were a continuation of a theme, the box was, as always, well-presented, and the individual wrappers were also of the usual quality.

The truffles’ outer appearance were identical to the milk chocolate ones – neat milk chocolate balls with a knobbly top where the truffle centre had been placed in the outer shell. I don’t know why, but there’s something I love about that little bump, along with the thin line that goes around the centre of each truffle, indicating where the two halves of the balls have been joined together. In the case of these Caramel truffles, the ‘melting filling’ was a pale colour and looked lovely and smooth.

I have to say I was nervous about trying these truffles due to my previous experiences, and the immediately obvious familiar Lindor smell did not initially help alleviate my fears. I used to love this scent but it’s one I now associate with feeling a bit queasy. However, I did gradually notice that the caramel was also present in this particular aroma and it actually seemed to become the stronger element over time.

At the height of my love affair with Lindor truffles, the thing I loved most was their unique texture. I found their thick Swiss milk chocolate shells filled with such a smooth, cool filling, really special and enjoyed how, after cracking through the chocolate, the filling almost instantly felt like liquid in the mouth as it melted so quickly. Thankfully, this familiar experience was as present as ever in these Caramel balls, so I certainly agree with the box’s claim that they were ‘irresistibly smooth’.

Now for the bit I was worried about: the taste. The chocolate contained a minimum of 32% cocoa solids and offered the familiar usual quality, creamy flavour. They did taste similar to the original milk chocolate truffles but, despite only containing 5.5% caramel, this additional flavour was very much evident and really helped offset the richness of the chocolate and truffle centre. Whilst it was the filling that contained this deeper flavour, it was also hinted at in the chocolate itself, and I was delighted that this caramel stopped the product being too rich and sickly.

I have to say I’m delighted that I’ve found a Lindor variety I properly enjoy again! According to MyFitnessPal, each truffle was 73 calories which, for the size, seems like quite a lot (although it’s understandable when considering how much texture and flavour was crammed into each one!), so I decided to have no more than one a day. For the first time in a couple of years, though, I actually wanted more since, whilst still rich, I didn’t find them sickly. Now it just remains to be seen if I’m ‘cured’ from such an unfortunate dislike of the original truffles, or whether these Lindt Lindor: Caramel truffles are just particularly special. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Hill Biscuits Snack Packs: Chocolate creams

Product name: Hill Biscuits Snack Packs: Chocolate creams
Purchase details: £0.89 for a multipack of six packs of six biscuits (Home Bargains)
Calories: 64 per biscuit (384 per pack)
Country of origin: UK

It’s been a while since my first review of the Hill Biscuits Snack Packs when I explored the traditional Custard creams but now it’s finally time for me to review the chocolate version. To be completely honest, this was the flavour I was least interested in since I don’t really see the point of a chocolate version of a custard cream when you could have Bourbon!

 

As expected, these Chocolate creams were the same in design as the Custard version, although the biscuit and cream were cocoa-coloured. The inner cream looked a bit velvet-like but, even though it was clearly chocolate flavoured, I did think it looked less exciting than the custard filling had done.

The Chocolate creams had a very mild biscuit smell but, unfortunately, there was no indication of chocolate within their aroma. Sadly, this lack of chocolate was also true of their flavour. The cream tasted far more sugary than chocolatey and the general flavour was just a bit strange. The biscuit itself had a tiny, tiny hint of chocolate in the taste but that really was it. In fact, if I’d closed my eyes, I genuinely don’t think I would have associated these biscuits with chocolate at all.

 

On the plus side, these biscuits were the same in texture as the Custard creams and so there was still an element of enjoyment in the product.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by these Chocolate creams. Whilst they didn’t taste bad, they didn’t taste of much at all – except sugar! 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 5.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 6.38/10