Cartmel Sticky Toffee Chocolates

Product name: Cartmel Sticky Toffee Chocolates
Purchase details: £3.50 for a box of 12 chocolates (Cartmel Village Shop stall at Holker Winter Market)
Country of origin: England 

Earlier this week I returned to Cumbria for the first time in over two years. It had always been the plan to visit the Winter Market at Holker Hall and I was super-excited when I discovered that Cartmel Village Shop had a stall there. Whilst I’ve had Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding many times before, I’d never managed to try the Sticky Toffee Chocolates, despite having been on my wish list for a long time.

This box of chocolates’ packaging was very similar to the Pudding's – just with a more detailed illustration of the real-life Cartmel Village Shop. There was also a little cut-out in the top right corner of the cardboard which allowed a sneaky peek at one of the 12 Chocolates inside that were served on a cellophane-wrapped plastic tray.

The reason I’d wanted to try these milk chocolates for so long was because they contained the same Cartmel Sticky Toffee Sauce that makes their Puddingso rich and delicious. Really, it was quite a simple concept, yet I knew I’d never had anything quite like it before.

I did find it slightly annoying that there was, as usual, no nutritional information provided and, since MyFitnessPal also drew a blank on the number of calories, I had to limit this treat to non-diet days. The packaging did state, though, that there were ‘strictly no fake flavours, colours or preservatives’, and the chocolate contained a minimum of 31% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids. I was also surprised to see that the chocolate itself made up the majority of each piece (66%) whilst ‘only’ 34% was the sauce.

The Chocolates were shaped as rounded mounds with slightly bumpy tops and they had thick, glossy shells. The inner sauce was gooey and a darker shade of brown than the chocolate.

Smell-wise, the chocolate had quite an ordinary, milky scent. I couldn’t detect the sauce through this, but once I’d cut into a chocolate, there was a very slight sugary toffee scent. Whilst pleasant, this was not nearly as strong or mouth-watering as the Pudding, although the fact that they were served cold rather than warm was probably a significant factor in this!

The chocolate tasted very similar to Nestlé in that it was quite a basic milky, chocolatey flavour. It felt smooth on the tongue and was also really crunchy. However, it was the sauce I was more interested in! This provided the sweet and slightly dark syrupy taste I’d expected, although I found it strange consuming it cold. The combination of flavours, combined with the runny texture of these Chocolates’ centres, almost made me think of chocolate liqueurs. These were far nicer, though, since there was no overwhelming alcohol taste.

These Sticky Toffee Chocolates were, understandably, rich. I did wonder if they could do with a little less chocolate since there was a lot of it but I figured this might lead to the currently well-contained but dense sauce leaking out. As an alternative, I thought it may be nice to have a nut in the centre of each chocolate just to take the edge off the sweetness but, to be honest, I’d be just as happy to continue eating them as they are!

Being the fan of Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding that I am, it’s impossible for me not to make comparisons here. I found that the toffee flavour from these Chocolates was not as strong as the one on offer from the Pudding but it was still very present. I also thought the addition of the chocolate was a nice, welcome touch. I’d definitely prefer the warm, sauce-absorbing sponge as a dessert option but these Chocolates were definitely a good take on the classic. 

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