Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted bustin' berry

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted bustin’ berry
Purchase details: £1.49 for a box of eight tarts (Home Bargains)
Calories: 200 per tart (400 per pack of two)
Country of origin: UK

 

This box of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted bustin’ berry was the variety I was actually buying when I ended up getting the Frosted apple blast ones too.

The product was very purple in terms of the branding, frosting and, to an extent, the inner ‘berry flavour fruit filling’. However, the icing certainly wasn’t a natural shade of purple for food, and it was also a shame that it had succumbed to the greasy effect Pop Tarts sometimes get. However, the jammy-looking filling (with a red tint) looked deliciously moist and plentiful within the golden, albeit cracked, pastry.

When cold, these Pop Tarts, like with the Frosted blueberry kind, smelt like Go Ahead! Fruit Bakes. I was pleased that the pastry had the seemingly-improved UK flavour that was evident in the apple blast Pop Tarts, too, with a combined buttery and salty taste. The filling did mainly taste of berries (4.5% of the overall product was strawberry) but there was also a slight tangy apple flavour mixed into the general sweetness...it turned out apple was also listed on the ingredients! As usual, the texture was slightly crumbly but with a crispy element from the frosting, whilst the moist filling softened the pastry nicely. Overall, the experience reminded me of sweeter fig rolls.

This was another box that stated that the pastries couldn’t be microwaved so I only warmed the tarts in the toaster. This turned the pastry itself to a lovely shade of golden brown and caused the frosting to appear slightly molten. The baked berry aroma was also delicious, and I loved the added crisp that was given to the pastry when toasted. The flavour was also a bit richer, warmed, but sicklier too.

All in all, this was another tasty fruity variety of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts, once again proving that not all the nice stuff has to be imported! 

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

Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted apple blast

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted apple blast
Purchase details: £1.49 for a box of eight tarts (Home Bargains)
Calories: 200 per tart (400 per pack of two)
Country of origin: UK

It’s been a little while since my last review of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts so I thought it was about time for another. This time, though, it’s a little bit different since these Frosted apple blast Pop Tarts are the first UK ones I’ve featured on my blog. As a result, they were considerably cheaper!

I actually nearly passed up this flavour until it occurred to me that that the ‘apple cinnamon fruit filling in a pastry with a sugar topping’ might actually be a bit like apple pie.

The Pop Tarts came in the same type of blue box as the American varieties I’ve previously reviewed, and featured a photo of the inner product – a rectangular pastry with a fresh white icing topping and a centre that looked like an apple purée. The reality of the tarts was very much the same. The pastry was the paler kind and I noticed that, like with the Frosted confetti cupcake variety, parts of the icing looked a little greasy. The highlight of the appearance for me, though, was the moist-looking apple compote. Once again, the 50g pastries were stored in pairs in silver foil wrappers.

Surprisingly, this box specifically stated that the Pop Tarts were not to be microwaved and, since it didn’t state they could be eaten cold either (although they had been pre-cooked), I decided to play it safe and only eat them toasted on the lowest setting, as instructed. As a result, this review will be shorter than my other reviews of this brand!

The tarts had a gentle but fruity apple scent which was evident when they were both cold and warm. I also noted that the pastry tasted slightly buttery too and, pleasingly, this transferred to the flavour. I’m not sure if the UK pastry recipe is different to the American one but I certainly enjoyed this one more than normal – not only was it buttery but it was sweet and didn’t have the usual flavour I associate with stale biscuits. It had also absorbed a slight tang from the filling so it was a lot nicer than I’d expected.

The ingredients stated that 6.5% of the product was apple and, as a result, there a lovely sweetened but tangy apple flavour. What was particularly nice about this was the way that the sugary topping cut through the slight tartness. The butteriness of the pastry went well with these elements too.

Furthermore, the texture was great and, to my delight, just like the part of an apple pie’s pastry that has been in contact with the apple filling – it was moist and stuck to the mouth slightly. The pastry’s edges added a twist to the texture by being crunchy (without being dry) and the crispy sugar topping also provided some variety.

I couldn’t believe how flavourful this Frosted apple blast variety was. I genuinely thought it tasted more like a dessert than a Pop Tart. I’m so glad I added these to my shopping basket as an afterthought – it would have been a crime if I hadn’t! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted cookies & creme

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted cookies & creme
Purchase details: £4.49 for a box of eight tarts (boldstreetsweets.co.uk)
Calories: 190 per tart (380 per pack of two)
Country of origin: USA 

Considering that, until a few months ago, it had been several years since I’d last had a Kellogg’s Pop Tart, I seem to have been completely sucked in by the American varieties! When I placed my order with Bold Street Sweets in December, I originally opted for a box of the Frosted cinnamon roll variety but, unfortunately, these are no longer in production. However, I knew instantly that I would like to swap them for these Frosted cookies & creme Pop Tarts, and I’d like to thank Bold Street Sweets for their great customer service around this.

 

Thanks to a Juice FM voucher, these pastries really cost me half the £4.49 website price. They came in the brand’s usual blue box and the images on the front looked very appealing – there were Oreo-style cookies as well as the tart itself which had a dark chocolate pastry and moist-looking creamy filling. The pastries contained both natural and artificial flavours, but the box also boasted the presence of seven vitamins and minerals (including calcium and four B vitamins), and the absence of cholesterol. 

Inside the silver foil wrappers, the Pop Tarts had a great appearance which was very like how the box had suggested. The very dark cocoa-containing pastry was topped with crisp white icing and crumby sprinkles. The only down-side was that the white filling wasn’t quite as abundant as the photograph had suggested. 

When cold, the tarts had a part baked chocolate and part cookie smell. The pastry was dry and soft and had quite a dark and bitter aftertaste. However, this element wasn’t really noticeable when chewing. The creme filling was more like a paste, on its own, rather than a solidified creme. With the pastry, it provided a welcome moisture and, combined with the crispy frosting, a sweetness too. Whilst I could recognise the cookies and cream theme within the flavours, I can’t say that this was as good as an actual Oreo! 

Toasting a tart made the filling look slightly softer and it also resulted in the baked aroma having a pleasant warmth to it. The pastry’s texture was barely altered (it was simply a bit firmer), but it was more flavourful to chew, providing a warm cocoa taste whilst maintaining its bitterness. I found the layers tended to separate in the mouth and, for me, there was a bit too much of a cocoa taste and not enough sweetness. However, I quite enjoyed its almost salty aftertaste. 

 

After being mircowaved for 10 seconds, the pastry was, again, not much different. Thankfully, though, the sweeter elements of the tarts were a bit more prominent and the overall experience was generally more cookie-like.  

 

There wasn’t a massive difference between the results of the two different warming methods but the microwaved tarts did just edge it for me. What I did find, with all three versions, was that the crumbs went everywhere, and the pastries provided a strong chocolatey taste at the back of the throat. I just would have preferred a little more sweetness to counteract this. 

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

Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted confetti cupcake

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted confetti cupcake
Purchase details: £4.49 for a box of eight tarts (boldstreetsweets.co.uk)
Calories: 190 per tart (380 per pack of two)
Country of origin: USA 

Today I’m back onto a more traditional blue box of eight Kellogg’s Pop Tarts. I ordered this Frosted confetti cupcake variety from Bold Street Sweets a few weeks ago and, thanks to a Juice FM discount voucher, I effectively got them for half the £4.49 shelf price – winner!

I wasn’t quite sure if confetti cake was a real thing (a quick Google search suggests it is!) but it seemed pretty clear to me that the name was due to the colourful sprinkles on the white icing. Taste-wise, I was expecting a fairly standard vanilla cupcake flavour, but I also noticed that the image on the box seemed to show confetti in the filling as well as on the outside of the tarts. I liked how these multicoloured spots were also blended into the description ribbon on the packaging and, all in all, the design really reminded me of Aunty Mabel’s aeroplane from one of my favourite childhood TV programmes: Come Outside.

The pastries themselves looked pretty much how they did on the box, although the confetti wasn’t as evenly distributed and, where some pieces had been dislodged, the frosting looked worryingly greasy. The pastry looked like the standard type used for Kellogg’s Pop Tarts and, whilst the filling was barely noticeable next to this, there did appear to be some pink and yellow sprinkles on the inside too.

Despite being cold, there was an instant sweet vanilla aroma on opening the foil wrappers, and I was excited to realise the tarts did actually smell like cake frosting. Like with the other Pop Tarts I’ve tried, the pastry on offer here was still quite dry and soft, and there was a slight saltiness mixed in with the sweetness – I actually found this pastry to be tastier than normal. The filling added moisture and seemed to also contribute to the overall vanilla flavour on offer. However, it didn’t seem to taste like much on its own, which was a bit strange. The confetti did taste sweetened but didn’t provide a strong flavour in the grand scheme of things. Instead, its main purpose was to provide a slightly crunchy texture although, on its own, it was slightly cardboard-like. As usual, the frosting was crispy, but it also tasted more like icing than sugar which was a lovely change. With all the parts combined, the flavours were almost floury and tasted very much like a cake (although not as good in quality due to not being freshly baked). The texture was also quite doughy and stuck to the mouth in a good way by not being too dry or moist.

When toasted, the smell was stronger, warm and cakey – I just wanted to stuff the tart in my mouth! The pastry was soft but slightly crispy and this went really well with the lovely flavour. The filling also became more moist and noticeable as a separate entity. The toasted tart really was very tasty and, whilst not as good as a real cupcake, it was what I call ‘fit’, in its own right.

The microwaved tart didn’t really do anything to change its appearance but it did produce the same yummy smell. The pastry stayed soft whilst the icing remained quite hard. Again, the centre was nice and doughy and, overall, it was a very similar experience to the toasted version. There was simply slightly less crispiness, although the confetti did still provide a sugary crunch.

As a vanilla and cake fan, I really enjoyed these Frosted confetti cupcake Pop Tarts. Whilst some people may not find the flavour an exciting one, I thought these were delicious and also tasted a lot less artificial than some of the Kellogg’s Pop Tarts I’ve tried. We need these in the UK! 

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