McVitie's Dessert Inspirations...:Sticky toffee cake bars

Product name: McVitie’s Dessert Inspirations...: Sticky toffee cake bars
Purchase details: £0.79 for a pack of five bars (Home Bargains)
Calories: 144 per bar
Country of origin: UK

These new McVitie’s Dessert Inspirations...:Sticky toffee cake bars were another product that caught my eye because, like the Milky Way: Cake bars, they made use of a non-chocolate sponge. The sticky toffee flavour also attracted me, of course, but I still nearly left them on the shelf. It was only when I spotted the pale, gooey cream on the mouth-watering picture that I read the description that finally twisted my arm: ‘moist sponge topped with a toffee flavour cream, a layer of sticky toffee and covered in a smooth milk chocolate’.

Made by United Biscuits, I loved the rich chocolate colour of the packaging, and the individually wrapped bars were a decent size to boot. The sponge was clearly a little more than your standard Madeira cake with some added colour that brought its appearance more in-line with a less-aerated bread. This was topped with a generous layer of fudge-coloured cream, a slightly thinner layer of a much darker caramel sauce (13%), all encased in a chocolate shell (35%).

The bars emitted a sweet chocolate scent through which a slight hint of caramel also made itself known. The latter was much more apparent in the taste. For starters, whilst not as moist as the Milky Way: Cake bars, the sponge had an added brown sugar element. The silky smooth cream then provided a lovely, deep caramel flavour, and the sauce was even richer. Combined, there was almost a smokiness to the experience.

There’s no pretending that these bars were like an actual sticky toffee pudding, but I didn’t expect them to be! Instead, like their name suggested, they had simply been inspired by the dessert. They were much lighter and had a gentler flavour, but they also added something positively different to the cake bar market. The best thing for me, though, was the fantastic way the toffee sauce oozed out as I took each bite of the treat...fabulous. 

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10

Cartmel Sticky Toffee Apple Crumble

Product name: Cartmel Sticky Toffee Apple Crumble
Country of origin: England 

To my knowledge, this Sticky Toffee Apple Crumble is a relatively new addition to the Cartmel Village Shop – I certainly don’t remember it being around a couple of years ago. Either way, this was certainly my first ever experience of it. The nearest I’ve got is my sister’s homemade banoffee apple crumble where she does actually use a jar of their Sticky Toffee Sauce. 

This particular 500g pudding was a gift from my parents and, as a result, I’m not sure of the purchase details. However, I suspect they got it in Booths as it’s possible I mentioned in passing (ahem) that it was on offer there at the time they bought it.  

The cardboard sleeve was very similar to the design of the Sticky Toffee Pudding and Sticky Toffee Chocolatesbut, this time, the bottom strip was an apple shade of green. Again, no nutritional information was provided, so I stored this dessert in the freezer until a day when I wasn’t following my diet plan.

Having been thoroughly defrosted, the ‘yummy’ crumble was supposed to be cooked in its takeaway-style foil container (minus the lid) in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes so I opted for the full 25 as I prefer more of a golden brown topping. 

Prior to cooking, the crumble topping that, among other things, contained the usual rolled oats and Demerara sugar, looked very pale, and there were actually some quite large bits in the mix. I have to say the pudding was very well-covered and it was only the buttery shortbread aroma of the topping that I could detect. After being removed from the oven, the very buttery scent remained, and I was also pleased to see a small section of bubbling sauce seeping through the browned crumble at the edge of the dish.

When breaking through the crunchy topping, the combination of apples and toffee sauce (together accounting for 60% of the product) felt really mushy, so I was surprised to see such large slices of sauce-coated apple inside. This rich brown toffee sauce even managed to look warming on a cold night! I also found that exposing the inside of the pudding released a very slight brown sugar smell, although I can’t say this was quite up there with the aroma that the original Sticky Toffee Pudding boasts.

The sauce contained butter, cream, sugar and vanilla flavouring – not exactly healthy but at least you get a portion of fruit (it counts, right?!) in a pudding like this! In normal circumstances, I always prefer the topping of crumbles to the insides, but I did wonder if the inclusion of Cartmel’s sauce would sway me on this occasion.

I have to admit I raised an eyebrow when I saw the packaging describe the ‘crunchy apples’ used in this product – I figured it meant they were crunchy at the point of manufacture! However, they really did have a crunch rather than the slimy, slithery pieces that usually feature in crumbles. That said, they were, of course, a lot softer than raw apples. They also, unusually, maintained the sweet tang of the fresh variety whilst the sauce, although not tasting specifically like Cartmel’s other Sticky Toffee products, added a lovely sweet dimension. The quantity of the sauce included did also mean that it was possible to have it on its own, here and there, and this resulted in a darker toffee taste.
 

The topping was just how I like it – the upper edge was very crisp with an almost caramelised, sugary biscuit taste, whilst the inner edge was soft, buttery and moist from being in contact with the filling.

The packaging suggested serving the pudding with a ‘big dollop’ of ice cream or cream, and I’ve always been a fan of allowing a basic, neutral-flavoured ice cream to melt into hot crumbles. As a result, and obviously in the name of research(!), I tried this too. As expected, this produced a lovely, smooth and cooling effect, with the vanilla offsetting the sweetness of the dessert.

Since this Sticky Toffee Apple Crumble served four to five people, I decided to share it for once, and I gather from my Mum that it was also ‘lovely’ cold. I didn’t sample it that way, on this occasion, but I did scrape out the foil tin, and the sauce, at least, was just as scrumptious!

This was definitely a hit and, whilst I can’t honestly say that I’d have recognised the toffee flavour as Cartmel’s, the resulting dessert was still fantastically delicious. Can they do no wrong?! 

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

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