Wall's Magnum (chocolates)

Product name: Wall's Magnum (chocolates)
Purchase details: Tesco Superstore
Calories: 66 per piece (198 per three piece bar)
Country of origin: UK 

I recently reviewed an ice cream that wasn’t an ice cream in the form of the Wall's Cornetto: Vanilla chocolate cone and, today, I’m at it again. This time, it’s the turn of Wall's Magnum (chocolates) which I was, again, lucky enough to receive for free with a voucher from the Magnum website thanks to a heads-up from Magic Freebies UK. Otherwise, this 33g bar would have cost £0.60.

This ‘new chocolate experience’ was described as a ‘vanilla flavoured white chocolate truffle centre with a milk chocolate coating’. I did actually try this product in the Summer (when I first tried the Cornetto: Vanilla chocolate cone) and I can’t say I was impressed as it seemed far less authentic than the Cornetto version had been. However, I thought I’d give it another go.

KCL (under license of Unilever) again did a good job of mimicking the original Magnum’s appearance, here, by presenting the three chocolates in a slightly luxurious, metallic brown and gold wrapper that was similar to the ice cream’s packaging and contained Magnum’s ‘M’ logo. I still found the ‘do not freeze’ warning amusing!

Each chocolate was shaped like a mini Magnum (stick excluded) so were oval in shape and contained a thick chocolate layer that contained an ‘M’ imprint. This was dark in colour and, unfortunately, was also slightly scuffed in appearance. The inner white chocolate filling wasn’t very smooth-looking but it did look a bit like ice cream – particularly due the odd speck of vanilla.

The milk chocolate contained a minimum of 38% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids and emitted a cocoa aroma that wasn’t very sweet. The white chocolate in the truffle centre boasted a minimum of 20% milk solids and, bizarrely, almost had a hint of alcohol in the aroma!

I don’t know about you, but I love the satisfying cracking noise the chocolate makes on Magnum adverts, and I was really pleased that these chocolates provided that experience. It was a really thick layer of chocolate (80% of the overall product!) but I’m afraid I felt let down by the taste. It tasted more bitter than the ice cream version but I did wonder if this was an illusion created by the filling which wasn’t nearly as sweet or creamy as the ice cream. For me, the ‘silky soft vanilla centre’ just didn’t deliver. It didn’t taste like the white chocolate it was made of and I didn’t think it did a good job of mimicking ice cream either. It had quite a grainy texture, hardly tasted sweet at all, and didn’t melt in anything like the same way as the real thing. In its own right, it wasn’t horrible and it was soft to chew, but I never bite ice cream so whether or not it was similar in that respect, I’m not sure.

I recognise that it would be very difficult to make this product taste and feel exactly like a real Magnum but, aside from the fantastic ‘snappy’ chocolate texture, I struggled to find any similarities between these chocolates and the ice cream variety. When taking comparisons out of the equation, I just found the flavours a bit too bitter for my liking, so I’m afraid I’m still not very impressed by this product. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 6/10
Overall score: 6.5/10

Wall's Cornetto: Vanilla chocolate cone

Product name: Wall's Cornetto: Vanilla chocolate cone
Purchase details: Tesco Superstore
Calories: 110 per cone
Country of origin: UK 

I tried this unique Cornetto chocolate product as soon as it was released in the Summer but, until now, I’ve not had another. However, I was fortunate enough to obtain this Wall's Cornetto: Vanilla chocolate cone for free, as a result of a voucher giveaway on Facebook. If this hadn’t been the case, a 20g chocolate would have cost me £0.50. 

As soon as I caught sight of this product, I thought it was a really cool idea – essentially a miniature Cornetto that mimicked the real ice cream version. I hadn’t known quite what to expect but found the reality to be surprisingly enjoyable and a great snack for so few calories.

This cone was made ‘with love’ by KCL and consisted of a little wafer cone filled with ‘vanilla flavoured white chocolate truffle’ that represented the usual vanilla ice cream. Excitingly, the cone was lined with the standard ‘chocolate flavoured coating’ and accounted for 22% of the product (ok, it’s not real chocolate, but I still love this part of ice cream cones!), whilst the truffle was topped with ‘caramelised hazelnut pieces’ which made up a further 4.5%.

I loved how closely this chocolate copied its ice cream counterpart. It came presented in exactly the same style of packaging which included a metallic blue wrapper that further fitted the ice cream theme. I did find the warnings quite amusing though – ‘No ice cream included!’ and instructions about not freezing – surely the fact that these cones are found in confectionery aisles rather than freezer sections is enough?!

On unwrapping my mini Cornetto, I found a lot of the chocolate coating and nut topping came away on the cardboard lid and this, unfortunately, didn’t help the appearance of the finished product – it certainly didn’t look as appealing as a real Cornetto. The truffle filling looked fluffy, rather than smooth and creamy, and was also a beige colour rather than white. However, I thought the cone itself looked great and it was still a cute concept.

When taking into consideration the ones left on the wrapper, there were quite a lot of nuts included, and these did produce a very weak hazelnut smell. This wasn’t praline-like but it did remind me of the whole hazelnuts we have in the house at Christmas. The nuts were very crispy and offered a natural flavour with a hint of caramelisation. They provided a nice, sugary sweetness but without being too much. If I’m honest, I preferred these to the ones that are found on top of ice cream Cornettos, and I think the fact that they hadn’t been softened from contact with a moist surface was a factor in this. I also loved the different flavour whilst enjoying how, when combined with the chocolate coating, it was still reminiscent of a Cornetto proper.

As for the truffle, this was hard to touch but soft under pressure. The difference in texture to ice cream meant that, initially, it wasn’t possible to lick it in the same way, although it actually wasn’t bad once the roughness had been smoothed out. That said, it was a thick centre and, as such, it wasn’t totally smooth, even then. I think it’s fair to say, though, that this Cone was designed for biting  and, when eaten in this way, the filling provided a very sweet and milky flavour. I don’t think I would have recognised it as white chocolate in a blind taste test, but there were hints of this. 

The great thing about the wafer cone was that the whole thing was really crispy as it avoided the sogginess linked to the frozen version. Taste-wise, it went really well with the white chocolate truffle, and it was the perfect flavour for ice cream wafers in that it had been slightly sweetened.

Then, of course, there was the solid bit of ‘chocolate flavoured coating’ at the bottom of the cone. This had the right flavour as well as a slightly soft, truffly texture rather than a chunky chocolate one – just right for the product.

Through this snack, I think the Cornetto has successfully been transformed into chocolate form. Not all of the flavours and textures were identical to those present in the ice cream version but, in some cases, I think improvements have actually been made. What’s even better is I’ve seen that these have now started to be sold in multipacks – yippee! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.75/10

Wall's Cornetto: Strawberry

Product name: Wall's Cornetto: Strawberry
Purchase details: £0.99 for a box of four cones (tesco.com)
Calories: 160 per cone

I haven’t had a Wall's Cornetto: Strawberry in years so, when a box magically appeared in the freezer, I just had to have one – especially at only 160 calories per cone! 

Each cone contained vanilla flavoured ice cream, ‘strawberry fruit ice’ and sauce, and white chocolate curls. I’m not entirely sure where they were manufactured, but the languages and contact details on the box were for the UK, Ireland, Italy and France. The individual wrappers initially looked interesting but they turned out to just contain warnings, in said languages, that the ice creams weren’t to be sold separately. This seemed a shame and a missed opportunity to do something a bit different with the packaging.

The pink and white colours that topped the wafer cone were attractive and whilst, as a frozen product, there was no smell, there was plenty of flavour. The upper layer of vanilla ice cream was incredibly creamy and topped with a sweet strawberry sauce that added a slight tang. This was the dominant flavour, but I was pleased that I could still taste the contribution made by the white chocolate curls that sat on top. The strawberry ice sat beneath and was very juicy so, I suspect, it was this that contained the ‘strawberry juice from concentrate’ rather than the sauce.

After devouring the delightful topping, it was on to the crunchy cone which followed on nicely from the fruit ice’s sweetness. The cone was lined with a chocolate flavour coating which was only a thin layer but still had a positive impact. However, I found that it hadn’t been evenly distributed and so the cone was soft in places where it hadn’t had the protection of this additional layer, allowing the fruit ice to come directly into contact with the wafer. As a redeeming factor, though, the cone did have a chocolatey chunk at the bottom which I’ve always enjoyed in these types of product.

Having reacquainted myself with the Cornetto: Strawberry, I’m hoping it won’t be another few years before my next one!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10