Cadbury Dairy Milk: Marvellous mix-ups (Oreo)

Product name: Cadbury Dairy Milk: Marvellous mix-ups (Oreo)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 111g bag (Asda)
Calories: 561 per bag

Cadbury are making new products faster than I can eat them these days! Still, I try, so here’s my review of the Dairy Milk: Marvellous mix-ups (Oreo).

This bag was made by Mondelez for the UK and Ireland market and, like the Marvellous creations range, had a purple and white striped circus theme. What I particularly loved was the gorgeous aqua colour but the packaging also contained illustrations of the pieces inside.

The ‘assortment of milk chocolates, white chocolates, and chocolate flavour sandwich biscuits’ consisted entirely of existing products but in a brand new combination. I wasn’t quite sure what I’d think because, although I knew I loved all the individual components, I don’t tend to like mixing my foods – give me a roast dinner and I’ll always eat the vegetables, then the meat, then the potatoes, and then the stuffing!

There were four separate ‘ingredients’ in this bag. First up was Dairy Milk: Buttons (giant) which were, believe it or not, the same as the Dairy Milk: Buttons I’ve previously reviewed – they were just a bit bigger! This larger size did provide a better melt but, with this product, it hardly mattered.

There were also regular-sized white chocolate Buttons. These emitted a lovely white chocolate scent and had a sweet and milky taste that made for a decent version of my favourite ‘colour’ of chocolate. It also had a thick and slightly grainy melt.

Providing a completely different flavour and texture was the inclusion of Nabisco Oreo: Mini. I’m a big fan of these ‘chocolate flavour sandwich biscuits with a vanilla flavour filling (29%)’ although, so far, I’ve only reviewed the Peanut butter creme version, as well as the Kraft Handi-Snacks. I used to have a bit of an addiction to this miniature variety which is why I don’t tend to buy them anymore so I was pleased to be reunited with them. Containing 4.6% reduced fat cocoa, the biscuits had a slightly bitter chocolate taste, and the sweet vanilla creme was delicious. Texturally, the creme was soft and a little grainy, whilst the biscuits had a great crunch.

Finally, the bag contained purple and yellow Dairy Milk: Pebbles which added colour as well as an additional crispy texture.

Combined, these elements looked great together. Dust from the Oreos did transfer onto some of the other pieces but this didn’t make too much of a difference to the appearance and I was pleased to see a variety of shades. The aroma of the united components was also lovely – a decent mix of cocoa and creamy vanilla.

I did have to delve a bit to get a good variety in each handful since the Oreos had a tendency to gather at the top of the bag. However, this was totally worth it, and the result was a lovely mix of thick textures, and a great creamy taste. The product felt like a great novelty and I enjoyed how she stronger flavours were mellowed by the creamier ones. Even better was the way that even the white chocolate’s taste didn’t get lost in the mix – every element brought something noticeable and different.

The packaging hadn’t suggested what a recommended serving was and, since I figured it wouldn’t be the easiest product to measure anyway, I went ahead and ate the whole bag. As a result, its resealable element seemed completely unnecessary, although any really self-restrained people may find it useful! If I’m honest, I hadn’t thought the bag looked very full at all, but it did take longer than I expected to polish off its contents. Thankfully, this didn’t result in a sickly feeling either – the only negative was the coating of Oreo dust over my fingers!

I have to say that these Marvellous mix-ups lived up to their name. Bravo, Cadbury!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.25/10

Celebrations

Product name: Celebrations
Calories: 344 per 70g box

This mini box of Celebrations was the other food item in the goody bag I recently received.

Made by Mars for the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland, this ‘assortment of milk chocolates and a milk chocolate covered biscuit’ is my favourite mainstream variety box to receive as a gift since I think the combination of eight brands inside is the best one!

Despite being a small box, this pack still featured the usual red design and the great logo that incorporates the fonts used on the wrappers within – images of these were also printed on the cardboard.

The milk chocolate used for the bite-sized treats contained a minimum of 14% milk solids and 25% cocoa solids and each variety had a pretty thick and chunky outer shell which made me a happy bunny.

Galaxy

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Galaxy milk chocolate is my favourite kind. This glossy ‘G’-imprinted chunk came in the usual brown wrapper and was the basic kind that, when sold alone, is now called ‘Smooth Milk’.

The Galaxy website described the chocolate as ‘smooth and creamy’ that had been ‘lovingly created to melt in your mouth’. I couldn’t disagree with this since it featured the same scent and strong flavour I experienced with the Bubbles (milk chocolate egg) and a good melt that was slow, thick but smooth. It reminded me of the old adverts that me and my brother used to imitate! 

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

Mars

I’ve always seen the Mars bar as being manly and basic but, at the same time, I’ve always enjoyed it. However, I’ve previously found that it doesn’t work quite as well on a smaller scale as the proportions aren’t quite right.

This miniature Mars came in its distinctive black and red wrapper but something seemed to have gone slightly wrong with the bumpy design on the chocolate shell! The Mars website described the product as ‘a delicious fusion of chocolate, caramel and nougat’ and I was pleased to see that the layer of nougat was far thicker than the caramel and its mid-brown shade suggested it would have a chocolatey flavour.

The Mars’ scent was not dissimilar to the Galaxy’s and it tasted very sweet and chocolatey. I didn’t think its flavour was of the highest quality but it was very tasty and I did enjoy the soft nougat and overall chewy but melting texture. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.25/10 

Bounty

As a big coconut fan, I do like Bounty bars, so I was pleased to see that the tropical desert island-themed white, green and pale blue wrapper was included in this selection. I did think the Mars website was being a bit overdramatic in claiming ‘the moist, tender coconut tempts your senses with the taste of paradise’ but I enjoyed this sweet nevertheless!

Unlike the Peter Paul Almond Joy, the coconut in this chocolate shell had a fresh white appearance, although it did still have a deep coconutty aroma.

The Bounty also had a strong, milky coconut flavour and I was pleased that the chocolate’s taste was also evident. The coconut’s texture lived up to the expectations raised by its moist and bitty appearance too. 

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

Galaxy Caramel

The Galaxy Caramel had the same outer appearance as the standard Galaxy chunk but, this time, it contained a fantastic-looking thick, amber caramel centre. The wrapper was also similar but it featured the colour yellow to distinguish it from the basic chocolate. (Thankfully there was no Honeycomb Crisp variety included here to confuse this with!)

Galaxy's website claimed the inner caramel was ‘luscious’ and I certainly did enjoy this treat more than Cadbury’s equivalent of Dairy Milk: Caramel – I found it to be more silky and less stodgy.

The caramel didn’t really add anything to the aroma (in fact, the scent didn’t seem as strong here) but I loved how it burst into the mouth with its smooth texture reflecting the chocolate’s. It was very sweet and quite sugary compared to other caramels, and I did prefer the flavour of the chocolate on its own, but this was still very tasty. 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10 

Snickers

I’m not actually a massive fan of the standard Snickers bar as I find it a bit too bitty and chewy and, whilst there are actual peanuts, there’s not peanut butter! Like the Mars, I also think of this brand as male-orientated, and this was reflected with the chocolate-brown wrapper.

According to Mars' website, I was surprised to see that the Snickers is actually the world’s best-selling bar, whilst the Snickers site gave the product description of being ‘packed with roasted peanuts, nougat, caramel and milk chocolate’.

I was impressed by the neat inner appearance of this bite-sized piece. The caramel was the main feature and was full of chopped peanuts. The nougat was pale in colour and, on sampling it, there appeared to be nuts in there too. The nougat itself was slightly sticky but added a sweetness to the otherwise strong peanut flavour.

The chocolate tasted nice and creamy and I noticed that the toasted aspect of the peanuts was also evident. The caramel provided a chewy texture and I actually found I preferred this product in miniature form since the nuts were a lot smaller and, for me, more manageable.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10 

Maltesers Teasers

This has always been my first choice in a box of Celebrations since, for so many years, it was the only Maltesers product like it – I was delighted when Mars released the separate Malteaster products and, now, the Teasers bars!

The red wrapper continued the theme of standard Maltesers and, whilst still long and narrow, this was the only miniature with a particularly curved appearance that featured a wave design. Inside, there were lots of tiny, crispy honeycomb balls to reflect the centre of normal Maltesers.

The scent, again, was similar to Galaxy chocolate – it was stronger than Maltesers but weaker than Galaxy chocolate itself.

Having eaten this variety after a Galaxy, I could tell that the chocolate tasted a bit less creamy than Galaxy but, in turn, it was more chocolatey.

The texture was very crispy and, despite the small size of the honeycomb pieces, I loved that it still managed to stick to the teeth and it also provided a mild honey flavour.

As expected, I enjoyed having a higher ratio of chocolate to honeycomb here since, whilst the flavour remained unchanged, the less rough texture was preferable.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10 

Twix

I’ve reviewed the full-size Twix previously so I have nothing more to add here!

I’ve marked down its aroma score slightly since it wasn’t quite as strong but, other than that, everything else remained the same. 

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

Milky Way

The Milk Way featured its usual blue and Space-themed wrapper design and was described on Mars' website as ‘a light whipped centre covered in tasty milk chocolate’.

Its outer appearance was the same as the Snickers and its very pale beige nougat appeared to have the same texture as the Mars.

The Milky Way had a milky scent and I enjoyed the quite mild but nice and sweet flavour that its really soft nougat provided. I also liked how the chocolate shell tasted creamy against this sugariness. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Overall, this was the enjoyable selection that I expected – I was just sorry I only had one of each variety to enjoy on this occasion!

Appearance: 7.44/10
Aroma: 7.31/10
Taste: 7.63/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.6/10

Cadbury Milk Tray

Product name: Cadbury Milk Tray
Calories: 495 per 100g
Country of origin: UK 

I received this 200g box of Cadbury Milk Tray as part of a Christmas present and I think it may actually be the first time I’ve had one of my own! 

This ‘assortment of chocolates’ by Mondelez came in a Cadbury purple box with a pink border which strongly suggested it was for a female target market. There were photographs of eight different ‘sweet, smooth, fruity’ and ‘nutty’ chocolates around the outside of the packaging, but there were actually 10 varieties inside, all coated in milk chocolate that contained a minimum of 14% milk solids, and producing a collectively fruity smell. 

Since the chocolate itself was the same for each chocolate, I won’t go into detail when reviewing each one, so just remember that it was very sweet! 

Caramel softy

The Caramel softy was presented as a stripy heart and was described as ‘milk chocolate matched with its caramel sweetheart’. 

It had a slightly sweetened aroma and the caramel centre was a golden colour. It was very much like a Dairy Milk: Caramel that had been made with inferior chocolate. As a result, it was sweeter and a little bit too sickly, although I did enjoy its soft caramel. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 7/10 

Overall score: 6.88/10 

Hazelnut swirl
I can’t describe the shape of this ‘whole roasted hazelnut in a whirl of milk chocolate’ as anything other than the ‘swirl’ mentioned in its name!

As the variety I’d probably go for if I were just eating one of the chocolates, I enjoyed the solidity of the chocolate, combined with the crunchy centre, and it had a great nutty taste.

The chocolate looked smooth throughout and there was a pleasant hazelnut aroma too. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10 

Overall score: 7.5/10 

Fudge duet

This ‘vanilla flavour fudge covered with milk chocolate’ was oblong in shape and covered in white chocolate stripes. It had a slight caramel scent with some milkiness, from the chocolate, thrown in too.

After my recent positive experience with the Cadbury Fudge, I was pleased that this chocolate was very similar – it even had the same two-tone inner appearance. The only real difference was that the texture was a little less grainy and, as a result, didn’t feel as sugary. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10 

Overall score: 7.25/10 

Exotic delight
There was only one ‘aromatic’ Exotic delight chocolate in the box (there were two of everything else) but, as someone who doesn’t really like Turkish delight, I was pleased about this.

This chocolate was square-shaped and featured a sun-like design on top. Beneath the thick chocolate shell was a dark jelly which produced a sweet Turkish delight aroma.

The centre felt like a bouncy gel with a strong and typical Turkish delight flavour. Thankfully, for me, the chocolate distracted from this, so it didn’t taste as unpleasant as I feared it might have done.

The texture was my least favourite part of the Exotic delight but I think this was typical of the sweet and, therefore, down to personal preference rather than a fault on Cadbury’s part. 

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6/10
Texture: 5.5/10 

Overall score: 6/10 

Orange truffle
I was really looking forward to this ‘milk chocolate truffle with an intense orange twist’ since it was a variation from the usual orange crèmes that are the more usual offering in boxes of chocolates.

Shaped like a pretty realistic (albeit chocolate!) orange segment, there was a slightly tangy smell that was evident through the chocolate, but I did feel let down by the weakness of this.

The Orange truffle was pretty solid and, although the centre was slightly softer than the outer chocolate, this wasn’t by much. The appearance of the truffle had made it look like it contained crispy bits but this wasn’t the case. However, it wasn’t entirely smooth either.

The chocolate had quite a strong cocoa taste with an orange kick that followed afterwards. This orange flavour tasted more realistic than I’d expected it to but it also wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped – it certainly wasn’t as good as a Terry's Chocolate Orange or as ‘intense’ as it had been described. 

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

Overall score: 7/10 

Perfect praline
As the only praline chocolate in the box, I expected this one to be my favourite.

It was presented as a circular ‘chocolate gem’ with an inner section that looked a bit like a nut in a shell. The praline itself contained visible flecks of hazelnut which, unfortunately, didn’t provide a scent.

The filling had seemed stiff and dense when cutting the chocolate open as it had stuck to the knife but, in the mouth, it was a lot softer and smoother. The nuts provided a crispy texture but, due to their tiny size, they felt more like sugar granules than nuts – I definitely prefer smoother pralines.

As for the flavour, this was nutty but, unfortunately, it was also too sweet. However, there was coffee-like aspect to it as well which I quite enjoyed. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10 

Overall score: 6.75/10 

Caramel charm
I wasn’t really looking forward to the Caramel charm as it was described as ‘chewy’ which is a feature I’m not a fan of in a caramel – I think they should be runny!

It was presented as a square ‘trinket’ with white chocolate stripes and its centre was smooth and fudge-coloured in appearance.

The caramel had a mild scent and was very stiff so, therefore, hard to bite into. I must admit that I struggled with the texture but it did, at least, taste ok. That said, it wasn’t as flavourful or buttery as the Chomp bar, although there did seem to be a slight salty element in this case. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 5.5/10 

Overall score: 6.5/10 

Nutty heart
The Nutty heart was, unsurprisingly, heart-shaped, and featured the letters ‘MT’ for ‘Milk Tray’.

It was described as a ‘whole roasted hazelnut smothered in a caramel and milk chocolate’. The first one I had (the one that I’ve based my score on) tasted very nutty and this toned down the sweetness from the chocolate and caramel. However, I did still find it a bit too sweet. The caramel was viscous (I usually find the type used for this sort of chocolate is a lot runnier) whilst the nut was pleasantly crunchy.

So why didn’t the same apply for the second Nutty heart in the box (the one my photo is of)? Well, have you noticed how you can’t see the hazelnut through the golden caramel? That’s because there wasn’t one!

Nuts (or lack of them) aside, this chocolate was very similar in appearance to the Caramel softy, although the caramel itself wasn’t as runny. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 7/10 

Overall score: 6.75/10

Strawberry sundae
The Strawberry sundae was shaped like a strawberry and contained a slightly pink runny goo in the centre which was slightly darker on top.

This ‘fondant creme’ was also supposed to taste of vanilla but, to be honest, I didn’t really think it tasted of either. It was very sweet, with a slight tartness, but it mainly made me think of medicine.

Surprisingly, its aroma wasn’t strong – it was just slightly sweetened. As for the texture, this consisted of chunky chocolate with an almost liquid centre. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6/10
Texture: 6.5/10 

Overall score: 6.63/10 

Surprise parcel
I genuinely was surprised (but mainly excited!) when I saw that this gift-shaped chocolate contained ‘a white chocolate truffle’. This smooth, white centre contrasted nicely with its milk chocolate shell.

The Surprise parcel had a barely detectable, albeit sweet, aroma, and I found it actually tasted more nutty than white chocolatey. However, it was still very sweet.

The chocolate was very chunky and quite hard but the smoother centre provided a cooling sensation which resulted in a very enjoyable texture. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10 

Overall score: 7/10

I found the Cadbury Milk Tray to be a bit of a mixed bag (well, box!) but it was certainly more positive than negative. What I particularly liked about the product was the notion of all the coatings being the same (milk chocolate) since there was no disappointment of realising that my favourite filling was coated in a type of chocolate I wasn’t as keen on (dark!).

Appearance: 7.15/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 6.7/10
Texture: 6.95/10
Overall score: 6.83/10