The Custom Cupcake Company Chocolate Decadence Cupcake (white chocolate)

Product name: The Custom Cupcake Company Chocolate Decadence Cupcake (white chocolate)
Purchase details: £2.00 for one cupcake (The Custom Cupcake Company)
Country of origin: England 

I think The Custom Cupcake Company has become my guilty pleasure – as soon as I have a non-diet day, I’m there!

Two of the apparently staple varieties that have been available on all my visits so far are the Chocolate Decadence Cupcakes that come in both milk and white chocolate. Since I’m a white chocolate fiend, I thought I’d opt for the latter on this occasion.

This cake was quite simply decorated but still looked beautiful. The yellow sponge was topped with a thick, swirled cream-coloured frosting and finished with three giant white chocolate buttons, a drizzle of melted white chocolate, and a sprinkling of edible glitter. The girl in the shop had told me that the treat was filled with a white chocolate ganache and this pale filling flowed almost seamlessly into the frosting.

As much as I love white chocolate, I often find that when it’s used in other things, its own flavour gets lost. However, on opening the carry box, I was surprised to be greeted by a white chocolatey scent. Having actually bought the cake two days in advance, I was also delighted to discover that the sponge wasn’t dry, and its sweet and creamy taste led me to believe that white chocolate had actually been incorporated into the mixture.

The generous frosting had a slightly crispy outer layer which gave way to a soft, grainy depth. As I’ve found previously, it was very sweet but, combined with the mellower elements of the Cupcake, I didn’t find this as extreme as the Berries & Cream Cupcake. The frosting and inner ganache also provided a lovely moisture, with the latter tasting gorgeously of white chocolate and having a fantastic smooth and partly solidified texture.

I’d definitely say that this was another treat for the sweet-toothed but the inner creaminess did offset this. As I’ve said, the subtle white chocolate flavour can be hard to pull off, and the sugary frosting did take away from this at times, but the desired taste was never completely lost and I think the addition of the fantastically sweet, creamy and chunky buttons played a part in this.

If I were to suggest an improvement, it would be to make the ganache a bigger feature – it was so delicious that it was a shame there wasn’t more of it! However, there is no denying that this was an indulgent treat exactly as it was.

I can’t wait for my next visit!

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

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

Cadbury Dairy Milk: Buttons

Product name: Cadbury Dairy Milk: Buttons
Calories: 75 per 14.4g bag
Country of origin: UK  

 

These Fairtrade Cadbury Dairy Milk: Buttons were another product included in the selection pack I received at Christmas. It was actually this brand that taught me to count since, when I was a toddler, I would get to count out 10 Buttons after nursery as a treat to go with my lunch! 

 

These Buttons came in a kid-friendly purple bag that featured a monkey with chocolate buttons for eyes. They were made with the standard Dairy Milk chocolate that contained 23% milk solids, 20% cocoa solids, and had a creamy chocolate smell and taste. 

The Buttons had a similar appearance to the Milk chocolate buttons in my Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box – they were the same shape and depth and were also slightly scuffed. However, in this case, I did like the addition of the Cadbury logo being imprinted on the base of each button. 

Despite only being small, these chocolate pieces provided a thick melt, and I love chewing on a few at a time to release a full chocolatey flavour. It was just a shame there weren’t more in the bag! 

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

Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box

Product name: Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box
Country of origin: UK

I like to keep you on your toes so, for tonight’s review, I’m hopping back to a Christmas product that I received as part of a gift. This Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box came in a box depicting a snowy scene from said film and, as a nice additional touch, the base contained a join-the-dots colouring activity for children, as well as photographs of the five products within.

I will be reviewing and scoring each of these products separately but I will also provide an average score for the overall selection box at the end.

All of the milk chocolate used in this box contained a minimum of 30% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, whist the dark chocolate contained a minimum of 65% cocoa solids.

Vanilla fudge cubes
Calories: 150 for a 30g bag

I’ve always been more of a chocolate fan than a sweets fan so I wasn’t overly excited about these vanilla flavoured fudge cubes. However, once I caught a whiff of their rich, creamy, sugary and vanilla scent, my interest was raised!

The mini cubes were a ‘proper’ colour for fudge and came in a branded, clear cellophane bag. They had a slightly grainy surface and a surprisingly enjoyable texture which was right in the middle of that of butter tablet and chewy fudge – it was really soft with a bit of resistance, which almost made the first chomp like chewing on gum, but it then melded together and melted away nicely.

Containing sweetened condensed milk, clotted cream and butter, the cubes had a sweet, brown sugary taste and the flavour also managed to capture both the fudge and the vanilla elements of its name. 

Appearance: 7.5/10 

Aroma: 8/10 

Taste: 7.5/10 

Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

The Snowman chocolate truffle
Calories: 126 for a 22g truffle

This ‘milk chocolate snowman with smooth chocolate truffle filling (22%)’ was the only item in the box to come in a proper wrapper that followed the snowy theme of the cardboard packaging.

The chocolate itself was quite glossy and relatively dark in appearance and I just loved The Snowman and the Snowdog shape that it had been moulded into. I really didn’t want to ruin its good looks by cutting into it but, when I did break through the surprisingly hard chocolate shell, I was greeted by an attractive, smooth filling in a much paler shade of brown.

Despite being milk chocolate, the chocolate had a smell that I associated more with dark chocolate, and its strong cocoa flavour ensured a very chocolatey taste. However, for some reason, I didn’t actually find this all that interesting. It was just, well...chocolate. The truffle centre didn’t seem to add that much to the flavour either and, as a huge chocolate fan, I was left bemused as to why I felt so underwhelmed.

As for the texture, the chocolate’s unique shape meant it was satisfyingly chunky to chew and, despite being relatively thin, the truffle melted smoothly.

This product actually reminded me of Lindt Lindor truffles, although the flavour wasn’t as rich, and it wasn’t quite as upmarket!

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

The Snowman lolly
Calories: 152 for a 28g lolly

This lollipop came described as ‘white chocolate with dark chocolate and coloured decoration’ and was presented in a clear plastic wrapper with a couple of basic Thorntons labels.

Like the truffle, the lolly was shaped to look like The Snowman, but this chocolate’s outline wasn’t quite as detailed. However, it did instead feature a green hat and scarf and an orange nose – I just found this a bit off-putting, psychologically, in the same way that I couldn’t bring myself to eat green ketchup years ago! At least I knew the buttons were just the colour of standard dark chocolate.

I had been a little concerned on decapitating the lolly since the inside looked almost fluffy. However, I needn’t have worried about the texture – the chocolate melted gradually but nicely. It wasn’t the smoothest chocolate ever but it certainly wasn’t bad, and it was nice and chunky to chew too.

The chocolate had a sickly sweet white chocolate aroma and this extreme sweetness was also present in the flavour. It wasn’t as creamy as I’d have liked but it was ok and it actually tasted better the lower down the Snowman’s body I got so I wondered if the colouring had actually affected the quality of the flavour. As for the dark chocolate, I couldn’t taste this at all but, hey, it looked good! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

Milk chocolate buttons
Calories: 163 for a 30g bag

These Milk chocolate buttons came in the same type of bag as the fudge and had a very basic appearance – relatively dark, think discs with a slightly dusty surface. The upper side of each button was slightly curved, but there wasn’t much difference between the top and bottom, really.

The buttons had a pretty standard chocolate smell that reminded me of the kind I use for baking – it was sweet but not too strong. They had a sweet cocoa taste which was quite strong in the throat but, for me, they weren’t as milky as I would have liked.

The extreme shallowness of the buttons meant they easily broke apart in the mouth. I found they tended to soften rather than melt and, in addition, they were quite chewy rather than chunky.

These weren’t the best chocolate buttons I’ve ever had but they did the job.

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

White chocolate buttons
Calories: 174 for a 32g bag

Visually, the White chocolate buttons were much like the milk chocolate variety, coming in a clear Thorntons bag and being moulded into pieces of the same shape and size. However, I felt the cream colour made them look fresher in appearance, and it also meant their dusty coating wasn’t as visible. I wasn’t quite sure why the bag weighed 2g more but, for the record, this white chocolate version only contained two more calories per 100g than the Milk chocolate buttons.

These buttons had a milky white chocolate smell which, thankfully, didn’t come with the same sickliness that the Snowman lolly had. They had pretty much the same texture as the Milk chocolate buttons, with a slightly rough surface, but I found that they weren’t quite as soft. As a result, they were great in handfuls, as this resulted in a bit of combined solidity when chewing.

The White chocolate buttons were initially sweet but, towards the end of each mouthful, released a nice creaminess. I’d been a bit apprehensive of the quality of this white chocolate following my experience of the Snowman lolly but I felt Thorntons redeemed themselves here. The flavour actually took me back to my childhood, despite me never having had these particular buttons before, so I presume they didn’t taste too dissimilar from Nestlé Milkybar: Buttons. They definitely had a nicer and stronger flavour than I expected. 

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

If you’d told me before I opened this selection box that the Vanilla fudge cubes would be my joint top-scorer, I wouldn’t have believed you! The chocolate may not have always rocked my world but I can see that this Christmas gift was aimed more at children who would probably have enjoyed its sweetness more than I did. Even so, I wouldn’t complain if I got the same again next year!

Appearance: 7.4/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.2/10
Texture: 7.4/10
Overall score: 7.25/10