December 18th: Cadbury Heroes

Kcal 510 Fat 27.7g Fat(sats) 16.6g Carbs 60.3g (per 100.0g)

I haven't had 'Heroes' in a long time, but blimey have there been some changes. Some good, many not so good: out with the 'Miniature' branding, Timeout - out (Boo!), Cadbury Dream - out (Yay!), Picnic - out (Boo!), Crunchie Bites - out (Boo! Boo! Boo!), Cadbury Eclair - in (Yay!), Cadbury Bournville - in (Boo!) .... sooo many changes. 

So whats left you ask? The lineup now takes the shape of: Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk with Caramel, Dairy Milk Whole Nut, Fudge, Bournville, Twirl and Eclairs. I bought a large pack of these (445.0g) and shared them with a few friends. The general consensus was that the recent substitutions weren't all the favourable - the lack of Picnic and Dream pieces seemed a particularly spiky topic with some. 

I thought the product was well presented - the outer packaging looked sharp, though I was left a little bemused with the ridding of the 'Miniatures' part of the branding!? The chocolates themselves were presented well, each with their own branded mini wrappers. I found it quite funny that Cadbury felt the need to warn me there were nuts in the Whole Nut block - well DUH!!! 

Below are my thoughts regarding each piece:

Dairy Milk - What is there to say!? I liked the fact the block was split into two smaller pieces. The melt was smooth and thick, and the taste was wonderfully sweet and creamy. I wasn't expecting anything different - great stuff. Excellent.

Dairy Milk with Caramel - (soon to be back to Cadbury Caramel ... See HERE!!) Heaven in a chocolate block :) Still by far my favourite Cadbury product. Its sweet, sticky caramel and delightful creamy chocolate combination just can't be touched in the mass confectionery market ... well apart from the Galaxy Caramel! Typical really that I only got four of these in the whole pack. Excellent.

Dairy Milk Whole Nut - Another enjoyable piece. I thought this was one was well designed with a single whole nut in the centre of the block. The chocolate was thick, creamy and despite not the having the strongest flavours, the hazelnut piece added a delightful crunch. It was good to have a nutty option in the mix. Very Good.

Fudge - I got about twenty of these in my pack - I won't grumble too much at least it wasn't the Bournville that was over portioned! These smelt very sweet out their wrappers. The milk chocolate was a little thin for my liking, though sucking on the sweet, buttery fudge centre was rather enjoyable. Good.

Bournville - A new arrival to the selection, the words ... why? oh why? Spring to mind :( If you have read my original review of the Bournville bar (HERE), you will know that I am no big fan. I had no better experience here - the melt was poor and clumpy, whilst the taste was overly sweet and what I would describe as cloudy and mirky ... its as if it was scared to express its true cocoa flavours. Poor. 

Eclairs - The second of the two newest additions, and a much more welcome one. Despite being scentless the outer hard caramel was wonderful with its sweet, buttery toffee flavours. As I referred to in my original Eclairs review, the real joy of these was in the anticipation of the chocolate, which just so happened to deliver a fantastic chocolaty burst. Very Good.

Twirl - As its smell suggested its flavours were not quite as sweet as the Dairy Milk variants, which made for a nice change. It was also nice to have a lighter textured option in the selection, which further made it more enjoyable. Good. 

Overall there is no doubting this is a fabulous mixture of chocolates, but it has to be said that the recent changes haven't all been for the better. I can live with the Bournville, as really it has only replaced the Dream, which was equally as poor. What I think was really a bad decision was the exclusion of the Crunchie and Picnic pieces, as straight away two of the more diverse options were taken from the selection. Taking this product at face value and forgetting 'what used to be', it still offers a very nice range of tasty varieties from the Cadbury portfolio - with the Caramel, Eclairs and Dairy Milk pieces the real shinning stars. I would recommend this selection, but be prepared to feel like something is missing.

8.4 out of 10