September 16th: Cadbury Mini Rolls

Kcal 120 Fat 6.2g Fat(sats) 3.1g Carbs 15.3g (per mini roll)

One of the requests that has sat on my 'Requests Page' (HERE) for a while now was for me to take at some of the market offerings in the mini rolls and cake bar sector. A few days ago I kicked off my research with a look at Mars & McVities collaborative attempt at creating a Mars bar Mini Roll and have to say I was very impressed. One thing I couldn't ignore though was the fact that both of these manufactures weren't actually the originators of the Mini Roll product ... I believe this title belongs to Cadbury! Hey maybe I am wrong!? Anyway I thought it only right that I get a wriggle on and take a look at their Cadbury Mini Roll offering which came described as 'chocolate flavoured sponge with vanilla filling, covered in milk chocolate'. If it was to be anything like I remembered I was certainly in for a treat.

I seem to recall once buying Cadbury Mini Rolls in a single unit (geek speak for 'one product item') though the only form I could find these in my local Tesco was a multi bar 6 pack. Again these were another treat I bought in for my work office though I managed to nab a couple for myself which I indulged in with my afternoon cuppa. Packaging-wise I thought the presentation was of a fair standard. The purple Cadbury colour theme was implemented well across the entire product from outer to inner wrapper and the roll looked appetising when split in half with a nice white filling swirled into the sponge. One thing that was apparent as soon as I opened the mini roll wrappers though was that these cakes were incredibly soft and despite being stored at a sensible temperature the outer chocolate managed to melt within seconds on being in contact with my fingers ... messy!!

In regards to smell the cakes had a very Dairy Milk like aroma about them and the sweet, dairy chocolaty scents suggested I was going to be in for a real treat. Unfortunately I have to say that the taste didn't quite back up the resulting taste and in my opinion the blame lays firmly at the door of the vanilla filling. I don't think the outer chocolate was quite up to Dairy Milk standards as it didn't quite have the creaminess and had probably just a touch more sugar ala Freddo etc. That is not to say it wasn't very tasty - it really was and I savoured the lovely chocolaty flavours that were established by the coating and inner crumbly sponge. Whereas the chocolate flavoured sponge brought a nice cake element to the taste the filling sort of counter balanced this and its pure sugar flavours really came at detriment to the product as a whole. I think to describe it as vanilla flavoured would be wrong ... I couldn't detect any sort of vanilla note whatsoever. I wouldn't go as far as saying it spoilt the product in any manner, but I don't think the sweet, fondant like filling did these mini rolls any favours at all. Another thing that did slightly annoy me with these was that one wasn't quite enough to satisfy my hunger, whilst two seemed too much.

Overall I am surprised to report that I didn't quite enjoy these as much as I used to, and hate to think what I would now think of the jam flavoured variant which I thought were even too sweet when I was a young lad. When throwing the packaging away I noticed a detail on the back which said 'Contains No Dairy Cream' ... my question is why the hell not? I guess the best before dates would be reigned in a hell of alot but I seriously can't fathom how awesome a proper cream filled Cadbury Mini Roll might be. The vanilla filling implemented in these bars was on the whole pretty poor and I thought it to some degree spoilt the excellent flavours substantiated by the great tasting outer chocolate and chocolate sponge. The Cadbury Mini Rolls cult following is probably going to lynch me for saying that their mini roll of choice is a little average but I am only telling you guys how I see it. More mini roll and cake bar products to follow soon!

7.1 out of 10