October 14th: McVitie's Penguin Cake Bars

Kcal 132 Fat 7.5g Fat(Sats) 3.7g Carbs 15.0g (per cake bar)

If you have been paying attention to the site recently you will be aware that the battle of the cake bars is in full effect at the moment with Thorntons and McVitie's Galaxy bars all attempting to take the crown of best in the market. When I was a kid the Penguin bar was a firm favourite of mine and at times when the Kit Kat supplies were running low I often happily settled for one as a fair substitute. Today however I took a closer look at the Penguin brands cake bar offering, which came described as 'milk chocolate covered cake bars with a layer of chocolate cream.

Apologies if it seems like I am carrying on about price in my latest reviews but a pack of five of these cake bars cost me only a bargainalicious 45p from Tesco as they were on a half price deal. In regards to presentation they looked almost no different to the usual Penguin bar multipacks and the red outer packaging held different colour inner wrapped bars (red and light blue displayed above). Personally I like the classical Penguin outer packaging branding etc but I have to say that the actual product was pretty plain and boring aesthetically. In addition to not looking the most spectacular product going the cake bars also failed to generate much interest with their smell. A gentle chocolaty aroma could be detected when the film wrappers were opened though it was nothing that really got my anticipation up.

As unexciting as the build to eating one of these cake bars was the taste did little change my mind. By my reckoning the textures of this cake bar were just about right - the outer chocolate was thick, the cake was firm yet spongy and the chocolate cream was portioned nicely to add a great deal of needed moistness. Unfortunately where the textures were pretty good the taste didn't quite measure up and on the whole I was pretty disappointed with the product in this sense. The chocolate simply didn't have anything special about it with its musty, milky, sugary flavours that lacked an authoritative cocoa note to its taste. The chocolate used on these bars seemed far more sugar based than the other cake bars I have had before from Galaxy and Thorntons. The taste was in no way repulsive but at the same time in terms of chocolate quality the standard I would saywas pretty low.

Overall having tried some other brands with more distinct tasting chocolates I guess these Penguin cake bars were always going to struggle. For a cake bar that was purely chocolate flavoured the poorer quality ingredients used were exposed in the taste and the greater amounts of sugars and lower cocoa implemented in the recipe very much shone through. I haven't had a proper Penguin bar for years though I can imagine that the greater flavours generated by the biscuit base slightly make up for the lack of flavour from the sponge; I guess this is something I can explore in a future review. In relation to cake bars I have to say that whilst these were relatively good value for money and provided a pleasant enough snack but if it is quality in terms of taste your after your better looking at some other alternatives on the market. Cadbury's attempts at this cake bar niche are coming up next!!

7.3 out of 10

October 13th: Cadbury Flake Snow

Kcal 166 Fat 9.0g Fat(sats) 5.6g Carbs 19.8g

A few days ago I told you all that ChocolateMission reader Eric had kindly sent me a few goodies that he bought from a Aussie themed shop on a recent trip to Covent Garden, London. The first product I reviewed from this selection were the Cadbury Astros which I used to have quite frequently when I was younger. The product in the ChocolateMission line of fire today I similarly remembering having at least a few times in my childhood but it is now long gone from the UK marketplace - the Cadbury Flake Snow. As you can probably guess from the name this was your standard Cadbury Flake but with a white chocolate spin and came described as 'folds of white chocolate, covered in milk chocolate' and was produced in South Africa.

The bar came in a 32.0g serving and looked not to dissimilar in size to the standard Cadbury Flake we have here in the UK. Presentationwise this product gets a thumbs up from me. The foil wrapper looked good with the usual yellow Flake colour scheme incorporating a subtle touch of light blue to communicate the 'Snow' variant. Despite some very careful attention by myself to keep the product in A-spec condition what was held inside wasn't the most enticing looking product ever as the crumbled bits of inner white that had escaped gave the outer milk chocolate a dusty looking complexion. Although the bar was foil wrapped the chocolate lacked a truly telling aroma and did little to really entice me with its mild dairy scents.

When I used to have this as a kid I can recall always being quite excited at the prospect of the white chocolate but then I can remember it being too sweet for my taste. Obviosuly with me getting older since my tastebuds would have matured so I was expecting the mismatch between my taste and this chocolate to have grown even more extreme. Having tasted the chocolate I have to say I was quite surprised at how it tasted, but unfortunately the surprise wasn't all that great itself. Whereas I was expecting this chocolate to be overly exertful in terms of flavour strength the reality was that this bar delivered completely the opposite. The milk chocolate coating was adequate with a mild milk centric taste that melted with a relatively smooth, flowing melt but it was the inner white chocolate that was really the disappointment. Cadbury aren't know for their white chocolate *ahem Cadbury Dream* but this was pretty poor. The white chocolate had the usual delightful crumbly Flake texture but was completely devoid of any meaningful flavours and just tasted completely uninspiring. At best I would say I could detect a subtle sweet, dried milk like taste though to be honest it really just tasted of very little whatsoever.

Overall Cadbury still haven't managed to perfect this Flake Snow and I have to say I was left feeling disappointed which isn't an often occurrence when it comes to Cadbury products. Despite Cadbury seemingly solving the problem of their white chocolate being too sweet they have now swung round to completely the other side of the spectrum and delivered a white chocolate that was almost completely devoid of flavour entirely. The milk chocolate coating was pretty good and solved the normal issue Flake bars suffer from in that they usually crumble all over the place. What probably made the milk chocolate look even better than it probably was though, was the inner white chocolate which was just meagre and dull in terms of flavours. If your a Flake fan then this might be worth you trying at some point but I honestly wouldn't recommend it as a must try bar for the rest of you.

6.8 out of 10

October 12th: Mars Dark (UK & Poland)

What better way to get the week started than to not only cover off the latest product released by Mars in the UK, but also at the same time to compare it with the same product from Poland!? Before I crack on with the review I must firstly thank ChocolateMission reader Alan who sent me the Polish bar to make this possible.

When Mars announced that the Mars Dark would be making a reappearance again here in the UK (See HERE) I don't think I was the only one that was quite pleased. Having tried the equivalent bars from Canada (See Here) and the US (See HERE) I knew that this was a bar with real potential.

I know I am always going on about confectionery bargains but I felt £1 for a multi-pack of four was really very good and found a pack in my local Sainsbury's supermarket. I am not sure what price Alan paid for the Polish bar but I am sure he will be kind enough to fill us in via the comments box.

Looking at both the wrappers and cross-sections I have to say that I thought that overall the UK bar was slightly the nicer presented product out of the two. Aside from the obvious 'Dark' & 'Midnight' branding when it came to the packaging there was very little difference with both sporting a black background and royal blue secondary colour behind the Mars logo. Where I did feel the UK looked aesthetically better was the actual bar where I thought that the cleaner looking surface of the chocolate and golden coloured nougat had more of an appeal to Polish comparator. When considering the smell of the bar I have to say that both didn't measure up to the sweet dairy scents of the original UK Mars though I guess this would have been down to the different chocolate involved.


Mars Dark (UK):

Kcal 236 Fat 9.9g (per bar)

Despite it being from a multi-pack this was actually the bigger of the two and came in a 52.0g size. On the wrapper this bar was billed as 'dark chocolate with with white nougat and caramel' which having eaten it seems a pretty inaccurate description.

Why is it inaccurate? Well in my opinion the chocolate wasn't what I would describe as dark and the nougat wasn't white ... was this a problem? Not in the slightest! The chocolate was noticeably not as sweet as the milk chocolate coated original Mars but it was nowhere near 'dark' in any manner. The milk undertones were still present throughout the taste with the only thing lacking was the sugar. With the sugar mostly out the equation the volume of the cocoa in the taste was raised but it never reached levels that I would describe as strong. Although the nougat that lay below was not as billed it tasted utterly fantastic with its chocolate noted, vanilla flavours that could be enjoyed for a long time in the mouth when simply sucked on. As with every Mars caramel the layer that sat on top of the nougat was divine and had a wonderfully soft feel in the mouth whilst providing some divine butterscotch flavours.

8.7 out of 10


Mars Midnight (Poland):

Kcal 190 Fat 7.7g Carbs 28.5g (per 42.0g)

Now I am afraid this part of the review is going to lack a little bit of detail as I still haven't managed to grasp the Polish language yet :) What I could understand from the wrapper was that the this bar was slightly smaller than the UK one and weighed in at 42.0g - yep 10.0g smaller! Whilst this was obviously beneficial calorie wise it was less satisfying as the UK 'Dark' bar.

Comparing the two photos above you will clearly be able to see that the polish bar had darker coloured chocolate and the nougat was more of a ghostly white. Despite the chocolate looking darker this didn't translate into the taste and it actually tasted a whole lot blander than the UK bar. Unlike the 'Dark' this bar lacked both the milk and the sugar influences in the taste and only offered a mild coffee like note throughout its time in the mouth. Below the chocolate the lighter nougat offered much the same in the way of its vanilla led taste however it didn't last as long in the mouth given its far softer, yielding texture. One redeeming aspect of this bar was the caramel which certainly was up to scratch with the UK offering and had a touch more salt in it's sugar based flavours.

7.9 out of 10

Overall you will be able to clearly see from the scoring charts that I have rated the UK Mars Dark ahead of the Polish Mars Midnight. Although I would say that on whole these are two pretty good chocolate bars if you have read the above you will understand that I have scored one above the other for a fair few reasons. Firstly the size - simply put you get more bang for your buck with the UK bar and with it's denser more viscous nougat it made for a more fulfilling snack. Secondly I felt that the quality of the 'dark' chocolate was just a touch better with the Mars 'Dark' as it's flavours were just a little more forthcoming. Given the bargain price and 'limited edition' nature of these bars I would strongly suggest that you give them a try. With the dark chocolate being 'mass consumer friendly' i.e. weak they were never going to be quite as good as the original Mars but they were still very tasty chocolates. What these bars do make you wonder though is that if they were properly done with some fine quality dark chocolate - how good could they really be!?

October 11th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 18

### JIM's Corner & QOTW ###

Hi All,

Edition 18 already and Christmas in 10 weeks ... where does the time go!?

Exciting news this week is that I will soon be getting a sneak preview of Hotel Chocolat's Christmas stock, whilst I will also be publishing the answers to the questions that we all sent a few weeks ago very soon.

In other news the chaps at CandyPirate are going to be sending me the latest limited edition Snickers out in the US and more locally Montezuma's have sent across some of their latest new products.

Question of the week is going to have a bit of a cake bar spin on it, as in the coming week you will see me reviewing quite a few products from this section of the market:

'What is your favourite chocolate cake bar product?' ... for in inspiration I would check out the site later this week or simply look at the reviews I have done already (HERE)

Have a great week

JIM

The ChocolateMission Omnibus:

The week got off to a great start with me reviewing both the new caramel products from Cadbury & Mars. Although I thought the Galaxy Pieces were slightly the better product out of the two quite a few readers such as Lottie, Phil and George were a little alarmed by the high price. I say if milk chocolate and caramel are your thing then you should give them both a try. See HERE.

Despite Cadbury getting off to a good start this week they did offer up some more disappointing products in the form of the Cadbury Raisins (See HERE), Cadbury Duo (See HERE) and Cadbury Astros (See HERE). Although none of them were despairingly awful, when you have comments like 'You hit the nail on the head when you labelled them boring' you know that these were not only disappointing for myself.

More positively there were far better reviews for Kraft's Oreo Chocolate Creme (See HERE) and Lindt's Blueberry Yogurt (See HERE). Those of you who are wondering what has happened to Dean-German-Grocery I am afraid I still have no answer for you and I am still awaiting to hear back from them.

News from the Chocolate Market:

* Ferrero have launched a funky new website ... See HERE

* Cadbury is launching a new on-pack price promotion. 39p for all your favourites ... bargain ... See HERE

* Mars are now the sponsers of the England football team ... See HERE

* Galaxy probitoic drinks - chocolate drinks that are good for you, oh really ... See HERE

* Muller are bringing out a new limited edition white chocolate and raspberry yogurt ... See HERE

Posts from Other Blogs I enjoyed this week:

* CandyBlog - Cybele tried one of my favourite dark chocolates of the year the Lindt with a touch of Sea Salt ... See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin found the legendary stuff that is Um Bongo ... See HERE

* GiGiReviews - Gi had be licking my computer screen reviewing another Dreyer's/Edy ice cream ... See HERE

* Chocablog - Deanna's review of the Reese's Whipps had me thinking of fond memories ... See HERE

October 10th: Cadbury Astros

Kcal 183 Fat 8.2 Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 26.6g (per pack)

I wont be surprised if many your initial reactions follow along the same lines of my own - 'I remember these!'. Indeed I remember having Cadbury Astros when I was younger but they are long gone from UK nowadays. Luckily for me though ChocolateMission reader Eric was kind enough to send me a load of goodies he tracked down on a trip into London recently. He said he found these in a Australian themed shop in Covent Garden - I will fill you in with the name of the shop when we finally pin it down. If you have never come across Cadbury Astros before they are described as 'candy and chocolate biscuit bites' - ahhh I could feel the nostalgia building up inside already!

These came in 38.0g box that contained several pea sized pieces inside. On the whole I thought that the presentation was really pretty good. Despite the outer cardboard being marked by an unfortunate permanent marker 'X' I still thought it looked rather cool and I liked the way the product was a nice size to carry around on the go. Inside the pieces were colourful in appearance and when bitten into had distinct layering between each of the three different layers of the sugar candy, chocolate and biscuit. Whereas I was impressed by the packaging I was little less enamoured by the sweet, sugary aroma of the product which wasn't particularly strong due to the lacking of an inner packet.

From the very first 'Astro' I placed in my mouth I had a huge sense of nostalgia sweep over me and they tasted exactly how I remembered them all those years ago. The outer candy shell provided a nice crisp texture to bite into though was nicely implemented quite thinly so it avoided the taste ever becoming too sugar based. Inside the chocolate was surprisingly strong in flavour and provided a sound set of milky, cocoa flavours to each and every piece. The inner biscuit was also nicely crunchy in texture and released a tasty malty influence into the taste when bitten into - think Maltesers but with slightly less of a honeycomb influence. What I liked so much about these was that they were a real joy to eat and I really enjoyed sucking away the outer shells and chocolate and then crunching on the exposed biscuit centre after. A whole packet certainly wasn't the most fulfilling snack I have ever had but at the end of the day they did a job tieing my hunger over until later that afternoon and were relatively satisfying.

Overall in a way I can understand why these aren't available here in the UK anymore but I that still doesn't make them a bad product - far from it in fact. Nowadays retailers are very pushed for shelf space to give to confectionery so there isn't always an argument to give room for unremarkable products like these. Personally I actually really like them and I loved reminiscing with the familiar candy, chocolate and biscuit centre combination that I used to love as I child. Whilst I very much enjoyed tasting these 'Astros' again. I am not entirely sure I would be reaching back for another packet all that soon, and that is where I think the main problem with these Astros lie. Looking at the packaging it says these are produced in South Africa so if you are UK based and what to get hold of some of these yourselves your best chance is probably trying the Internet. These were a nice little trip down memory lane but not one that left me really hoping that these would make a dead certain comeback.

7.9 out of 10

October 9th: Lindt Blueberry-Vanilla Yogurt

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Just when you thought I had run out of Lindt flavoured yogurt bars to review I have been able to pull out yet one more (only one more after this one I promise!!) thanks to the never ending selection that was sent to me by my pals at Dean-German-Grocery. When I do these reviews I never know whether to keep the German name or translate it into English like I have done here!? Well this Lindt Joghurt Heidelbeer-Vanille bar came described as 'milk chocolate with a blueberry and vanilla flavoured yogurt creme'. Last time I checked blueberries were on the list of 'superfoods' though thinking back to my experience with the last superfood and chocolate combination this didn't mean this was going to make for a 'super chocolate' HERE.

You will see from the photo above that this was another yogurt filled chocolate from the 'pods' range and it came in a 100.0g size that was split into 24 individual pieces. Like I say with most Lindt products the packaging looked pretty sharp and I liked the used of the royal blue colour to communicate the type of fruit used. If you also look above to my cross-section photo you will be able to see that it looks disturbingly like the picture that is featured on the front of the packaging. Unlike the wrapper the inner creme was a darker in complexion (almost purple!) but I still thought it looked appetising with some flecks of fruit thrown in the mix for good measure. Smellwise this chocolate wasn't all that remarkable; out the packaging a nice chocolaty smell was established though it wasn't until the centre was revealed that a fruity scent could be detected.

If you have read my hundreds of reviews this summer of all the different yogurt filled bars you will have probably noticed that a lot of them have been white chocolate based. In my opinion Lindt made a good decision using white chocolate here as I don't think the mixture of white chocolate and blueberry would have worked quite as well. It wont surprise you to hear that the standard of the milk chocolate here was high. It established a nice cocoa based chocolaty taste in the mouth which was neither to strong or weak. The melt of the chocolate was thick and double cream like in texture which was fitting given the wonderful dairy flavours of the inner creme. After the tasty chocolate had melted away it revealed a cool feeling inner filling that started off very milky and vanilla based in terms of flavours though as it warmed in the mouth the blueberry fruit came to the party. What I especially liked about the blueberry element here was that it lacked any sort of artificalness which can often be the case with fruit flavoured chocolates. I found a fair and fulfilling serving of this chocolate was about six of the pod pieces at a time.

Overall due to me not being a huge fan of blueberries I wasn't expecting to like this product all that much but I have to conclude that this was a damn fine chocolate. I think a large reason as to why I liked it so much was largely down to the fact it did exactly what it said on the wrapper. There were no surprises with this chocolate, it just combined a fine tasting milk chocolate with creamy fruit flavoured centre. The usual sour tang that is present in most yogurt chocolates wasn't all that detectable here though I think was mainly down to the vanilla element which played a large part in the flavouring of the centre. As you can probably tell by now I am a huge proponent of the 'pods' format and I hope Lindt continue to use this with the endless amount of innovation they are pumping out at Lindt HQ. Coming from a guy who has had a huge amount of yogurt flavoured chocolates this year I wouldn't say this one you have to try but I would say it is at least on par with the rest. Certainly one for blueberry lovers.

8.3 out of 10

Head to Dean-German-Grocery and take a look at their wide range of German chocolates

October 8th: Cadbury Raisins

Kcal 400 Fat 14.4g Fat(sats) 8.6g Carbs 64.8g (per 100.0g)

Having not been inspired by the Cadbury Peanuts from this range I have hardly been in a rush to try these Cadbury Raisins, though when I saw them on half price in WH Smith this weekend for 65p a bag I thought I best buy them now. Although I quite enjoyed the Cadbury Clusters from this new pouch collection I felt the Cadbury Peanuts were a complete let down - the chocolate was all but non-existent and the peanuts were pretty bland and flavourless. Suffice to say I was really hoping for a far better showing from these Cadbury Raisins which came described as 'juicy, plump raisins in Cadbury milk chocolate'.

Rather like the peanuts these raisins came in a stupidly large 200.0g bag that if I am being honest I didn't even get half way through - I have too many other products to review!! As I have already commented on the rest of the products from the range, the outer packaging was altogether rather good and I thought the purple colour suited the type of product nicely and looked nice with the matted like finish. Inside the coated raisins looked far from glamorous, though I guess this was always going to be the case. Despite not being the most appetising things to look at, the raisins smelt more enticing and had a nice fruity, chocolaty aroma.

It wasn't going to be hard for these to taste better than the Cadbury Peanuts but without ever surpassing any great levels of quality these did just that. Unlike with the peanuts the milk chocolate had a greater say in the taste as the nature of the raisins meant that it was more natural to let the chocolate melt off in the mouth before chewing on the inner fruit. I have commented before that the chocolate used in this range isn't Dairy Milk which of course isn't ideal but it again was pleasant enough and had a nice sweet, milk based flavour set. After the dismal quality of the peanuts I was half expecting the same poor quality from these raisins however I was pleasantly surprised. The raisins seemed fresh and just as described were mostly quite juicy and provided some fine sugary, fruity flavours. A handful of these raisins was not the most fulfilling of snacks ever but it did a job of tieing over my hunger from mid afternoon until tea time.

Overall I think a work colleague of mine summed these up perfectly when he said 'they are nice, but aren't anything special'. Personally I think that conclusion was right on the money - these Cadbury Raisins were a fair enough snack, however there was nothing overly amazing or wonderful about them that left me thinking I must have them again. All in all these were really just fair standard chocolate covered raisins. Had they been coated in Cadbury's premier Dairy Milk chocolate recipe I may have thought a little more of them, though even that assumption might be pushing things a little ... after all they would still just be chocolate covered raisins. Unlike the Cadbury Peanuts there was nothing wrong here with the actual execution of the product - if anything I would say it was just the concept itself that was just a little lacklustre and dare I say it ... boring!? If you like chocolate coated raisins then these are well worth you looking at as they have actually been done quite well, with fresh tasting raisins. For the rest though there isn't too much to get excited about here - to coin a phrase they just do 'exactly what it says on the pouch'.

7.2 out of 10

October 7th: Oreo Chocolate Creme

Kcal 50 Fat 2.2g Fat(sats) 1.1g Carbs 7.2g (per cookie)

I don't think the Oreo brand is ever going to be as big here in the UK as it is in America but Kraft are slowly bringing different parts of their portfolio to our shores. The latest addition to our supermarket shelves are these Oreo Chocolate Creme which are being backed by TVC media support as well as some magazine prints which you may have seen doing the rounds recently. I am normally a little reticent to do biscuit/cookie reviews but I found these in my local Sainsbury's last week on a special introductory offer of 65p a pack - obviously no fool in their right mind was ever going to turn that down.

65p of my hard earned monies bought me a 176.0g box which contained four packs of four cookies. I have always rather liked the look of Oreo products and was pleased to see that the American style box art had been kept from the US version of the product. Although I think the white coloured filling of the original Oreos looks a little more iconic I still thought the dark coloured branded biscuit pieces looked nice with the light coloured brown filling that was sandwiched inside. Personally I would have preferred the biscuits to have been kept in packets of two as that was more than enough for one sitting, however this is a very minor complaint as I understand there are very firm packaging regulations nowadays.

As soon as I opened the foil packets a very familiar Oreo cookie smell revealed itself which brought back nostalgic memories of visits to America when I was younger. As the photo above shows you these cookies ticked one very important box for me and that was that the cookie pieces could be pulled apart with relative ease (just like the advert shows!!). Of course the only way to enjoy these was with a cool glass of milk which i duly obliged with each time I reached into the pack. The outer cookie pieces were nothing out of the ordinary with any other Oreo biscuit I have ever hard. They had a very distinct sugary, wheat taste that had a nice gritty, crunchy texture in the mouth which created a pleasant snap when bitten into. What was really on show here though was of course the chocolate creme and I am happy to say I thought it was very tasty indeed. Its flavours went that little bit further than the standard white Oreo creme and had more of a buttery element to its taste with a nice added hint of cocoa. One thing that was also noticeable was that it was slightly softer and lighter in texture which I thought was nicer as it added a nice bit of moistness. Personally I found two of these at a time a nice little snack with an afternoon tea though I have witnessed packs of these disappear in seconds when one has been opened in my work office recently.

Overall I have actually rated these higher than the original Oreo cookies however I wouldn't say they are quite up to scratch with my favourite Oreo biscuits of all time the Oreo Double Stuff Mint that I got from America last year. In my opinion the the chocolate creme at the centre of these cookies is just a little bit superior to the white coloured original creme. I thought that the flavours were just that little bit more forthcoming and liked the additional butter and cocoa elements to the taste which I think just made it a little more interesting. As always I like to base my ratings on whether I would buy a product again and if posed that exact question my answer would have to be a resounding yes. I hope Kraft keep on releasing more and more Oreo variants as I for one will keep on welcoming them if they are they continue to be this good.

8.0 out of 10

October 6th: Cadbury Dairy Milk Duo

Kcal 521 Fat 29.5g Fat(sats) 18.4g Carbs 57.2g (per 100.0g)

It has been a while since I have reviewed something from Australia so I thought I would put that right and delve back into the box of treats sent my way by Shopenzed. Today I decided to review the Cadbury Duo bar, which was described as 'Old Gold dark chocolate with Dairy Milk milk chocolate'. I am sure we used to have a product just like this one on our UK market shelves not all that long ago, but for now the land down under appears to be the only place it is in manufacture. Now I come to think of it, it is not all that often you actually see milk and dark chocolate used in the same product!? Off the top of my head I can't think of another mass produced offering that uses this combination.

This bar came in a 220.0g bar that was split up into 50 or so small sized chunks. What with there being so much I shared this with some friends who were more than happy to provide some second opinions which I will share later. Firstly though lets talk about the presentation - everyone agreed that both the both the outer packaging and inner chocolate looked aesthetically good and the inner product certainly caught the eye with its two tone chocolate colours. The product itself was protected by an inner foil wrapper which maintained both the look and smell of the chocolate nicely. It was noted by all that a pleasant sweet chocolaty smell made itself known once the foil was split, however it noticeably faded in strength after a few minutes to air.

As you probably predicted this was a tale of two chocolates - one very good one, and one exceedingly average. As the photo above displays the base of this chocolate was made up by the Old Gold dark chocolate which I personally thought was pretty lacklustre in terms of taste and texture. All that tried this chocolate felt that the melt of the Old Gold was slower and a little waxy when compared to the Dairy Milk which melted with great ease and a lovely thickness. In addition to not melting quite so well I also felt the Old Gold lacked telling flavours - it wasn't as if it tasted bad or anything, but its non descript unsweetened flavours were really shown up by the creamy Dairy Milk. Unfortunately out of the two the Old Gold actually made up a greater proportion of each block which meant that it took more chunk to deliver a chocolate flavour hit than just a plain Dairy Milk would have.

Overall on the whole I was left feeling a little disappointed by this chocolate and I was expecting something a little better. It is worth bearing in mind that Cadbury do set themselves very high standards but with a little more rational thinking this bar could have been made that bit better. In my opinion I think they should have made the base of this chocolate their premier chocolate (Dairy Milk), and then supplemented it with the Old Gold placed on top i.e. they should have swapped the chocolates round. This way I think the Dairy Milk would have had a greater say in the taste, whilst the Old Gold could of just provided a little twist of unsweetened cocoa. In conclusion, unless your an avid Cadbury fan I don't think there is any great urgency for you to rush out and buy this one as there are far superior Cadbury products on the market.

6.9 out of 10

October 5th: Cadbury Caramel Nibbles / Galaxy Caramel Pieces

Before I start this head-to-head today I must thank ChocolateMission reader Rachel for coming up with the idea for doing a double review. The standard Cadbury Caramel and Galaxy Caramel bar have been ever present at the top of the ChocolateMission leader board since the start of the site so I was pretty excited to hear about these new formats announced in the trade a few weeks ago (See HERE).

In the interest of keeping this review of a reasonably length lets kicks things off ...

Cadbury Caramel Nibbles:
Kcal 215 Fat 11.3g Fat(sats) 6.8g Carbs 26.1g (per 1/4 bag)

Take Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons and add some some Cadbury Caramel and what do you get?? Cadbury Caramel Nibbles of course! These Caramel Nibbles came in a 175g pouch bag that I ate over the course of a few days. I thought the pouch looked great with the old Caramel branding dominating the front of pack and I also liked the material used with the outer side sporting that fantastic matted Cadbury look whilst the inside was a clean, smooth plastic material. When I opened the bag I was met with the usual warm Cadbury greeting in the form of a wonderfully sweet, chocolaty fragrance.

The Nibbles themselves looked slightly bigger than your average Cadbury Button and appeared just a little thicker in terms of depth. This made them an ideal size for just placing on the tongue and letting them just melt away slowly. Although the usual deliciously creamy Dairy Milk flavours were all substantiated, due to the buttons being thinner than the Cadbury Caramel blocks the feel of the melt wasn't quite as luxurious with the buttons melting away in double quick time. More positively the inner caramel was in line with expectations and produced the expected array of magnificent sweet, buttery flavours with that all important lick of salt still present.

Overall these Cadbury Caramel Nibbles were simply delicious but if I forced to choose between these and a single Cadbury Caramel bar I would still go for the later. The Cadbury Nibbles brought all the same taste credentials but lacked the flavour longevity in the mouth compared to the block equivalents due to them being far thinner. Despite the standard bar being of personal preference, if in a situation where sharing is needed then these are a great option.

9.0 out of 10


Galaxy Caramel Pieces:

Kcal 39 Fat 2.1g Carbs 4.7g (per piece)

Unlike Cadbury Nibbles, Mars didn't feel the need to let consumers know that these Galaxy Caramel Pieces were actually coming out. I picked these up in my local supermarket and have to say that it was the packaging that actually caught my eye. I thought that the 159.0g had great stand out on shelf and the curved appearance of the box really looked something special next to some other products sitting on the fixture. The pieces inside didn't look half bad either with each sporting a tight golden foil wrapper and the most subtle Galaxy 'G' on the corner of each piece. The chocolates themselves smelt enticing with some fine chocolaty aromas though I was less impressed with the cheesy message that was writing on the inside of the foil wrappers ... 'A day without chocolate is a day without sunshine' ... oh dear.

These Galaxy Pieces looked exactly like the Dove Desserts chocolates that I reviewed from America back at the start of the year (See HERE), though they were thankfully of a higher quality. In comparison to the Cadbury Nibbles the pieces were not quite as wide but were far thicker. This meant that each piece lasted little bit longer in the mouth and provided exactly the same volume of delicious Galaxy chocolate and caramel flavours as with the standard bar. In terms of taste the chocolate had the same flowing, smoothness of cream flavours whilst the caramel was dazzling with its sweet, butterscotch led flavours. In comparison to the normal bar the progression of the textures from the chocolate to the caramel was not quite as sensual as the nature of the smaller, denser block meant that the introduction to the caramel was more abrupt once the chocolate had melted away. This of course though was really not much of an issue due to them tasting so utterly fantastic and I am sure it was not something on the minds of my fellow co-workers who so kindly assisted me in eating these haha!

Overall I have to say again, just like the Cadbury Nibbles if I was offered either these Galaxy Pieces or a standard Galaxy Caramel bar I would still choose the latter. However, just like I said above if I was in an instance where sharing was the need then these would be an absolutely fantastic product to suit the occasion. These Galaxy Caramel Pieces not only look the part but they taste absolutely phenomenal and I would say are on a par with the standard bar in this sense. Where I think they didn't quite match up was delivering the same smooth luxurious feel in the mouth but trust this didn't stop them from being one of the chocolates which had the 'just one more' appeal factor. Milk chocolate and caramel fans I would strongly recommend these to you.

9.2 out of 10

So to sum both these products up for everyone - where they as good as their equivalent bar format products? In short No, but they were still fantastic in their own right. If forced to choose between the two I would give the Galaxy Pieces the slight edge as the whole taste experience with them was just that bit longer lasting in comparison to the buttons. Another factor we could also take in to consideration though is price - the Galaxy Caramel Pieces have an RRP of £3.00, whilst the Cadbury Nibbles £1.69. The Galaxy product looks the more premium product with its funky curved box, though truth be told the difference in the actual inner product is nowhere near deserving of a price tag nearly double that of the Cadbury Nibbles. I would be interested to hear all you own views if you have tried either!

October 4th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 17

Hi Everyone,

Things will be kept short and sweet this week as I am publishing the second edition of STARS & THEIR BARS today.

Rounding up the week on ChocolateMission I reviewed 5 products from Germany and 1 from Belguim. The first review this week was a ChocolateMission first as I for the first time sampled some handmade Belgian chocolates from a company called Chocolateque. These chocolates were not only fantastic but Thomas from Chocolateque also left a code that ChocolateMission readers can submit with their orders to get 10% off (See HERE). With the week starting off so positively inevitably there were going to be some products that weren't so good .. . namely the Lindt Peach-Apricot Yogurt (See HERE), Schogetten White Chocolate (See HERE) and Zotter's Black Cherries with Vanilla bars (See HERE). In between those reviews I also sampled Sarroti's Refreshment Sticks (See HERE) which brought back nice memories for both Susie and Susanne who remembered older generations of their family enjoying this product.

It has been a very slow week for news on the Chocolate market. Nestle have announced they will be backing their Christmas activity with £1.6m on media spend (See HERE). Hannock's are launching a few new lines of chocolate bars (See HERE). Finally it wouldn't be a complete week without mentioning the Cadbury takeover bids ... the latest is that Kraft have been given an early November deadline to stump up the cash for their next offer (See HERE).

What did I enjoy reading this week? GiGi casted her eye over the Trader Joe's PB & J bar (See HERE), Japanese Snack Reviews tried the bizarre sounding Tobacco Super Lemon Soda (See HERE), Cin at Foodstufffinds has started the Xmas reviews already with a review of Walker's Turkey and Stuffing crisps (See HERE) and lastly Marvo tried some Cola Champagne over at Impulsive Buy (See HERE).

Right so on to the star attraction........ if you missed PART 1 (See HERE)

***STARS & THEIR BARS*** PART 2

October 3rd: Zotter Black Cherries with Vanilla

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

A week ago to the day you may remember that I wrote "I don't want to curse myself but I haven't had a bad product from the brand (Zotter) yet" .... why oh why did I let myself write that. Today saw me tuck into the last of the samples that Zotter so kindly provided me with, as I got to gripes with their Black Cherries with Vanilla bar. This one didn't quite have the excitement factor of the 'Bacon Bits' or 'Cheese, Walnut & Grapes' but I still liked the sound of 'fine bitter chocolate with a vanilla-cherry filling'.

Just like all the others the bar came in a 70.0g format that I managed to tuck away in a single sitting. Across all my reviews of the Zotter range I have been pretty complimentary when it comes to their packaging and I was impressed once again. The flavour theme was well communicated through some artistic pictures, whilst the bar was wrapped within a thick, branded foil wrapper. One thing I did note however was that whilst this golden foil layer looked great it didn't do the best job of keeping my chocolate fresh - for the first time on a Zotter product there was evident 'blooming' on the surface of the chocolate which is never a nice thing to see. Despite the product not appearing quite so fresh some sweet red fruit smells were evident once the bar had been cut into.

Now from my opening sentence I guess you are already aware of my disappointment in regards to this Zotter offering. Over the past few weeks I haven't been overly positive on the strength of Zotter chocolate and I felt once again here it really lacked emphasis in its flavours. Although described as fine and bitter chocolate I would describe it as neither of those two adjectives and would be more inclined to use the words weak and mild. The chocolate was just pretty effortless and never moved beyond a pale, milk based cocoa taste. As I said this wasn't the first Zotter bar where I have experienced some lazy flavours from the chocolate, though that said in those instances they have always been saved by a really strong flavoured filling. Unfortunately the filling was just as meagre as the chocolate and didn't create much of an impression. The two tone texture between the drier vanilla base and stickier jam like substance in the middle did grab my interest for a while, however this was short lived due to the lack of substantial flavour. Looking at the wrapper there are ingredients such as brandy, almonds and salt listed ... my simple question is where were they in the taste!? The filling never ventured on more than from a simple natural yogurt like base with a layer of sugary (and not particularly fruity) jam running through the middle.

Overall to call this bar horrid would be going well over the top but I think you will be able to tell by the tone of the review that I was deeply disappointed. The outer chocolate lacked flavour and was only compounded by an equally boring filling. Over the recent weeks Zotter have set the standards for themselves pretty high with bars like 'Bacon Bits' and 'Birds Eye Chilli' to just name two. To be honest this offering didn't belong in the same league as those bars and I just think that if this was my first experience of the brand I would have been left distinctly underwhelmed. If your going to buy Zotter (which you can HERE!!), I would go for one of the other bars from their range - I don't think this bar would be a good reflection on the potential of the brand.

6.8 out of 10

October 2nd: Trumpf Schogetten White Chocolate

Kcal 554 Fat 34.0g Carbs 56.0g (per 100.0g)

I have been stampeding my way through Trumpf's Schogetten range in the past few weeks and I continued my investigation today by sampling their White Chocolate offering. Admittedly white chocolate isn't really a favourite of mine but as previous manufactures like Hotel Chocolat and Thorntons have proven, when done well white chocolate can be exceedingly tasty. Trumpf didn't bother describing this bar as anything more than 'white chocolate' which was refreshing to see given the fact that most manufactures feel the need to put a load of unnecessary blurb when describing what the actual product is.

No prizes for guessing the format this one came in ... yep 100.0g split into 18 individual blocks - any chance of a little mix up Mr Schogetten? I have been a little critical over the last couple of reviews over the standard of the Schogetten packaging but I thought the cream colours implemented here worked quite well and at least looked a little different to many of the more standard colour schemes used across the range. The chocolate itself was a little yellow in terms of colour itself - it always worries me when this is the case as it reminds me of the awful Hannah's White Mice I reviewed a few months back - eugh vegetable fat mockolate! As I always do when I open the packaging I rightfully had a smell of the chocolate to try and get an initial gauge on the taste. To be honest I couldn't really determine much from the smell as I couldn't detect much more than just a mild, sweet fragrance.

Describing this chocolate won't take me long as the flavours were all pretty simple. If you have eaten Schogetten Milk Chocolate before just imagine the taste of that but a little less chocolaty and without the lick of hazelnut in the aftertaste. From that I think you will be able to determine that the taste was very basic indeed. When first placed in the mouth the flavours were predominantly very weak and mustered little more than a slight milkiness. As the chocolate heated in the mouth the melt started to develop, though I must add that it was a touch slower than normal and a little waxy in terms of texture. When the chocolate did warm enough to change state the taste developed from a mild milk context to one that was rooted in sugar which obviously brought a very sharp, sweet taste. The taste never got quite as far as getting to that throat burning stage but it was still excessively sweet for my taste, which meant I never got to the point of eating more than four blocks ... I'm afraid the remainder was laid to rest in the bin.

Overall Trumpf have hit a bit of a slump with their last two products reviewed on this site. A few days ago it was the 'For Kids' variant that wasn't to my liking and today the White Chocolate didn't do much better. I am not a great fan of Schogetten's standard milk chocolate but this White Chocolate offering was just a case of taking out many of the flavours in the latter and leaving just a weak, sugary milk taste. In comparison to some of the other white chocolates on the market this was one was simply put pretty damn poor and would not be one I would recommend. Even if you like your white chocolate I would suggest you go for another option such as the Hotel Chocolat Praline White or Thorntons' White Chocolate.

5.3 out of 10

Head to Dean-German-Grocery for all your German Chocolate & Grocery needs

October 1st: Storck Merci

It has been a long time since I last reviewed a selection box on ChocolateMission but with the holiday season creeping up alarmingly fast (under three months now!) I thought I better get back on the scene and check out the latest market offerings.

Over the last couple of days, thanks to Dean-German-Grocery, I have been sampling the chocolates on offer in this Storck Merci selection box. The Merci box contained eight different flavoured chocolates including - Milk Chocolate, Coffee & Cream, Hazelnut & Almond, Hazelnut-Creme, Marzipan, Dark Cream, Dark Mousse and Praline-Creme variants.

In regards to presentation I was extremely impressed with the product. The outer box looked very stylish and sophisticated combining some prestigious looking fonts with some nicely balanced, gold trimmed pictures. The chocolates themselves also cut a pretty dashing appearance with each one contained within in a nice plastic golden wrapper.

As there were so many flavours I will keep my thoughts on each rather concise:

Marzipan - The outer dark chocolate initially substantiated a generous amount of cocoa flavours but the real star of the show was the inner marzipan. The marzipan was surprisingly very tasty and provided some pleasant sweet, almond based flavours. Not quite Niederegger standards but close. Good.

Coffee & Cream - As you can see from the photo above this was a dual layered chocolate with milk chocolate on top and a creamier layer beneath. The milk chocolate wasn't scintillating in its flavours though the mild cocoa flavours dominated the extremely weak coffee flavours of the cream layer below. I wanted the coffee element to be a lot stronger. Poor.

Milk Chocolate - By all accounts I thought this was a pretty bad milk chocolate. When in the mouth it had an extremely mild set of inoffensive cocoa flavours but when the aftertaste kicked in it was pretty poor. I was left with a sour, yogurt tang in my mouth which I didn't altogether find that nice. One of the poorer milk chocolates I have found in a long time. Very Poor.

Hazelnut Creme - I wasn't all that enamoured with the texture of this chocolate as I found the centre a little too chalky for my liking. Casting this to one side for a second I must say that this one tasted really rather good. Thankfully the milk chocolate took a bit of a backseat, allowing the delicious flavours off the hazelnut to really come through in the taste. The strength of the nut in the taste was fantastic. Very Good.

Praline Creme - Unfortunately where this chocolate tasted deliciously creamy. it lacked the nut flavours I desired. Unlike the Hazelnut Creme flavour of above the hazelnut just really didn't come through in the taste which I found a little disappointing. On a more positive note the inner praline creme had a nice smooth texture which made a nice variation from the denser outer chocolate. Standard.

Dark Mousse - In comparison to the Dark Creme flavour the cocoa flavours were a little milder but were still altogether pretty pleasant. Despite the cocoa not being as forthcoming as the aforementioned I did really like the variation in texture that the lighter centre mousse brought to the chocolate. Standard.

Dark Creme - Without doubt the best from the selection ... I would happily eat a full bar of this stuff, it was simply divine. The cocoa flavours were immediatedly detectable and compelling as soon as the chocolate hit the tongue and sustained their flavour throughout the melt. Whilst the rich cocoa flavours were at play there were always these wonderful cream based undertone in the taste which made for fluid, flowing experience. Superb.

Hazelnut & Almond- A never a fan of having small, bitty pieces of nut in chocolate but to be fair it was hardly lacking in terms of nut flavours. The almond was by and away the dominant of the two which I must say I found a little disappointing since my preference with the two firmly lies with the hazelnut. Due to the smallness of the nut pieces I did find the texture a little rough, though the strength of the nut flavours partially made up for this nuisance. Standard.

Overall like almost all selection boxes this was one with its duds and its diamonds. By far and away the best flavour was the Dark Creme - it was simply superb on all levels and like I said above I would love to try it in a grander form. Other standouts for me were the Marzipan and Hazelnut Creme flavours, though like I have stated above the Milk Chocolate and Coffee & Cream variants were pretty disappointing and certainly didn't leave me wanting more. If you like a wide range of variety in your chocolates then I would suggest that this would be a nice product to try. This Storck Merci collection is far from the best I have ever tried, but at the same time I certainly wouldn't be turning it down if it got gifted to me.

7.8 out of 10

Head to Dean-German-Grocery to for all your German chocolate needs