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Kcal Plenty Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs Loads :D :D :DThe recent freezing weather conditions and Royal Mail may have delayed this review for a week or so, but boy I can tell you it was worth the wait! Replacing '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' this week I have the pleasure of bringing you another review of my favourite homemade cakes merchant - Heavenly Cakes. Before I launch in to telling you how wonderful their latest cake was :D I should probably make mention of the special discount that all ChocolateMission readers can use on the Heavenly Cakes website. Indeed it's Christmas time and Heavenly Cakes are in the giving mood!! If you enter the code 'JCM001' at the checkout stage of the order system, you automatically qualify for a 10% discount - nifty huh!?
Luckily for me Heavenly haven't just been in the giving mood in regards to some discounts for you lot :D They have recently sent me a whole batch load of their latest cake creations, one of which was this Midnight Mint cake that they have created especially for Christmas 2010. Essentially this cake constituted of a milk chocolate brownie base, topped with a layer of mint fondant and Belgian dark chocolate. The beady eyed ChocolateMission readers will also have noticed the sprinkling of icing sugar sat on top of the cake - it's funny how this simple addition can make any cake look Christmassy isn't it :D
This beastly single serving cake came in the usual cellophane packet with all the standard blurb nicely printed on the pink coloured label. Being in the Christmas sharing mood, and being full well in the knowledge this wasn't going to be a cake I could handle alone, I acquired the services of a fellow taste tester in my office. Looking at the cake it looked spectacular, but I had immediate concerns that the overflowing amount of fondant could potentially send me in to a sugar coma within a few mouthfuls. Taking my first bite in to the cake, the textural differences between the soft brownie, smooth fondant and dense crisp chocolate layers were the first thing brought to my attention - it simply felt amazing. At the base of each bite, the crumbly brownie was delicious and generated buttery chocolate flavours that stayed throughout the experience. The mint fondant layer obviously didn't hang around in establishing itself on the taste either. Thankfully, the injection of sweet mint was more passive than I expected - this wasn't a conventional fondant where the sugar hit became fast insufferable. The peppermint flavours were finely tuned and were delivered in a manner which allowed greater expression of the chocolate constituents. Speaking of which, the dark chocolate on top was equally well balanced. For my tastes it could have been a touch stronger, however the unsweetened, roasted cocoa flavours supplied were more than sufficient at finishing off what was a devilishly rich, chocolate and mint indulgence.
Overall this Heavenly Cakes Midnight Mint has been without doubt the best Christmas themed cake I have tried this year. Despite initial fears that Heavenly's willingness to take usual amounts of fillings and applying them by the power of ten may backfire on them with the mint fondant, I was proven totally wrong. The mint fondant was frankly implemented expertly - neither too sugary or lacking in peppermint prowess. This combined with the amazing quality of the fresh chocolate brownie and tasty Belgian dark chocolate placed on top, made for what was a cake of pure luxury. It seems horrendously corny to use this phrase on a Heavenly Cakes review, but I guarantee that this would be literally 'Heaven' for any fan of minty dark chocolates. For those of you wondering, both myself and my fellow taster polished off our half slices easily with both of us left feeling a great deal of satisfaction. Unfortunately for me I'm not going to be able to look at a mint flavoured cake bar from the likes of Cadbury the same ever again. The bar has just been raised to high by another superb Heavenly Cakes offering.
9.0 out of 10
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43 comments:
9/10!!! This must be well nice. Well done heavenly for making another great cake. They really need to start selling all their cakes in shops. Its getting so annoying seeing all these amazing cakes but not being able to buy them :( I dont have a card to buy online.
This sounds exactly like my sort of thing! Omg I love chocolate and mint so much, its like my favourite pairing ever.
The only thing close you can get to something like this in the shops are the after eight cookies you can buy from tesco. This cake has to be ten times better than those by the looks of things. Amazing review.
Rxxx
I always love seeing HC posts jim thanks for the extra one ;) Lol you sure have been busy recently.
I dont think I have ever seen a cake themed like this before. Sure I've seen mint cake bars, but ive never see a mint flavoured millionaire shortbread thing. It looks well nice.
Excuse me whilst I drool over your photos again today Jim. Was this another you got your dad to do? If that is a solid layer of choc on top that is crazy good.
I think my sis would love this. She is obsessed with mint flavoured chocolates.
Is it me or is this like an After Eight blown up in size? Lol the first thing it made me think about were after eight chocolates.
I don't think I would be able to handle all that fondant. Despite what Jim says it just looks like there is too much of it for me. I hate cakes that get sickly after a few bites.
Is it me or is this like an After Eight blown up in size? Lol the first thing it made me think about were after eight chocolates.
I don't think I would be able to handle all that fondant. Despite what Jim says it just looks like there is too much of it for me. I hate cakes that get sickly after a few bites.
When I buy cakes I normally go for purer ones with just caramel or fruit in, but this ..... boy ... this looks like a cake and a half :)
Its really nice that such a small company is offering discounts. Thats more than most the other big boys are doing this year.
Jim how long do deliveries take with Heavenly? Could they deliver for a party next week if I put an order in this weekend?
ok ok ok my resolve is broken :) I was resisting getting some cakes from them but I just cant resist anymore :P I think I will be trying out this one and some of their choc shortbread. I tried finding a review of that but I cant, can you link me to it please.
Dx
At the base of each bite, the crumbly brownie was delicious and generated buttery chocolate flavours that stayed throughout the experience. The mint fondant layer obviously didn't hang around in establishing itself on the taste either. Thankfully, the injection of sweet mint was more passive than I expected - this wasn't a conventional fondant where the sugar hit became fast insufferable. The peppermint flavours were finely tuned and were delivered in a manner which allowed greater expression of the chocolate constituents.
You aren't half bad at this writing stuff are you ;)
It seems horrendously corny to use this phrase on a Heavenly Cakes review, but I guarantee that this would be literally 'Heaven' for any fan of minty dark chocolates.
You're right ..... that was uber corny of you to say ;)
Fantastic review jim. Best of luck to heavenly cakes making a success of themselves. They sound like a really nice company.
I maintain that my homemade cakes will be better, but when i see cakes like this I do appreciate all the new ideas hc keep coming up with.
If you compare the photos of their millionaire shortbread and this mint cake it is like they just swapped the ingredients around. It's such a cool idea.
How do Heavenly know how much cake to make each week? It must be hard telling how many to bake everyday to keep them fresh.
Awesome review Jim. Will you be posting a news review aswell or are we going to have to wait until next week? Also how can heavenly cakes tell that we are chocolate mission readers to get the discount?
Do we have to click on the rotating link or will the code thing just work if we put it in?
I dont like chocolate and mint paired together but I think even I would give this cake a try just because of the way it looks. Lol I don't think I have ever seen a cake where someone has tried putting in so much fondant. It makes my teeth hurt a little just looking at it.
If you say the portions are as big as they are I think I would share it as well lol. Great work mate.
That looks gross.
JIIIMMMMMMM I thought you got my reuest asking you to put up pop up warnings if you were going to be posting tasty looking photographs again :P LMAO!!!!!
This is just way too tasty looking, I genuinely was staring at that photo of that cake for ages. Im not surprised to see it get such a good score.
Hi Mate,
Sorry I haven't been able to post for the last few days. My internet has been getting fixed.
Looks like I have some catching up to do on the reviews this week. Lol I was hoping I was going to find a summary this morning but this is even better. I love seeing anything made by these heavenly people, their cakes look so divine its a shame they aren't being sold in supermarkets. You should tell them to start doing that.
Cheers for the reviews. I will go read them all now.
p.s. forgot to put my footie predictions
Newcastle utd 0 Liverpool 1
Man U 3 Arsenal 2
I think your game on monday is going to be brill. Chelsea vs spurs could be interesting to see aswell.
Eugh why must you tempt me by putting cakes like this in front of me. I think I fall in to the category of people you mention who this would be 'heaven' for.
Seriously put anything mint/choc in front of me and I wont be able to resist it. I'm not normally a cake person but this just looks uber yummy. I will have to try find a worthwhile sub when I head out later.
I think the offer of ten percent off is nice of them but it doesn't really change much. Its only like 80p off really.
If they had said we get free postage now that would have been worth it. That would have made me consider buying some cakes from them.
Jim I was going to share this story with people if you hadn't picked up on it.
Asda the idiots are going to start selling Hersheys. Poor them lol
http://www.supermarket.co.uk/news/2010/Dec/asda-secures-deal-to-sell-hersheys-chocolate-97357550.html
Omg I didn't realise they did a mint cake like this one. This has put me in one hell of a predicament now :S :S What do I order the millionaire shortbread or this? One solution is I could buy some millionaire shortbread from tesco and some special mint cake from heavenly. I think that is what I will do lol. Top review Jim.
Mint + cake + chocolate = FTW!!!!!
Thanks for the extra review jim this cake looks so delicious. I can only reiterate what some of the other people have written today. Heavenly Cakes need to start selling their cakes in shops and not just online. I would love to try some of the cakes you have reviewed but I just dont want the hassle of online ordering etc. IF they were something I could buy in a shop I think I would buy there cakes often.
Is it too late to order some of these? Will they be making this mint cake after Christmas or just for now?
Sounds absolutely delightful, and great work on their part creating something mint without creating something MINT. That's difficult to accomplish but is so delicious when it's pulled off - come on, we need to taste the chocolate, too!
My word that cake looks tremendous. I hadn't realised that had added that one to their repertoire now, mega mega wants =)
I would order some cakes but Im really worried about getting stuff through the post at the moment. I ordered some books for my family off amazon like two weeks ago and they still havent arrived. I doubt my postie will prioritise my cakes for me =(
As tasty as this looks I have to ask? What is with the name?
Why call it midnight mint? Why not Merry Mint Cake? That would have been better IMO.
I don't usually go for minty things but this sounds fantastic. That's one of the highest scores I've seen on here in a while. I seriously must sample some Heavenly Cakes, although I might wait for the New Year when royal mail picks up again.
Now a mint flavoured cake would have been the last thing I would have had my eye on to be honest! Though I love things like After Eight, I would have gone for something else where cakes are concerned. But my, you make this cake look and sound incredibly tasty. And a 9,0 is more than impressive!
At some stage I really need to give these guys a try. But at this time of year, there are just too many home baked goodies around. Hope they offer a discount to your loyal readers some time in the new year...
Regarding people wanting these cakes to be more widely available in shops (understandable! :). I think the badges they bake are simply too small for that (supermarkets who always want big amounts, would definitely be out of the question I think). Not sure if changing that to a more large scale would be in favour of the quality of the cakes...
I send this along to Jim during teh week, but since he wasn't going to do his usual saturday post, he aksed me to repost it in a comment.
Hershey will sell their Kisses in Asda from next year:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/08/hershey-chocolate-comes-to-britain
Guardian readers don't seem too excited about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/poll/2010/dec/08/hershey-kisses-asda-deal?intcmp=239
Can't comment on the taste of the Kisses myself, never tried them.
Blimey that mint thing looks really quite incredible. I've not see a cake like that ever before.
Jim have you ever tried anything from these people that you haven't liked? All the cakes they seem to make get a thumbs up from you.
I know you say they read this blog sometimes, I would love them to try and make something with custard in it. I know it may be tricky because of the postage thing, but my favourite cakes of all time are custard tarts. A millionaire custard tart concoction has the potential to send me in to my death bed a happy man lol.
@Anne Hershey Kisses taste horrible. I had a friend who bought a bag of them back from his holiday once and he brought them in to school. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE liked them. They smelt like rotten cheese and taste like gone milk. I wont be switching my shopping to asda :)
@Anne - I don't see the point in Hershey trying to expand over here, no one really seems to like their stuff apart from Reese's.
@ Phil and David - yes, from what I have read in the past, Hershey seems to be a bit of an acquired taste... Guess it comes down to what you grew up with. Many people in Germany wouldn't touch Cadbury either, for example. I also only eat it very seldom and consider it to be a chocolate flavoured sweet rather than real chocolate. ;-)
@Anne - the funny thing is, I have German relatives and they used to LOVE Galaxy chocolate when they came over here, taking several bars back home (never Dairy Milk though). From what I gather Galaxy is now popular in Europe under the name 'Dove'.
Personally I'm going off Cadbury a bit and would agree that it's chocolate flavoured sweet rather than real chocolate. Real chocolate to me is something with a bit more cocoa in.
Wow I seriously need some of these cakes. It would have been nicer to get more than 10% off though, that isnt really worth much. Thanks anyway.
I honestly need to stop visiting this site :-) the pictures are way too much for me to handle.
I can see this cake being very sickly but it doesn't make me want it any less. The fondant seeping out couldn't look any more yum if it tried.
Wow, this cake just looks amazing, never mind how great the review makes it seems. A nice thick layer of chocolate, an substantial, oozy fondant and a lovely looking perfect brownie to top (or bottom) it off. Heavenly cakes don't appear to be able to do any wrong at all. I really need to get in touch with them and see if they'd be able to mix and match some cakes so I can try a selection when I get round to buying some. Wonderful review, thanks. Hope you've had a lovely weekend.
This looks wonderful, certainlu my sisters street and I'd happily have some aswell lol I must try some of their stuff, but I think as others ahve said it may be better to wait until NY now.
Hershey's is foul. The kisses are disgusting. Hershey's stuff isnt up to much atall to be honest I don't think. We bought a load of US chocolate to try once and most of it was very average at best and some was uneatable. I've always wondered why they acll chocolate bars Candy bars in the US?
I think I'll stick to the Dairy Milk :) I think Mr Cadbury would be horrified at hearing his famous chocolate called a 'chocolate flavoured sweet' :P
I'd say that was a better description of the waxy rubbish Hersheys seems to churn out lol
Hi All.
Heavenly have wanted to reply to you all themselves but they have told me they have been at the Chocolate Festival in London this weekend spreading the Heavenly Cakes word around. There are so many comments today I will keep the replies short and direct.
David - That is a shame chap. You could always ask to borrow one of a friend or family? You could reimburse them with cake haha :D
Rachel / Steven - There are the Cadbury mint cake bars but apart from them I also can't think of anything that offers anything like the experience these do.
Ben - No I did the photos for the review today :D thanks for the nice words about them.
Nick - Well the dark chocolate and mint combination reminds me of after eights but I wouldn't say this cake looks like one. The fondant looks excessive but it's not half as sugary as you would think.
Craig - It is a really nice gesture of them to give the ten percent off. I hope that some of you are taking advantage of it. The deal wont be around ongoing.
Lucy - It depends what delivery you ask them to go for. Everything I have got from them has been recorded delivery so it has been sent to me in 24 hours. I will make an announcement regarding remaining delivery times at the end of my replies.
Daisy - I haven't reviewed the chcocolate shortbread yet. If the millionaire shortbread is anything to go by I'm sure it would be very nice.
Katie - They are indeed a lovely company (run by a couple called Maeve and Nigel!). I wish them the greatest success in anything they do.
Sally - Indeed they do come up with great idea for cakes. This isn't the final one I will be showing you this year either.
Golden - I believe they just bake by demand. They would be better placed to tell you that though.
Will - The code will work for anyone but you will have to have read the site to know about it of course.
Duncan - Sharing is adviseable with most of the Heavenly Cakes range. It wins you a few fans trust me :D
Emma - Unfortunately I would have no idea how to add that feature on to the site :D thanks for the nice words about the photos.
Nigel - Competition is very fierce in this sector chap, I can understand the difficulties they would have getting listed anywhere. Its not easy thats for sure. Your footie predictions aren't very accurate this week :P I hope you are right about the United game though.
Lauren - Why grab a sub when you can have the real thing. Treat yourself to some Heavenly Cakes why not.
Richard - Have you been doing the some sums then chap? Haha come on ... 10% is better than nothing. It's a nice thing for them to offer.
Beth - There are more than a few bits in the Hersheys range which is worth trying. The general perception of Hersheys in this country is poor though, it might not have much traction.
Paul - Maybe you should e-mail them and ask if you could get some sort of multpack combination of the two? Worth a try at least.
Mysterio - Its not often we find something you like is it :D
Fiona - Im sure this is something they are well aware of. For the minute you could give their online service a try. Its really not a big deal I dont think.
Michael - See announcement below.
Victoria - Indeed like I said I worried by the amount of fondant but it proved to be absolutely fine at the end of things.
Beth - I get the worries about postage but I think that was all just a consequence of the poor weather. That seems to have gone now so normal service should resume with the royal mail now ...I hope.
JK - I will leave the name thing to HC. I don't have a clue to be honest.
Phil - If you like dark chocolate and mint things (which I recall you do!!) then you would love this cake trust me. I think the worst is over with in regards to the post. I hope so anyway ... god imagine the carnage that will be caused if it snows again next week.
Anne - Unfortunately this discount is only running up until Dec 25th I believe. If you are interested in trying something I would suggest getting some now.
To be honest I have no idea whether making more cakes on a larger scale would affect the way they bake now!? Who knows eh? I guess it is something the future will tell us - I have every confidence that this company will prosper and reach large scale manfacturing one day. Thank you for posting those two stories - you have certainly got some debate going regarding Hersheys.
Ganesh - Nope all their cakes they have sent have been to my liking. Perhaps they are cheating because I told them the cakes of theirs that I wanted to try in the first place :D Not all companies have that luxury I guess. Your idea of a custard tart millionairre shortbread sounds remarkable :D I would love to see that made (or at least attempted).
David / Phil / Anne - Personally I think David's assesment is a little on the harsh side, but he is entitled to his opinion of course. I'm surprised that Cadbury isn't more popular in Germany given how much you all love Milka.
Tim - The discount is what it is chap. I blooming nice gesture from them if you ask me!
Terry - Thanks for the nice words.
Ria - Well thank you again for being way to nice about my reviews :D I could still do with a few creative writing lessons I think :D I 100% sure they would be able to do you a fine mix! They had a special Jim's selection up on their site not long ago! Give them an e-mail, they will be more than happy to get back to you I'm sure.
PHEW! That was a lot of comments to get through. So the word back I have recieved on delivery times is that they are acceptin orders up until midday 18th of December! Be sure to get them in guys - Indeed I do have a soft spot for this company, their cakes are incredible and well worthy of all these scored they keep getting. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
JIM
This just looks to delicious for words. I wish I had your job Jim. I would pay my own money to eat and write about cakes like this. You are one lucky dude.
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