&f=Calibri-Bold&ts=14&tc=d4d4cc&it=gif&c=round&bgt=gradient&bgc=ad6807&ebgc=d98807&be=on&w=125&h=30){kind=small}
After an extended period of absence from JCM readers eyes, Heavenly Cakes are finally back on the ChocolateMission radar. Since you last saw them on ChocolateMission, Heavenly Cakes have been busy going up and down the country attending various food and cake conventions and fairs getting the Heavenly Cakes name out there. The hard work, travelling and long nights appears to have paid dividends for them, as from what I have been led to believe, Heavenly are on the verge of some rather lucrative deals with various retail outlets. Today sees me get back to doing my own bit for Heavenly :D eating their cakes and giving them a rating - life couldn't be hard eh!? Haha!In the coming weeks you will see me writing about some of Heavenly's latest cakes. The one hogging the limelight today is this Fruit & Nut Bar - Heavenly were so kind to send me a couple of their 75.0g single serve slices which I shared with family over a fine English brew. Aesthetically this wasn't the prettiest looking cake Heavenly have sent my way (that has to be the Billionaire Brownie :D See HERE). On the face of things it looked like a very large flapjack with a variety of whole nut and raisin pieces dispersed through out.
This cake may not be winning any awards for it's aesthetic beauty but in terms of aromas it sure was tempting. As soon as I pierced the plastic packet a whole plethora of nutty scents were forthcoming. To my surprise there was also a detectable hint of spice which subsequently turned out to be cinnamon. After cutting the slices in half the taste test commenced and as one had come to expect these were met with a seal of approval all round. The majority of the cake was a delicious fusion of oats, butter and golden syrup and this provided a tasty and substantial base for each and every bite. What made this cake stand out from similar supermarket propositions however was the quality of the nuts which were all fresh tasting and made the taste differentiated and interesting as it seemed each bit contained a different variety. The cinnamon and sultana elements only further added to the variety of flavours on offer, contributing both sweet and spicy elements to the party. Just as it's appearance had suggested this was a cake crammed full of different flavours due to the variety of it's ingredients. It was lovely.
Overall Heavenly Cakes have made a triumphant return to ChocolateMission and it has to be handed to them that this was yet another very good cake offering. What with their being so many reasonably good flapjack like products out there already on the market it was going to take something special to stand out from the crowd. Heavenly Cakes managed to do this with the use of some top quality ingredients - the addition of the cinnamon to the cake also made a monumental difference to the end quality which is surprising given its relative simplicity. Looking at the back of the pack having now eaten it, my only disappointment was that the dessicated coconut that was billed was not something that came through in the taste. This can only be regarded as a minor thing though, the overall quality and flavour depth offered by this cake was already bordering on sensational - who knows the addition of the coconut may have sent it over the edge. If you like your granola or flapjack snacks this is a must try! Welcome back Heavenly!
8.6 out of 10
Posts
74 comments:
Two brilliant come backs in the one week. Sweet stuff :)
Awesome Jim its good to see you going back to what you were doing at the start of the year and giving some of these smaller people a chance to shine. Keep on doing it mate, the big time wispa golds are nice to see and everything but its the reviews of the smaller people I get more pleasure seeing.
This site is just too much for a girl on a diet you know. Between this review of the heavenly cake and that caramel wispa review you have me drooling like a crazed loon. Im foaming at the mouth like Pavlov's dog LOL =P
Have Heavenly Cakes created a position of head of research and development yet :-) lol I think I would be a more than sound candidate to taste all their cakes for them and report my findings.
They need to update their site with their latest cakes. Its been the same for years.
Im still yet to try their now 'award' winning marathon flapjack.
Do you know what award it won?
The problem is when you try cakes like these is that all the ones in the shops suddenly all taste crappy and don't compare at all.
I ordered some of their millionaire shortbread last year and it was stupendous. The next week I tried going back to the mini thorntons ones and they just felt so pants. I can't afford heavenly all year long thought. Hmph, when im rich I will have to buy them as my own company.
Until a while ago this is something I would have dismissed as bird feed and no good. That was until I had one of those amazing nature valley bars =) =) nom nom! Now I cant get enough of these granola type things, Frusili, alpen bars, nature valleys. They are all so much nicer than I used to give them credit for.
Between these lot and hotel chocolat im surprised they havent completely taken over your leaderboard. You do have your favourites don't you jim.
Its really cool to see you doing the HC reviews again Jimbo. Now just make sure they don't disappear so quickly or for so long please. Lets see you finish off reviewing everything they make, I wouldn't of thought that was the worst request you have ever been given ;)
One thing you can always garuntee with these heavenly cakes reviews is that we are going to get some epic pictures. You didn't disappoint :) Thanks Jim.
This isn't their most exciting sounding cake but it has to be their healthiest at least. i would of thought this has better health properties than the billionaire brownie etc.
God and to think I was all prepared for seeing a cake lavished in more of those excessive chocolate and caramel layers. This fruit and nut bar has taken me a little by surprise, I never knew they also made cakes like this one aswell.
Now I think about it, i admit it does make sense since they make things like flapjacks etc.
I think its about time you enlisted some help Jim. I think you need a testing assistant. Can i offeryou my services please lol.
*homer voice* mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Homemade flapjack thingy
Its so good to see you have heavenly cakes back on here Jim, I thought they might have gone out of business or something because it has been so long since you last had a review for them.
Out of all their cakes this isn't the one I would choose ahead of many of the others but that appears to be my loss not theirs.
Is this another one that they do a gluten freen version of?
Thats one badass looking nut bar. Did they put any pistachios in it? I cant see any in the picture supplied.
Would they ever think of doing a pistachio cake :O :O :O the mind would explode if they did.
What is their strategy for making more of HC? What is their long term plan?
..... im not expecting anyone to know that btw. Do you think you could do an interview with them Jim?
You are the most spoilt guy in the world trying all these cakes you know.
I wish I was one of your friends so I got to try some of the goodies. Your work colleagues dont seem to do half bad out of you.
If I wasn't on a mega diet for Xmas time i would be all over these. They should put some of those claims on the wrapper that all the big companies do about ti being a low GI food and all that. That would make it even more appealing than it already is lol.
Hmmm have they still not changed their packaging at all? I would of thought they could have moved on from the simple plastic packets.
Dx
Gr8 review mate. The only question we have left is where have they been all this time? They need to start selling in shops or they will never make national impact. That has to be their end goal doesn't it!?
For some reason I wasn't expecting a score as high as they normally get for this one but it looks like they managed to maintain their usual impeccable standards. Well done heavenly. I'm glad you have Jim back reviewing your cakes. Lol you must love it when he does because he alway awards you high marks for your cakes.
I think most of us were still getting over the wispa gold review and then you go and post this! I think this might be the best week ever for your pictures jimbo.
The best cakes i have tried recently are thos new cadbury boost ones. After seeing the post you did on them I gave them a chance and I give them a double thumbs up. I would of thought that sort of thing would be blown out to space by something like Heavenly's brownies right?
Jim do you think Heavenly would ever consider making a JCM designed cake? How epic would that be if they made something you designed yourself. Imagine if it became their bestseller :) You could take all the credit.
So you weren't fibbing this time time when you said you had some cakes from HC :-) You gave us false hope of reviews too many times this year young buck ;-)
Do these ppl make larger sized cakes for things like weddings and that?
If I ever get made into a multi millionaire im going to to buy Heavenly Cakes and make them massive.
They seem to be such a lovely little company with cute cakes and a friendly company feel to them. There are too many bigger companies who rule the roost nowadays. Unless someone backs these smaller peeps its forever going.to be that way isn't it.
Ive been eating all sort of cakes like this lately with verying success. If this nut bar is along the same lines of quality then the millionaire shortbread i had from these guys was then im sure it would be just great.
Great to see HC comeback to choc mission btw.
Mmmmm nuts are good
As a new reader this was the first ever heavenly cakes review I read and it looks like they have legendary status on here with the choc mission community. Looking at some of the other cakes its little wonder why lol. Some of the cakes look like the most gorgeous things i have ever seen. Why are these people not more famous than they are!?
The pictures this week have been great Jim you are outdoing yourself with the quality.Is it a fair assumption that your dad is responsible for these today? You can tell by the quality of the photo.
The cakes im addicted to atm are so much more simple than this is.
I cant get enough of rise kripsy squares atm. Lol I know it sounds stupid but im loving the caramel ones in the gold wrappers. They are soooo good I bought 3 yesterday ooops
What sort of nut policy do the employ at Hotel Chocolat? If I ordered some of their billionaire shortbread would they be able to garuntee me that it would be okay for my kiddies. It wouldn't be life threatening for them if they consumed nuts but they come out in the most horrible rashes.
Oh dear I normally love seeing your HC reviews but im just not a fan of nuts. For that reason I give this fruit and nut bar a dragons den style 'Im out' :)
Sorry to just echo everyone else but it really is great to see some more Heavenly Cakes reviews. What other cakes of their's are there left for you tro try? Have you done the Merry Berry Meringue yet? I tried looking for a review but couldn't find one.
Jim please please please can you let us in on which other of their cakes you are going to review. Im considering ordering some of their very berry meringue which is one you haven't got around to doing I dont think. Can you either review it soon or tell me whwen you plan to do it please.
Another really quite outstanding review young man. Well done Jim keep up the good work spreading the heavenly cakes word.
Jim ask Heavenly to develop some chocolate mince pies! That would be so cool!
I thought this might be a cake of theirs you have been avoiding J. All the other times you've done revies for healthier foods you have always given them a hard time. Its cool to see you were more receptive of these cakes in particular.
One thing Heavenly should do is list the foood shows they have been at/or are going to be at so that people can plan ahead.
I've got really into attending all manner of different food trade shows of late. It would be great to hear the Heavenly cakes team would be attending one that im looking to go to so I can try some of their cakes first hand.
Since they were last getting reviews done on here have they actually grown substantially or are they still just a small time localised cake company? If their cakes are genuinely as good as you make them out to be then I would of thought they would have grown loads since last year.
Eugh this cake looks disgustingly good again.
This company never fails to make the best looking cakes ive ever seen. Hats off to them.
When I got my e-mail this morning I had to prepare mysel with the fact I would be looking at a tempting looking cakes in a detailed and thorough review. Lol I prepared myself all I could but it doesn't make me any less desiring this right now.
Hey J
Looking forward to Man U vs some random Romanian villagers tonight then lol? I guess it must be better than having no european football like we do :(
I offer a warm welcome back to Heavenly C btw. I love seeing you review their cakes. It makes such a nice diff from the chocolates imo.
Cheers
N
Am happy to see Heavenly back Jim! Everything I've tried of theirs has been delicious so am going to have to try this! Thanks for the awesome review! x
This looks seriously nice and definitely my kind of cake! lol i really must try some Heavenly stuff, all there cakes and such look gorgeous :)
Hi JCM'rs
A Heavenly Cakes review has been long overdue I agree. It has been an absolute joy reviewing some of their produce again - in the coming weeks you can expect a few cakes from their range popping up on the site.
Please be sure to follow @BettyBakes on Twitter to get all the latest Heavenly Cakes news. They have recently significantly stepped up their game on the tweeting side - Betty is a constant feature on my feed at the moment :D its good hearing from her so frequently.
Again i'm being rubbish and writing this as I should be dashing out the office to catch my transport home. After we have all picked our jaws up off our keyboards I will make sure I get some responses to your questions from the fine lady Betty herself :D
Thanks for the feedback
JIM
This cake looks super. I would have liked to have seen some more exotic fruits in there though. Something like apricots or dried mango would have made these megaton.
Im not a fan of these sort of foods normally but if its Heavenly cakes giving it a go then I can be otherwise convinced given their previous.
I think I need to get myself my own blog dude. Getting sent cakes like this all the time must be so cool.
You must get very popular at work when people see the heavenly cakes arrive in the building. Do you become the most popular guy in the office when they come in?
These look to healthy to made by heavenly cakes lol.
Are they doing orders for Christmas? Do they do a choc version of this one? Any special christmas cakes on the way? So many questions sorry :-]
The nuts in there look well nice and I love cinnamon so this sounds like one I would potentially really like.
I don't know if this is just me but it feels quite christmassy. A little nutmeg would have sealed the deal lol.
This looks decent enough but the brownies they have on their website just looks uber amaze.
The food porn levels are off the chart this week.
Lol I dont think any of us need to ask about the suitability for the people that have nut allergies today lol.
I see a few people have made the nature valley comparison with this bar already. I would of thought this one is a lot more special and individual but as an everyday thing the nv bars aren't half bad everyone.
Can you do us a a review of the new chocolate flavour nv bar please Jim.
I'm watching the Man U game Jim zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz how boring is this.
N
8.6 and it doesn't even have any chocolate in/on it?
Sounds to me like someone might have been a little generous here. Can someone else confirm these are as nice as jim says they are?
This reminds me of the peanut tracker bar a bit.
I would of thought this one was better but from your description it doesn't sound like they put peanuts in? That has to be a mistake don't you think! I would have made it one of the first nuts to put in there.
Sorry for being negative about something I haven't tried but it just would have made sense to me to put them in. I would love to try it to see if im right.
I just added @BettyBakes :-) Her tweets are well funny lol.
These lot need to do some more advertising or something. No one I know has even heard of them apart from me telling them how good their cakes are. They just look at me bemused when I mention them still.
I bet it turns out Jim has shares in this company or something. What a scandal that would be =)
Ive not see this ad yet
http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/cadbury-fabulous-fingers-launch-tv-ad-campaign
is it any good or just another annoying one?
God dammit im going to have to buy some cakes now today. Your reviews are way too tempting to resist.
When are they going into supermarkets????????
I need to kick the habit of looking at this site before I can get my brekkie from the station.
Lol I always read your site on my way in to work and it inspires me to choose all manner of cakey things from starbucks when I get into the station.
I swear if it weren't for this site i would be 2 stone less.
What other cakes from them have you got in your review pipeline?
Still no review on Fridays :( This hiatus sucks man.
HI Everyone! THANKS so much for your comments- it really is great to be back on JCM. We're all delighted at Jim's review this week! I'll answer some of your comments now.
NIKKI: "head of reserach & development"?...apply in writing!
ANON: "old photos" Yep your right; but we'll have lots of new one's next week (including NEW Christmas cakes)
STEVEN F: "what award did our Marathon Win?" Jim's award last year!!
LEWIS: Mmmmmmm cake related comments uuurrggghhhh...
ANON: "gluten-free version?" YES! IN fact everything we make is available gluten-free.
KEV: "pistachios in?" No Kev, no pistachios in it. They cost more than gold these days so we use sparingly!
GOLDEN TOUCH: "interview with Jim?" sounds interesting...
DAISY: "plastic packets" We've updated our labels so I (Betty) am now on them! The plastic we use is biodegradable so we'll stick with it.
ZOE: "start selling in shops" Actually you may have seen or even eaten our cakes without knowing it: most of what we make is sold up & down the country to cafes & delis in 'tray bakes'. The cakes are removed & set on plates- therefor no-one would ever know they were Heavenly Cakes...!
LINDA: "nut policy" I'm not sure what Hotel Chocolat's nut policy is (!) but we work with nuts, including Peanuts so I'm afraid our cakes would not be suitable for your family- sorry.
PAUL: "A JCM designed cake" LIKE it..Jim- waddya think?
CLAIRE: "list food shows" Absolutely right Claire..we are much better at twitter & facebook these days & I'll post next year's events up at year end.
LEE: "Have we grown?": We have grown by about 40% but & have 2 extra people working with us! But we still only number 8 in total.
ALI: "Xmas Cakes?" Yes- lots this year! Pics & details on twitter & the website NEXT WEEK.
JAMES: as per ZOE's answer above. We're out there & growing fairly fast...but you just might not know it! If anyone would like to know if there is a place that sells our cakes near where they live or work- let me know.
ANON: "supermarkets" We make everything by hand in small batches. While I won't be facetious & suggest we'd 'never work with supermarkets' it would be tricky to meet demand.
Thanks for answering my question Betty. My husband and I might buy some of your cakes and just keep them away from the children. Jim is doing a far too gooder job of telling us how wonderful they are.
I think you should sign with a supermarket like Waitrose or marks and spencers. They are small and you could meet their demand + you could still be seen as specialist.
Post a Comment