November 21st: Hotel Chocolat Alternative Mince Pies

It's about time we got down to serious business with this years Christmas reviews so kicking us off this week we have one of Hotel Chocolat's newest seasonal offerings. Taking centre stage this fine Monday morning we have these Hotel Chocolat Alternative Mince Pies which have been developed entirely for the new 2011 season. Hotel Chocolat caramel and praline chocolates have come in for some serious praise here on ChocolateMission in the past, so the billing of 'milk chocolate cups filled with layers of praline and salted caramel' filled me with great excitement and anticipation.

I'm going to endeavour to factor price increasingly into my reviews this year as I understand its significance has grown considerably as of late. These six chocolates came in a pack that weighed 95.0g in totality and are listed up on the Hotel Chocolat site (See HERE) priced at £7.50. I wouldn't say value for money was a strong point of this product given the £/Kg ratio looking rather lopsided on the £'s side of things - for only six chocolates even I think Hotel Chocolat are pushing things here. Pricing issues aside I liked the look the packaging and presentation. I don't think it can be argued that these didn't look very appetising - just look at the photograph the 'Old Man' captured with the caramel ooze.

With Hotel Chocolat's 40% and 72% recipes being involved here, I never had any qualms about how delicious the chocolate was going to taste - in a nutshell both were of course simply delightful. Indeed both types provided rich tasting initial base flavours - the milk obviously more cream and sugar derived, and the dark a little more subtle with it's strong cocoa tones and more refined sweet milky undertones. Whilst both chocolate types provided compelling flavour journeys, full expression of the woody praline and salt noted butterscotch caramel fillings were allowed to take steer of the taste. The flavour experience provided by these chocolates was one of luxury and progression, and these were given the rubber stamp of approval from all those lucky enough to nab one before the six count packet was fully scavenged.

Overall these were some high quality chocolates, though they were not received without a few pretty relevant questions being asked by the JCM tasting panel. Firstly the name of the product was called to question - why were these called 'alternative mince pies'? On reflection I have to agree the name is partially misleading, as apart from their shape these weren't anything to do with the aforementioned festive treat. Secondly the small sized chocolates (10p coin size) proved to be sufficient served as after dinner coffee chocolates, but the issue of price at £7.50 was seen to be an area of potential contention with some wanting a little more 'bang for their buck'. Those minor issues aside these were received well for what they were i.e. tasty chocolate praline caramels. Judging them on that basis alone I would be prepared to give them a JCM thumbs up.

8.1 out of 10

November 19th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 95 - J-List Extravaganza

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

Very busy times are approaching JCM and there has already been some serious hard work going on behind the scenes to get the site ready to provide you with the best chocolate coverage this Christmas.

I must give mention to the 'Old Man' (he isn't that old haha!) who has been snapping away furiously with his photography and has done a really cracking job with the latest sampling packages sent through by Hotel Chocolat, Heavenly Cakes and Artisan du Chocolat. Whilst he has been doing that I've been contemplating the daunting task of writing everything up into exciting formats that you will all engage with - long reviews? Bit's n Bobs? Photo Frenzy? Snacks of the Week? If you guys have a preference on how you want to see all these things showcased be sure to drop me a line on Twitter @ChocMission

The update is short and sweet this week as I'm just about to head off and update the news page. I hope you are all looking forward to the upcoming holidays! Here at JCM we are all going to be mega relieved when then the run up is finally over :D As for you lot there are just exciting times ahead :D

JIM

N.B. Comments will be disabled this weekend due to me having no means of moderating them. Please contact me via Twitter/E-mail for any enquiries.

SNACK(s) OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the week

Snack of the week is a little different today in that I've decided to present you with some 'SNACKS' of the week instead :D (yes that is a plural!!). Courtesy of my friends from J-List (See HERE), I've been munching my way through all these different Japanese biscuit snacks. After doing so I thought the best way to showcase them to you is to forget the stress of scoring all of them, but rather taking some snazzy photos and giving you a quick run-down on each. Sit back, relax and enjoy this bizarre Japanese showcase :D ....

Kabaya Saku Panda Chocolate Monaka Minis / Strawberry
Minis - Kcal 207 Fat 11.9g Carbs 22.2g (Per 38.0g pack)
Strawberry - Kcal 138 Fat 8.8g Carbs 13.3g (Per 24.0g pack)

Two products here - one a giant panada shaped wafer filled with strawberry chocolate cream. The other a pack of white and milk chocolate panda shaped shortbread biscuits. The big wafer made for an awesome light snack dipped in a milky coffee, whilst the biscuits where a cute thing to have on my desk to graze on throughout the day. Fun looking, tasty snacks, based on my all time favourite animal :D What isn't there to love here!?

Tohato Crayon Shin Chan Chocobi Choco Banana Flavor
Kcal 135 Fat 7.9g Carbs 15.6g (Per 25.0g pack)

These mini biscuits come with the weirdest descriptor ever seen on J-List and are billed as being based on 'manga and anime Crayon Shin-Chan, the story about a very "special" kindergarten boy who loves to do cosplay and chase beautiful girls, along with showing off his butt." .... err ok!!! What I could make sense of were the delightful biscuits involved here. They were light, almost wafer like in texture, yet somehow managed to deliver a wonderfully real tasting banana flavour sensation. At the heart of each, the biscuits were laced with just a few granules of brown sugar which made these terribly addictive and sweet. Surprisingly enjoyable!

Bourbon Chocolate Every Burger
Kcal 169 Fat 8.5g Carbs 20.6g (Per 33.0g pack)

I had no idea what to expect from these but again I was to be pleasantly surprised. These mini 'burgers' came presented in two separate 33.0g packs which contained around eight sesame seed topped shortbread biscuits with chocolate cream centres. The sesame seeds on top of the biscuits were a very nice touch indeed, and provided a delightful savoury note to contrast with the sweeter biscuit and creamy chocolate centres. These were horrendously addictive, I'm glad they had the courtesy to separate them into two packs for me :D

CHOCOLATE NEWS

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November 16th: Heavenly Cakes Very Berry Meringue

I'm sure you all wouldn't have failed to notice that Heavenly Cakes have been back on the ChocolateMission radar recently. Their reappearance on ChocolateMission of late has been met with a big thumbs up from the JCM community and amongst all the positive comments there have been several readers asking that I review their Very Berry Meringue cake. Well ask JCM readers and you shall receive :D Indeed today I bring you my thoughts and two pennies worth on this very delicacy. Described as a very tempting sounding concoction of 'all-butter shortbread, covered with a tart summer jam with light meringue chunks on top & sprinkled in summer berries & white chocolate' it was little surprise that this one had attracted so much attention from curious JCM readers.

As with all the other cakes recently, Heavenly Cakes sent me some single serve packs that I shared with the ever willing JCM-family tasting panel. With products like Heavenly Cakes it is natural to expect that the pictures they feature on their website are going to be 'touched up' versions of the actual product, and that the reality is likely to be somewhat different. Hopefully my photos (... well the Old Man's!!) showcase that this was really once again not the case. They looked every bit as fantastic with each layer of the intricate cake highly visible and the inner ingredients seemingly well dispersed throughout.

Over a fine cup of tea we tested these delightful berry laced slices out and without spoiling things too much (like you all have haven't looked at the score already anyway haha!!) they were to coin a phrase 'exceedingly good'. With so many different layers involved this was a cake notable for it's ever developing flavours with the butteryness of the shortbread, sweet sugaryness of the meringue and the tarty red berries making for some interesting flavour contrasts. Additionally all these different elements made for sensational variety of textures with juicy fruits, chewy meringue and crunchy biscuit - it was a sheer delight. One thing I'm yet to get out of Nigel & Maeve at HC is the kind of white chocolate they use for their cakes. Whatever it may be it gets the JCM thumbs up - the creamy vanilla noted taste provided a fitting end to each and every bite - this is where they tell me its Cadbury Dream :D

Overall all round this was felt to be the best cake in the most recent selection that myself and my family were treated to. As I have alluded to above the cake provided a delicious fruity sweet slice that was both rich and moreish. It's sweet white chocolate and sticky fruity jam taste sent sugar levels sky rocketing, but it's moreish nature commanded that important 'just one more bite' attractiveness. If red berries are your thing and you like your chocolate sweet then I see little reason why this Heavenly Cakes Very Berry Meringue wont meet all seals of approval. If I was hosting a party and was looking for a fruit themed option to entertain my Heavenly Cakes platter (now that's a good idea!) then this Very Berry Meringue would likely be my cake of choice.

8.7 out of 10

November 14th: 'Bits n Bobs' Chocolate Biscuit Superpost # 3

The rules are being broken all over the place within Bits & Bob's today :D Not only are biscuits the focal point of the post again, but some of them don't contain chocolate, whilst others have been brought in from as far away as Australia. How can I justify this you ask? Well all of them have been requested by readers in the last twelve months. If the demand is there it can't be ignored. On to the reviews ...
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Burton's Toffee Dodgers Burton's Toffee Dodgers
Kcal 83 Fat 3.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 6.0g (per biscuits)

Speaking as someone who really dislikes normal Jammie Dodgers (ghastly sweet things!) I wasn't all that motivated to seek these out despite the several recommendations sent my way through my 'Snack of the Week' weekend posts. When I saw them priced at just £0.54p in my local Tesco though, it seemed like a good time to pull the trigger so a pack finally made it in to my basket this past week.

In the 'no s*** Sherlock' moment of the week I can reveal that these were of course the biscuits that I referred to above as not containing any chocolate. These came billed as 'Chewy toffee splodged at between two toffee flavour shortcake biscuits'. Packaging and presentation wise I was impressed with these - especially the caramel like scents which were very appetising it has to be said. The surprising impressiveness continued when it came to the taste, where the the toffee filling was a greater entity than just the sickly sweet substance I expected it to be. Indeed, the toffee had a lick of butter amongst it's brown sugar flavours, and this played nicely alongside the buttery, salty emphasis established by the outer shortbread biscuit. I'm as surprised as anyone to be writing this, but I would buy these again :D You guys must know what you are talking about! Good recommendations guys and girls!

7.6 out of 10


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Arnott's TimTam Fingers
Arnott's TimTam Fingers
Kcal 208 Fat 10.6g Fat(sats) 5.5g Carbs 25.4g (per 2 biscuits)

The amount of requests I received to review these Arnott's Tim Tam Fingers finally hit a breaking a point, and for the sake of my inbox I thought best get a review done. For those not familiar, Tim Tams are chocolate biscuits made by Arnott's in Australia. Arnott's claim to sell over 35 million packs a year ... that's 400 million biscuits ... which eqcuates to 1.7 packs per Australian citizen ... that's a lot of biscuits huh!? (thanks WIKI - See HERE).

Tim Tam biscuits comprise of three major layers - an outer coating of milk chocolate, a layer of milk chocolate cream, all sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits. sound familiar UK folk!? Well yes of course it does ... it sounds almost entirely like the McVitie's Penguin bar (See Here). Whilst it sounds like exactly the same proposition, I have to concede that our Aussie friends have a far superior product. Whilst the chocolate flavours aren't anything special I still found the chocolate hit to be far greater in strength than in the Penguin bar. Additionally the inner chocolate cream tasted of more than simply sugar, and had a creamier taste that complimented the salt licked shortbread like biscuit pieces very nicely indeed. Having now tasted these, I much better understand the cult following they have. The Aussies may have the better biscuits, but we have the Ashes :D Just you remember that chaps :D

8.3 out of 10


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Cadbury Fabulous FingersCadbury Fabulous Fingers
Kcal 70 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 5.0g (per serving)

For a part of the portfolio that had been largely ignored for years, there has been quite a bit of new product development for Cadbury Fingers in the last year. Already within the last year we have seen the launch of the Toffee Crunch (See HERE) and the Halloween limited edition Freaky Fingers (See HERE). As if these weren't enough for you guys already, Cadbury have most recently launched these new 'Fabulous Fingers'.

What makes these so Fabulous then!? The promise of 'crisp chocolate flavoured biscuits covered in milk chocolate and white chocolate' is supposed to do the trick. I recently decided to see whether or not this was the case or not having seen them on a BOGOF £1.99 deal. Straight from the pack they appeared no different to usual milk chocolate fingers, though once snapped in half there was an obvious milk and white layering system. Due to the thinness of both of these layers I wasn't expecting much differentiation from the norm, however to my pleasant surprise these definitely had a greater milkier, creamy emphasis than normal. I wouldn't go as far as saying the difference was hugely significant, but I enjoyed these for what they were and would buy them again over the originals.

7.9 out of 10


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McVitie's Quirks Chocolate / Double ChocMcVitie's Quirks Chocolate / Double Choc
Kcal 65 Fat 3.5g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 3.8g (Chocolate)
Kcal 65 Fat 3.6g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 4.0g (Double Choc)

Last up today we have the two remaining flavours of McVitie's Quirks that I was yet to review. After a less than inspiring showing from the Choc Hazelnut flavour (See HERE) back in August, I wasn't overly keen on trying these Chocolate or Double Chocolate variants. A combination of reader requests and £1.00 Tesco deals made me think otherwise :D

In terms of looks I was still pretty unexcited by both these flavours. The Double Choc was a little more interesting looking out the two, however both were still by and large underwhelming aesthetically. Ask any chocolate lover whether they are going to like a product named 'chocolate' or 'Double Choc' more and I think the answer you would get would be pretty straight forward everytime. It will come as no get surprise to you then that it was indeed the Double Choc variant they I preferred. The added cocoa to the biscuit gave it a creamier taste which essentially gave greater depth and chocolate flavour volume. The shortbread style biscuit of the standard chocolate flavour was fair, but as experienced before not anything worth going out your way to try. I wouldn't recommend them but if you are going to try one it would be the Double Choc.

Chocolate - 6.6 out of 10
Double Choc - 7.2 out of 10

November 12th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 94 - Heavenly Cakes Chocolate Shortbread

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

........It's the weekend!! Thank heavens is all I can say!! It's been another crazily busy week for me and I can only apologise for my lack of engagement with the site. Over the past few days, I've somehow managed to bring you reviews of the Green & Black's Burnt Toffee (See HERE), and also the latest range from those eccentric guys at Glico, the Pocky x Mart range (See HERE).

I realise we are alredy approaching Mid-November here - anyone worried about the lack of Christmas reviews really needn't. Over the coming days my views on the Hotel Chocolat Christmas 2011 range, and Heavenly Cakes's NEW festive treats will all be making appearances thanks to some well timed packages this week. The 'Old Man' has been on photography duty and the reviews should be coming up soon.

You eagle-eyed ChocolateMission readers may also have spotted the new advert placed on the right hand sidebar (LOOK HERE ----->) :D Indeed, Heavenly Cakes are currently running a cracking deal of Free Delivery on orders over £20.00 that are placed before Christmas. Make sure you take advantage of this by checking out there website HERE.

Please do pay the News Page a visit - it should be updated with all the news that has materialised in the last week or so.

Thanks for visiting the site - please continue to add your thoughts, feelings, opinion and requests to the posts! You guys that contribute make it all worth it at the end of the day.

Have great weekends.

JIM



SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the week
Heavenly Cakes Chocolate Shortbread
Kcal ??? Fat ??? Carbs ???

As I have been telling you guys all week,it's been a rather hectic one this side of the screen at ChocolateMission. Thankfully, in the few moments of peace that I've managed to grab, I've been helping myself to some Heavenly Cakes from my latest sampling package - namely some of their Chocolate Shortbread which I've been taking to work.

I find shortbread generally comes in two forms. On one hand there is the horrible, hard flavourless sugary stuff like used (HERE), on the other there's the buttery, salty creamy delicious kind ... like what we have right here :D In a nutshell Heavenly Cakes Chocolate Shortbread is utterly divine. The Crunchy outerim and soft yielding, crumbly cake like innards make for textural delight, whilst the buttery, salt noted taste is up there with the best I've had. Could it be better!? Well the chocolate buttons don't produce the biggest chocolate flavour hit, but they could easily sort that with a grander chocolate layer or even some chocolate chips perhaps!? There was a reason why I was greedy and kept this to myself this week - it was just too good to share.

8.2 out of 10


CHOCOLATE NEWS

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November 9th: Glico Pocky x Mart Range

I couldn't possibly get a package through from J-List without receiving the latest offerings from the Glico Pocky range which is lucky considering the amount of JCM readers who have requested I review these. Indeed these Glico Pocky x Mart biscuit sticks have seemingly caught the eye of many a JCM reader. Pocky for any of you new readers is a range of sweet biscuit snacks sold in Japan. Glico/Kraft have brought out a similar range called Mikado here in the UK though the flavours have been limited to just the four basic offerings (they have literally hundreds in the East!!) Anyway, enough with the history lesson. Onwards and upwards with my views on this new 'x Mart' range.

Just for your information both of these flavours came in 60.0g packs that contained four sets of 3 biscuit stick packs. These 'x Mart' sticks were the same size as the Pocky Dessert stick range that I reviewed earlier this year - See those reviews HERE.

Glico Pocky x Mart Custard & Orange
Kcal 82 Fat 4.7g Carbs 8.9g (per 15.0g pack - 3 Sticks)

Starting with the packet on the right-hand side shown above this Custard & Orange flavour was probably the more exciting sounding flavour out of the two on offer. Looks wise the sticks were a little darker than the others, and they had a light fragrant fruity set of scents amongst the sweet biscuit smells. Unfortunately when it came to the taste test these were perceived as a disappointment by most that tried them. The sticks weren't horrible tasting by any stretch of the imagination, however the promised custard and orange flavours were simply AWOL. Neither of these elements came through strongly at all, the orange flavouring was light at best, whilst a person who would have been oblivious to the custard billing wouldn't have guessed it's presence whatsoever. The combined white chocolate and fruit hinted shortbread biscuit taste was decent enough, but was overall a letdown considering how strong Pocky flavours have come across in the past.

6.9 out of 10



Glico Pocky x Mart White & Chocolate
Kcal 81 Fat 4.6g Carbs 8.7g (per 15.0g pack - 3 Sticks)

I've done my usual trick and saved the better offering until last. This 'White & Chocolate' flavour is the box on the left in the above picture. As stated above these didn't look all that different from the other variety, though they definitely had a more generic biscuity set of forthcoming smells when I opened the packets. As you can tell by the overall score, these sticks were much more to preference. Taste wise the white chocolate base coating had a far stronger flavour depth and established a decent vanilla edge. The milk chocolate decorative lashings did bring a little extra cocoa hit to the taste, but it was the pleasant vanilla creaminess which was the overriding element in the taste. It was considered all round to be the better flavour of the two on offer.

7.7 out of 10

November 7th: Green & Black's Burnt Toffee

Kcal 540 Fat 34.5g Fat(sats) 20.7g Carbs 46.8g (per 100.0g)

If you look back at my most recent Green & Black's reviews you might ask yourself quite what keeps me coming back to the brand when you see all the poor ratings. Offerings such as the Almond (See HERE), Cherry (See HERE) and Hazelnut Currant (See HERE) have been the most recent to disappoint, however I must be going soft as when I saw this new Burnt Toffee offering I admittedly didn't take much convincing to give it a try. Bearing new Fairtrade and Soil Organic Association logos this 'dark chocolate with crunchy toffee pieces' bar sounded one that could be well matched to my tastes - could it pull it off!?

I found this bar in Tesco (August 2011!) in the standard Green & Black's 100.0g format and it cost me £2.09. All the talk recently on ChocolateMission in regards to the likes of Ritter and Thorntons etc having difficulties picking new colours for their bars, was well exhibited by G&B here. To me the purple coloured wrapper made little sense as it failed to relate to either the toffee or dark chocolate contents - a rather puzzling choice don't you think!? That aside the presentation was all fair game and the chocolate did appear appetising with notable clusters of toffee spread out through the jet black coloured chocolate.

On the back of the wrapper the bar talked about how the 'sweet Yorkshire toffee' should contrast with the '60.0% dark chocolate' for an 'irresistible sweet-bitter taste'. This all sounded great to me, however when it came to the reality of the test I found this to be a confused chocolate. Indeed this chocolate quite simply didn't know what it wanted to be - did it want to be a 'crunch it and munch it' type of chocolate, or did it want to be a 'slowly melt on the tongue and savour' type of chocolate ... I'm still not sure myself. To be frank when eaten either way the chocolate and toffee just didn't compliment each other. When chewed the bitterness of the tarty, red wine noted chocolate was too much and came across as sour and overly bitter. When left to melt in the mouth the chocolate was better with it's flavour delivery more developing, however the crystallised toffee became a non-factor and failed to deliver any sort influence until chewed after the chocolate had melted.

Overall this was quite simply a case of thw bar having non-synergistic ingredients. That sounds all rather technical but in layman's terms this chocolate justdidn't marry up the dark chocolate and toffee pieces to create a product that was beneficial for having both in. This wasn't the worst chocolate I have ever tried from Green & Blacks, though it is one that I definitely wouldn't buy again which is a phrase I use all too often when reviewing their chocolate. At £2.09 a bar I still think the brand is being positioned at premium that it still continues to justify when you consider we have the likes of Ritter around the £1.00-£1.50 mark offering a better product at a cheaper price. I'm not exposed/have access to the current performance of the Green & Black's brand, though I should think it must be quite struggling given how poor the brand strategy is. To be honest with you I'm really not sure where a brand like this should be heading at this time - it's certainly not an easy fix. One thing you can be sure of mind you is that this bar doesn't carry a ChocolateMission recommendation.

5.8 out of 10

November 5th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 93 - Oreo Chocolate Bar Chestnut

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

As you will see further below its been a great week for getting some old JCM friends back featured on the site. The Wispa Gold returned, Heavenly Cakes caused mass cake-envy all round and finally J-List today got their seasonal stock of chocolate back up on their site.

Cadbury Wispa Gold - See HERE
Heavenly Cakes Fruit & Nut Bar - See HERE

Indeed it was an exciting week with Halloween and now this weekend we have Guy Fawkes night ... be safe with those fireworks you lot :D ).

I'm currently in conversation with Hotel Chocolat in regards to the Christmas range samples they will be sending over for review this year. If there is anything in particular you wish to see done, or anything not Hotel Chocolat you want to see reviewed then please drop me a note on the Request Page or in this post today.

Remember to also visit the news page this weekend - I'm trying to get in to the habit of updating it Friday afternoon so you all have the chance to contribute your own stories you find so please have a wander over and get versed with the latest chocolate goings on this week.

Thanks for the contributions you guys continue to make to the site - the ChocolateMission bandwagon rolls on for yet another week :D

JIM


SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the week

Oreo Chocolate Bar Chestnut
Kcal ??? Fat ??? Carbs ???

It was my intention to bring you some kind of Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night themed post today but the snack I had in mind turned out to be a little dreadful and not one I wanted to promote as Snack of the Week. Luckily my pals at J-List sent over some of their latest chocolatey snacks and sweets. For the third time this week we have yet another return for an old Chocolate Mission friend.

With so many bits and pieces in the package received I didn't have a clue where to start with it all, but I eventually chose this chestnut flavours Oreo Chocolate Bar. My longer term readers may remember me reviewing a number of different flavours from this range before - Original/Strawberry (See HERE), Green Tea (See HERE), Dark (See HERE) and Coffee Caramel (See HERE). This Chestnut flavoured variety provided much the same experience as many of those did and combined a milky sweet chocolate offering with small bits of lovely, crunchy Oreo biscuit dispersed throughout. The enhancing chestnut element was disappointingly incorporated as a flavouring rather than in nut pieces, however with that said the creamy, buttery yet savoury nuttyness it brought to the party stretched the basic flavour depth of the chocolate and came across as a welcome praline type influence. This bar wasn't the best of the Oreo Chocolate Bar range I have tried, but it proved itself to be a very welcome addition to a mid-afternoon coffee and was in a handy shape for dunking action :D Oreo fans will no doubt enjoy this bar.

7.6 out of 10


CHOCOLATE NEWS

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November 2nd: Heavenly Cakes Fruit & Nut Bar

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

October 31st: Cadbury Wispa Gold - ***Original Post*** September 7th 2009

*** UPDATE - October 31st 2011 ***

Kcal 265 Fat 15.1g Fat(sats) 9.0g Carbs 29.1g

I don't suppose you will have heard, but the Olympic Games are coming to London in 2012 :D Though I'm sure we are all going to grow weary of the Olympic themed marketing campaigns awaiting us, the upsides are undoubedtly going to be just as strong. Even before the big 2012 year is upon us, one of the main London 2012 sponsors has given us all a right treat - the return of one of ChocolateMission's all time favourites - the Cadbury Wispa Gold (Announcement HERE).

The Wispa Gold is indeed back in town and it has returned in the same 52.0g size of the bar we had in 2009. The wrapper has changed a little since last in marker, with the same gold foil textured wrapper having a larger emphasis on the 'GOLD' aspect of the branding to align it to the Olympic theme. The bar itself appeared consistent from previous, with the viscocity and volume of the caramel as generously flowing and appetising looking as ever.

Eagle-eyed JCM readers will have noted the minor changes in the nutritional information supplied with the 2011 bar. Recipe changes of course have to be the cause of this - JCM reader Alan has pointed to the loss of milk powder from the chocolate, and the loss of the condensed milk from the caramel as the cause and effect. So what has this done to the taste!? Well speaking as someone who was looking for differences I would say there was a noticeable edge taken away from the caramel. It had a more subtle flavour delivery - less sugary, but also less creamy and forthcoming. Speaking as someone who was analysing this all with great attention, I feel the need to stress that I expect 99.9% of people aren't going to notice (or care haha!) any differences.

Regardless of any minor changes to the caramel recipe, in my opinion this still remains one of the best chocolate bars ever made. Lets hope London 2012 brings Team GB as many gold medals as I plan to eat Cadbury Wispa Golds before the games are up. Out of everything Cadbury have done for us Games related so far, this has been by far and away their best decision.

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*** ORIGINAL - September 7th 2009 ***

Kcal 260 Fat 14.9g Fat(sats) 8.9g Carbs 29.2g

Way back in May Cadbury issued a press release confirming the return of the Cadbury Wispa Gold for a limited time for September 2009 (HERE). That almost seems like decades ago now but the time has come upon us for the bar to make its hopefully triumphant return. Seemingly Sainsbury's have got the exclusive on this bar and I managed to track one of these down in my local shop a full week ahead of its official release date (September 14th). Before I launch into the the review itself I have to hand it to the marketing department at Cadbury. Without use of any TVC or any official press ads (yet!) they have managed to create a lot of 'buzz' about the Wispa Gold and this was all to evident when I actually witnessed someone pick up a whole box when I was in Sainsbury's purchasing my seldom one. For those of you who are not UK based and are wondering what on earth this bar actually is, it is a 'textured milk chocolate bar with caramel' that got cruelly taken out of distribution a few years ago - as you have probably gathered it has been brought back as a limited edition by Cadbury for a limited period.

Lets get down to business! In line with the original Wispa bar this limited edition Gold came in a 52.0g size that certainly did its job in providing a fulfilling snack. You can probably tell already this is going to be a review full of praise but I really have to hand it to Cadbury for the wrapper - it looks awesome. The wrapper incorporates everything that it should do and I think it's fun, clean and jazzy gold look suits the Wispa brand down to the ground. As impressed as I was with the packaging I was even more glad to see the gooey caramel oozing out enticingly when I split it in half. I will keep the Kit Kat Caramel Chunky low blows to a minimum but I think there is only one winner in terms of looks when you look at the photo above compared to the paste like substance used in the aforementioned. In addition to the seductive looking golden caramel my senses were treated to the lovely familiar Cadbury chocolate smells when I split open the foil wrapper; at this point I really felt like I was in for a treat and I wasn't wrong.

As much as I was enjoying marvelling at the wrapper and taking in the tempting Cadbury aroma there was only one thing left to do and I needed no second invitation getting stuck right in. One thing I was really looking forward to was being reunited with the feel of the airated chocolate and caramel in the mouth. To cut right to the point it felt like an absolute dream and had one of the most fantastic melts in the mouth which combined the bubbly melting chocolate and luxuriously soft caramel with great effect. As amazing as the textures were the taste wasn't too far behind and the usual Cadbury chocolate flavours were substantiated within seconds producing the familiar well rounded chocolate and milk based taste. Of course supplementing the chocolate brilliantly was the caramel and it tasted as delicious as all other Cadbury caramel products. The caramel was portioned very generously comprising 35% of the bar and it brought all the expected elements of butterscotch, brown sugar and most importantly a tiny hint of salt to the taste. The only small downside to this bar I thought was that with the textures of the chocolate and caramel being as light as they were I did feel this ever so slightly detrimented the flavour longevity in the mouth. Frankly for me this was a minor issue as the whole 52.0g bar made for a more than satisfying experience that I enjoyed from my very first bite to the very last.

Overall I have to hand it to Cadbury here - they certainly didn't sell us short or cut any corners and they have ultimately delivered a bar that has given consumers exactly what they want. Way back when I started this site I came in for a bit of criticism for my review of the original Cadbury Wispa (HERE) which had just been brought back, as I basically regarded it as being very good but possibly lacking a certain something to make it really stand out from some of the best bars on the market. Having been reunited with the Wispa Gold I feel even more confident to stand by this review as it proved that what was just originally a very good bar, can be made into a superb one with the simple addition of caramel. As brilliant as this bar is would I choose it over the Cadbury Caramel? Most the time probably not - but that is only because I prefer the bar broken into chunks and the firmer Dairy Milk chocolate as opposed the airated milk chocolate used in this bar. Would I have this again? You bet I would! This is the best chocolate bar I have tried this year and lived up to all the high expectations that came with the hype. Cadbury are claiming this bar is only coming back as a limited edition but given how brilliant it tastes it wouldn't come as a surprise if this one ends up being around for the foreseeable future.

9.3 out of 10

October 29th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 92 - Kit Kat Pumpkin Cheesecake (JPN)

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

It's finally Halloween weekend and you may have noticed that was the theme of the week here on ChocolateMission :D Indeed following on from the Hotel Chocolat Yumpkin (See HERE) SOTW last Saturday, I this week had equally ghoulish themed posts appear on the site:

Hotel Chocolat Horrif-eyes - (See HERE)
'Bits n Bobs' Halloween Special - (See HERE)

All of those reviews were met with some really positive feedback so I can only thank you all again for that. Just as a reminder, it is likely that Hotel Chocolat will initiate I stock clearing sale this weekend so I would make sure you check out their website (See HERE) every now and then to make sure you are in and around it all when/if the time comes.

With Halloween now over for me it is all about the two month run up to Christmas! If you guys or girls have any specific requests for products you wish to see reviewed, then I would advise you to get in contact asap so I can strive to fit it in.

Thanks for your continued support of the site

JIM


SNACK OF THE WEEK ..... a new part of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' which will feature any manner of snacking product I have been products munching on in the weekKit Kat Pumpkin Cheesecake
Kcal 68 Fat 7.6g Carbs 32.8g

Credit for Snack of the Week today has to go to ChocolateMission reader Thea who provided me with a very generous amount of mini pumpkin cheesecake flavoured Kit Kats that a friend of her's had brought back from holiday - Thanks again Thea!!

To the intrigue of my work colleagues I have pulling out these bright yellow coloured, 12.5g Kit Kats during tea breaks at work this week. As one my suspect, the pictures of the smiley faced pumpkins on the wrappers drew many a question - once I told them what they were not many were willing to give one a try, which was frankly their loss :D These Kit Kats might not be everyones cup of tea (NPI), but I found them to be very tasty indeed and highly reminiscent of the custard pudding flavour I once tried (HERE). The creamy outer white chocolate was noted with a mild fruity sweetness that contrasted nicely with the slightly salty wafer and subtle cheesiness of the crème fantastically - the combination was fantastic. As I say with all these things, it would have been nice to have tried this in a larger format such as a Chunky or four-finger, but judged purely on taste these were great.

7.8 out of 10


Have you seen the Hotel Chocolat Halloween line up this year? SEE HERE
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