August 8th: Cadbury Dairy Milk Marble

Kcal 540 Fat 31.2g Fat(sats) 17.9g Carbs 55.8g (per 100.0g)

First of all I must thank my friends @CybercandyLtd who sent this bar across to me in one of my latest sampling packages. When it comes to getting the latest chocolate and snack treats from the Southern Hemisphere, these guys have become somewhat of a savior for me. They not only stock all the latest Cadbury Australasian bars like the one today, but they also have all the latest stuff from the likes of Nestle, Mars etc (Check it all out HERE). Supplier pimping done with, I now get to talk to you about this Cadbury Dairy Milk Marble chocolate - a bar I was exceedingly excited to get the opportunity to review.

This was a bar that I used to have quite a lot when I was a younger and up until it was taken out of production here in the UK it was probably one of the Cadbury bars I used to have most often when I fancied something different from Cadbury Caramel. I used to always think that the swirled chocolate marble effect made the bar a more 'posh', upmarket, and altogether special offering than just the usual Dairy Milk. These feelings all came flooding back when I had the chance to try this Australian version and a wonderful sense of nostalgia swept over me when I opened up the silver foil revealing the very cool milk and white chocolate blend.

'Dariy Milk milk chocolate and Dream white chocolate with a hazelnut praline centre'. Though I had my concerns that this might be a chocolate that my tastebuds had 'outgrown', I was reassured by the strong nutty smells that the Dream contents might play second fiddle to the hazelnut influence. This reassurance was for the large part proven correct, and it was with great delight that I discovered the Dream white chocolate was the lesser influential constituent involved in the taste. Placing the sensibly sized block on my tongue the well paced melt began with the familiar sweet cocoa flavours of Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate exerting authority immediately. This being Australian Dairy Milk the taste wasn't quite as creamy or thick than our UK recipe yet it was still very tasty and was a nice set up for the even smoother, soft yielding praline center. To my joy the praline was every bit as nutty as the aromas suggest and the hazelnut tones were strong, woody and nicely tempering of the sweetness of the milk and white chocolate covering it. A serving size of 6 blocks (37.5g) was a nice amount and it meant this big bar last me a good week which I thought offered good value for money.

Overall this was a nice trip down memory road and I just hope one day we see it come back to the UK in one shape of form. As I said above I was a little worried that it might be on the sweet side for my own taste now with the presence of the god awful Cadbury Dream white chocolate, but thankfully I didn't find this to be the case. As chocolates go this was probably verging on my limit of my sugar tolerance levels but the praline was 'big' enough in presence to take focus away from that and my lasting impression was that of hazelnut not a burning throat sensation that usual follows Dream white chocolate around where ever it is present. Unfortunately for the moment it doesn't look like we will be getting a UK comeback for the Marble anytime soon. If you fancy reminiscing with a previous age then you will have to get yourself on over to Cybercandy or better yet visit your long lost brother Skip :-)

8.4 out of 10

August 6th: Hotel Chocolat H-Box Taste of Summer 2012 Selection

Whilst some chocolate companies 'shut up shop' during the summer months and go quiet on the new product front, Hotel Chocolat have never been one to conform. Yes the HC think tank has been working in over drive again this year and they have updated their Summer selection boxes with several innovative chocolate truffle flavours.

This Hotel Chocolat H-Box Taste of Summer 2012 Selection is a 160.0g pack that contains 12 ... yes ... 12 different chocolates inside. The poor 'Old Man' was working overtime snapping all of these. Suffice to say he was rewarded with many a chocolate so please look out for some extra input from the rest of my family who were more than happy to lend me their tasting palettes. Passing comment on the packaging and presentation of the product almost seems pointless - I'm sure you can all see it was all up to the usual HC standards. Here are our thoughts on the chocolates:

Bucks Fizz - I think this chocolate would have been better with a milder chocolate type as the dark outer shell and stronger orange influence dominated the lighter champagne lick. It was unsual to come across an HC alcohol infused chocolate that didn't have a strong enough boozie kick. Standard.

Mocha Frappe - We all know I like my coffee strong so the promise of a 'light airy coffee' centre didn't fill me with the greatest of confidence. Unfortunately it was indeed a little on the non-substantial side and though the coffee element was detectable it wasn't one that left a lasting impression. Standard.

Berry Mousse - Previously reviewed. Good. See HERE

Blackberry Mousse - This was a really tremendous chocolate that combined an outer shell of white chocolate with a blackberry infused soft center. The mixture of the two was spot on for me with the sweet white chocolate beautifully mellowing the sharper, tartier flavours of the blackberry. Very Good.

Orange Praline - Previously reviewed. Very Good. See HERE

Lemon Curd Truffles - These were cute mini chocolates that were about half the size of the others in the selection. These were especially enjoyable when they had been chilled and the creamy, sweet white chocolate perfectly balanced the cool, silky smooth lemon centres. Very Good.

Chocolate Ice Cream - Previously reviewed  Good. See HERE

Chocolate & Orange Pot - This chocolate was essentially the same as the orange praline but sans the hazelnut. Personally I preferred the chocolate with the nut element, however my mother was more enthusiastic about this one where the orange just had a little more longevity and prominence. Very Good.

Mango Creme Brulee - This was one of the stand out pieces in the selection for me. This milk chocolate had the fruitiest, real tasting mango infused cream centre and it was topped off by a lovely trickle of buttery caramel. It was a amazing how the cream, fruit and sweet caramel flavours all came to the fore in such a small bite-size piece. Superb.

Summer Pudding - Previously reviewed. Very Good. See HERE.

Prosecco & Raspberry - Well this one woke me up :-D This truffle had a real boozie kick and that added to the sharper raspberry fruit made for a very strong flavoured chocolate. Personally it wasn't one of my favorites but this might of been my under prepared taste buds for the alcohol lick. My mother liked the one she tried! Good.  

Eton Mess - Previously reviewed (Yes still as amazing as ever!!). Superb. See HERE

Overall I thought this was a good selection of truffles from Hotel Chocolat and I have to compliment them on their willingness to shake things up on the variety front every year. Changing up the flavours not only creates an element of excitement, but when they are as good as say the Mango Creme Brulee it also shows they are also committed to keeping the quality high. After full consultation of my tasting panel I would present the Eton Mess, Blackberry Mousse and aforementioned Mango Creme Brulee as the stand out pieces. Though I'm more of a guy that prefers the dark chocolates, pralines and caramels, my Mother is rather partial to Hotel Chocolat's fruit flavours so this selection was got a big thumbs up from her.

8.4 out of 10

Its not only GB athletes winning this weekend .....

@KevvieGuy is also winning!!!!

Yes congratulations to @KevvieGuy who has won the Kit Kat Cookies & Cream competition.

Thanks to everyone that entered this weekend. I would strongly suggest keeping an eye on the @Chocmission Twitter feed this week as I will also be running yet another Kit Kat competition. I don't want to spoil the reviews this week but there is an all new UK Kit Kat out right now - my views on it will be with you before you know it!

..... Well done to Kevin - I'll let him post his views on it should he wish to share them.

.... one last thing ....

.....

#OURGREATESTTEAM

August 3rd: Kit Kat Cookies & Cream 2012 (Original Review May 2009)

UPDATE - AUGUST - 2012


COMPETITION: Yes folks I'm running a competition this week giving away one of these Kit Kat Cookies & Cream bars! To enter you simply need to Follow myself @Chocmission & @Cybercandyltd on Twitter and then 'Retweet' my the review update tweet I send out today. Best of luck and I will announce the winner on Twitter and the site next week. See HERE for my twitter feed


AUGUST 2012 REDUX REVIEW:

Kcal 337 Fat 17.7g Fat(sats) 11.4g Carbs 39.9g

Given the fact this bar hails from Australia it probably wont surprise you to hear that it's not one I frequently get to have. In fact I think I've had fewer than five in my lifetime however thanks to my new pals at Cybercandy I'm sure I'll be having them a bit more frequently than I have been. Though I may be a regular consumer of this Cookies & Cream flavour my latest foray with the bar brought back several memories of my first review from May 2009.

The massive 65.0g size was the same and the constituents of the traditional Kit Kat milk chocolate coated wafer enhanced by a vanilla cream flavoured filling and small cookie pieces was entirely consistent. Looking back at my photo from 2009 the ratio of filling to wafer looks more heavily wafer based - to be honest from what I tasted I can't say it altered my experience to any detectable degree. As noted back in 2009 they worked together superbly and made for a lovely chocolate wafer and creamy Oreo cookie like synergy. Like I said back then, this was a very sweet chocolate bar to eat in it's entirety in one sitting but with that said the three block format made offered the option of saving a portion for later should someone feel it necessary.

Overall I detected way more familiarities than differences and that's why I've stuck with my original score of 8.4 out of 10. We had the Kit Kat Chunky competition here in the UK earlier this year and I think this flavour could of done very well had it been one of the entries. I still regard it as a bar well worth getting hold of if you classify yourself as a Kit Kat fan.


Don't forget to enter the competition on Twitter - See HERE
-------------   
Kcal 346 Fat 19.9g Fat(sats) 11.5g Carbs 37.6g

Nestle have taken a bit of battering over the last few weeks due to their dismal 'Treasures' range but if there is one thing you can count on nine times out of ten is that their Kat Kit brand will deliver the goods. This bar has been requested many a time by ChocolateMission readers so I was especially pleased when Shopenzed sent across this Kit Kat Cookies & Cream in the latest package they sent me. Described as 'a smooth filling with crunchy cookie pieces over chocolate wafer fingers covered in milk chocolate' all the signs were that this could be a real winner; a quick think back to the Kit Kat Cookie Dough though did leave me a little sceptical that it could be pulled off.

The bar came in a 65.0g serving size ... yes you read that right 65.0g!! Suffice to say if your on a diet this probably isn't the bar for you - the calorie and fat content will probably leave many dieters with nightmares. I liked the look the packaging it was in the standard Kit Kat Chunky design and implemented a nice cool sky blue colour. The bar itself looked pretty appetising as well and as you can see in the picture above it had a very plentiful cream layer that was lined with small pieces of cookie. Standard Kit Kats tend to have quite a biscuity smell but this Cookies & Cream bar had more of a sweet dairy led aroma that was evident when searched for.

In regards to taste this bar turned out to be a complete shake up from any other Kit Kat I have tried. The normal wheat and malt flavours of the wafer were absent and were instead replaced by a more buttery shortbread taste that just had the smallest hint of salt. Lining this biscuit layer at the bottom was a nice cocoa creme which didn't fail in delivering the chocolate hit that the coating struggled to substantiate and additionally managed to give the biscuit a pleasant moistness. As you can imagine a lot of the taste was dictated by the plentiful cream filling layer and despite its rather one dimensional taste it was actually very nice. Surprisingly it tasted exactly how it was billed - imagine the inner creme of an Oreo biscuit and you wont be far off the sweet, almost fondant like flavours that I experienced. The centre was extremely sweet but the slight lick of salt from the biscuit layer made for a nicely balanced overall taste. 65.0g was possibly pushing the boundaries of what I could handle due to the sweetness though at the same time I wont complain as it made for a fulfilling snack.

Overall I don't know quite what I was expecting, but in a good way this certainly wasn't it. I guess after the gimmicky 'Cookie Dough' variant I was expecting more of the same here though I am pleased to say I was proved wrong. This bar delivered exactly what it said on the wrapper - it combined a wonderful biscuit/cookie base with a sweet creamy fondant like layer on top. The combination was pretty damn wonderful and although I would probably still choose the Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter over it, I would still highly recommend this bar on the basis that it offers something completely different to the rest of the Chunky range. I can't seem to find many other reviews of this bar on the net so it would be interesting to hear from you people that have tried it.

8.4 out of 10

August 1st: Thorntons Best of British 2012 Bakewell Tart / Banana & Custard

A British themed product line ...!? Well I never!!! :-D I'll save you all another rant about my growing weariness of British themed items but I do have to admit I'm fast getting sick of that sight of these red, blue and white brandished goods. I certainly can't take it out on Thorntons today as that would be unfair on them as they are only following what every other manufacture on our shores have done in the last few months. Instead I'll just give you my opinions on the two Limited Edition 'Best of British' chocolates they have created for this summer. Well, its actually more just the one chocolate they've created this year, as one of the variants was also around for a brief time in 2011.

I bought both of these 80.0g bars in my local Thorntons shop and they were both price aligned to the other variants in the Thorntons square bars range at £1.19 a piece. You can probably tell from my paragraph above how much I thought of the British packaging and presentation concept, however I will at least say they were some of the classier looking Brit themed wrappers I've come across in the last few weeks.

Thorntons Bakewell Tart
Kcal 552 Fat 35.6g Fat(sats) 21.7g Carbs 47.4g (per 100.0g)


As I made mention to above I had actually previously reviewed one of the two flavours from the selection - Thorntons Bakewell Tart (Review - See HERE). That was a bar originally released for the Throntons centurion celebration and I remember really quite enjoying it at the time. Unfortunately, what I also remember was that the chocolate had one major flaw and that was the raspberry seeds which created an annoying, rough texture. Thorntons seemingly didn't learn from this mistake and it's a shame becuase it was a shared view by several of my fellow chocolate blogging friends! It was good to see Thorntons retain the insane Bakewell Tart realism in the taste, but I genuinely was disappointed they didn't attempt to rectify the seeds issue. I'm begrudgingly give it the same score as last year.

8.4 out of 10

Thorntons Banana & Custard
Kcal 567 Fat 35.7g Fat(sats) 22.8g Carbs 53.1g (per 100.0g)

Thankfully I now get the opportunity to be a whole lot more positive about this 'white chocolate with banana chips, vanilla seed and custard flavoured' delight. Ladies and gents this chocolate was awesome - there's no other way of putting it. All signs were indicating this from the outset - the bar smelt like a dream and the custard and banana smells were forthcoming straight away. What with it being both a white chocolate and containing a sugary fruit like banana this had all the potential to be sickly sweet but this flaw was negotiated superbly. Instead the chocolate base was gorgeously creamy and had strong tones of vanilla custard that left the most delicious dairy aftertaste in the mouth once it's thick, flowing melt had come and gone. When left to slowly melt on the tongue the melted chocolate left banana chips remnants to crunch down on. These added very real tasting bursts of banana fruit flavours and varied up the texture nicely bringing a cool chewy, crispy element to the party. I loved this chocolate and so did my banana loving Mother.

9.1 out of 10

Overall both of these chocolate deliver big time on their intended flavours so if either are tickling your fancy then you should get involved without doubt. As I said above it was annoying lessons weren't learnt from last year with the Bakewell Tart, but that said it was still an accurate representation of one of our countries most famous cakes. As for the Banana & Custard I think I have to say little other than it was the best white chocolate I've had all year. I highly, highly recommend that one if it is white chocolate that floats your boat. I'll certainly be stocking up on it considering it's a limited edition! Tell me what you thought of these on Twitter @Chocmission

July 27th: The Heavenly Cakes Olympics 2012 - Part 3

Today marks the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games with the opening ceremony kicking proceedings off for what I hope will be a fantastic few weeks of sport. Whilst the real event may only just be getting underway, the Heavenly Cakes Olympic Games 2012 conclude here on ChocolateMission with me awarding medals today to our Chinese and Canadian representatives. As I said yesterday, @BettyBakes would love to hear from you - if you fancy the look of any of these cakes you can find them on the Heavenly Cakes website (See HERE)

Heavenly Cakes Chinese Banoffee

Chinese Banoffee??? I have to be pulling your leg right!? Would I do such a thing!? I did say at the start of the week that some of these cakes were somewhat 'loose' in terms of their origin :-D The explanation offered this time from the @BettyBakes kitchen was that China are the biggest exporters of the banana fruit. Dodgy reasoning??? ... oh for sure! Dodgy cake??? ... heck no!!! If you had tried to feed me a cake containing any sort of banana a few years ago I would have told you to take hike. Indeed it's only really recently that I've grown to love bananas. I still wont be found tucking into the fruit on its own, but banana flavoured foods are something I've strangely grown to love. When this Banoffee cake surfaced in the JCM household there was no hiding it from my Mother who as one of the biggest banana fans going was understandably very excited about trying it. And why shouldn't she have!? 'A digestive biscuit base topped with caramel and banana flavoured white chocolate' sounded like a winner and to me and all the signs were good from the cool look and alluring banana fruit smells that made their way from the plastic packet. I'm glad to report this cake matched all expectations and like so many of the cakes this week it was another totally delicious offering. The base was a lovely sweet and salty biscuit and carried the mega buttery, gooey caramel above very well indeed.The layer of white chocolate had strong tones of cream and banana, and the dried fruit chips placed on top only further went to establish the banana in the taste. Altogether it was devilishly sweet concoction of real banana fruit flavours, biscuit and caramel. Rich for sure, but totally delectable at the same time. My Mother insisted on a gold medal here and I wouldn't for one minute argue with that. It was probably my favourite of all the Heavenly Cakes Olympic cakes.

Gold medal out of 10

Heavenly Cakes Canadia Nanaimo Bar

This was one had to look up as I had never heard of a Nanimo bar before, let alone had any clue that it hailed from Canada. My research of course spanned as far wide as Wiki of course :-D (See HERE), where I learnt that the 'Nanaimo bar is a dessert of Canadian origin popular across North America. The Nanaimo bar is a bar cookie which requires no baking, and is named after the West-Coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia' - now don't tell me you don't learn something new each and everyday on the site :-D This cake was formed of a base of chocolate digestive biscuits and desicated coconut, which was topped with layers of both buttercream icing and Belgian chocolate. This had me drooling at the mouth ala Homer Simpson style and the gorgeous scents of coconut, chocolate biscuit and sweet sweeeeet icing only went to further my anticipation. We all know by now that @BettyBakes doesn't like to leave her customers shortchanged when it comes to her cake fillings - just look at the amount of buttercream icing involved here!! Though plentifully portioned it was of course the biscuit base that came to the fore first and the slight salt lick of the digestive biscuit was to play a key role in balancing of the taste with the two exceedingly sweet layers above. The buttercream turned out to be lighter in texture than I thought it would be and it melted away quite fast after establishing a short, swift blast of sugary vanilla icing flavours. In an ideal world I would have made the thick layer of chocolate above a plainer tasting dark chocolate to take a little bit of sweetness out of the equation, but still it was deliciously creamy and established the necessary chocolate flavour in every bite. It should also be considered that the dessicated coconut contained within the base was also a big factor in the taste. As a cocnut lover I very much welcomed it's addition but those of a different opinion might want to avoid this one. Overall this was another highly enjoyable cake but I can't say it hit the levels of the British or Chinese offerings.

Silver medal out of 10

So that concludes the Heavenly Cakes Olympic Games. I hope you enjoyed these posts and are encouraged to try them for yourself - come on over to the @ChocMission twitter page to share your views.

July 25th: The Heavenly Cakes Olympics 2012 - Part 2

The Heavenly Cakes Olympic Games continue today with @BettyBakes's GB and US cake representations. I know the guys at Heavenly are mega keen to hear what you lot have to say about these culinary masterpieces, so please send her your thoughts on the @BettyBakes Twitter page. Of course if any of these cakes tickle your fancy you can order them through the Heavenly Cakes website which you can view HERE.

Heavenly Cakes USA Peanut Butter Jelly Time 

I luuuuurve all things with peanut butter in so I was mega keen on trying this one as soon as it landed on my doorstep. Combining a shortbread biscuit base and top, this chunky fella was filled with peanut butter and raspberry conserve. To say it both looked and smelt awesome would be an understatement. The biscuit portions sandwiched a plentiful looking filling of both the red jam and crunchy peanut butter. The nutty aromas that exploded out the packet once opened only fueled my desire to get my lips around it right away - I of course obliged. Now to say I was disappointed with the taste test that followed would be a major exaggeration. The cake was utterly delicious - the shortbread was insanely buttery and and had a perfect balance of sweet and salty biscuityness. Similarly the peanut butter and raspberry conserve were fantastic and established all the desired nutty, fruity flavours I was hoping for. As good as the cake tasted however, I have to report that things weren't all perfect when it came to texture and mouth feel. Unusually for Heavenly Cakes shortbread it had a very dry, moisture sucking melt and the fillings weren't enough to bring the required moistness to proceedings. This didn't ruin my experience at all, but to say things were all perfect would be a lie. Would I have this cake again!? Oh yes for sure! I would though make sure I had a suitable beverage close by to make it a totally satisfying  experience.

Bronze medal out of 10

Heavenly Cakes British Royal Eton Mess

Representing team GB in these Heavenly Cakes Olympic Games we have the Royal Eton Mess. This was a cake combining a cake base, meringue, white chocolate, berry conserve and frozen strawberry pieces - a proposition not all to different to that of 'Heavenly Cakes Very Berry Meringue' I reviewed November 2011 (See HERE). When it came to trying this one I had to fight tooth and nail for my Mother to even give me a sniff of this cake here - she loved it and I can't say I blame her. You will probably agree that all of the cakes you will see this week are pretty special looking - this one for me stood out from the pack and the aesthetic appeal of the white chocolate and red berry constituents made for a really interesting and unique look. The sweet strawberry fruit smells that emanated from the pack were highly indicative of what was to follow in the taste test. Indeed this was one sensational tasting cake and I don't think my Mother could have told me any more times how much she enjoyed it :-D In a succinct sum up she loved the strawberries and cream like taste that was created by the fruit pieces, jam and chocolate, and she said that even with the meringue the taste was never too overly sweet - something I was surprised to find myself also as I had my initial doubts. This was a cake bursting full of fruitiness and the strawberry taste was both real tasting and incredibly moreish. Am I being biased awarding the home nation with the first gold medal - no way! If you wish to contest then I suggest you order yourself one and then try make the argument. This cake was superb, enjoyed all round and well worthy of a place on the top level of the podium.

Gold medal out of 10

July 23rd: The Heavenly Cakes Olympics 2012 - Part 1

Guys and girls I don't know if you have heard but something called the Olympic Games is getting underway at the end of this week :-) Haha! Who am I kidding huh!? Its London 2012 mania in the UK at the moment and the nation is being swept up in the excitement of the glorious events that will follow in the next month or so. I like to try and keep this website as relevant to the times as possible - how on earth was I going to bring the spirit of the Games to JCM?? ... why of course!!! The Heavenly Cakes Olympics! Indeed my wonderful pals at Heavenly Cakes have had @BettyBakes working overtime in the Heavenly Cakes kitchen knocking up some limited edition treats to mark London 2012. Over the course of this week I'm going to reviewing all of these country representative cakes, and for an added twist I'm going to be doing away with the traditional JCM rating system and getting in the spirit of things by awarding medals based on how highly I rate them.

Should you fancy trying some of these cakes yourselves (trust me the likelyhood is going to be very high!) I should point you in the direction of the Heavenly Cakes Twitter feed - @BettyBakes Just drop Betty a line and I'm sure she will take care of you .... right ... on with the Games ..I mean cakes :-)

Heavenly Cakes Jamaican Rum & Raisin Tiffin

Having been sent six different cakes to try this week it wont surprise you to hear I roped in some help sampling these. Knowing full well one of my work colleagues had a particular liking of rum I sensibly acquired their expert services to try out this Rum & Raisin Tiffin, a cake originating straight from Jamaica BettyBakes would have me believe. This cake was formed of a base layer of rum soaked biscuits and raisins in gooey chocolate refrigerator cake which was topped with thick layer of swirled dark and milk chocolate. The bottom layer was insanely dense yet the buttery, digestive biscuit pieces it contained melted like butter in the mouth. The sheer thickness of the upper chocolate layer made every bite incredibly rich in chocolateyness and the combination of the sweeter milk and plainer dark chocolate made for an bombardment of cocoa flavours that even the biggest chocoholic would have found impressive. Whilst the chocolate flavour hit was unquestionably grand both my work colleague and I thought Betty could have been a little bit more liberal with the rum. Indeed the speediness at which the biscuits melted away and the smallness of the currants and raisins meant the rum wasn't all the prevalent in the taste and had we not been predisposed to it's presence we might have struggled to pick it up among the dominant chocolate constituents. Usain Bolt may be bringing home the gold in the coming weeks but despite these cakes being met with nothing with praise all round I'm going to say Jamaica will have to settle for a bronze medal here as the proposition wasn't 100% delivered on. It's a tough rating indeed, but these are the Heavenly Cakes Olympic Games where the standard are high and no medals come easy.

Bronze Medal out of 10

Heavenly Cakes Italian Lemon Bakewell

You are kidding right!? Italy??? Lemon Bakewell??? Don't worry I had similar thoughts to you so I inquired with @BettyBakes. She replied : "Did you know that Italy are in actual fact the biggest lemon growers in the world?" ... err no ... I didn't  :-D To be honest I couldn't really of cared less because I was chaught up how awesome this cake was. As you will see from my photo above this was a very similar cake to the traditional British Bakewell that Betty created for the Jubilee a few months ago. It was formed of a base layer of soft, buttery shortbread cake which topped with a layer of lemon curd and another layer of soft sponge. Just like the Bakewell cake for the Jubilee this was one very sticky cake and one that perhaps not suitable to eat on that move. The bottom layer of shortbread like cake was very crumbly and it literally melted like butter as soon as it hit my tongue. The lemon curd above was sweet, yet had a lovely zingy lemon freshness to it and the acidicty of citrus lemon was a delightful balancer to the other sweet as sin constituents. The sponge on top had obviously been further enhanced with lemon oil and lemon juice, as it had alot of qualities similar to that of lemon drizzle cake. Compared to some of Heavenly's offerings like the Tiffin above this came across as lighter option and wasn't quite as overwhemling and daunting to eat in it's entirety. If you prefer lighter cakes this is certainly one to look at - @BettyBakes has done Italy's masterful lemon growing justice here. I think a silver medal rating is a fair reflection.

Silver Medal out of 10

.... check back to the site Wednesday when two more of the country representative limited edition Heavenly Cakes will be reviewed. Don't forget to get in touch with myself @ChocMission or @BettyBakes on Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

July 20th: Oreo Peanut Butter / Creamsicle

With all the Limited Editions that keep coming out it, it's lucky that I'm of the opinion that 1 - You can never have too many flavours of Oreos and 2 - You can never have too many peanut butter confectionery products :-D Indeed today I bring you another two varieties from America's favourite sandwich cookies, the Oreo Peanut Butter & the Oreo Golden Creamsicle Limited Edition. Both of these flavours were ones sent to me by my pals at AmericanSoda, I have to commend those guys as they certainly do their best to keep up to date with all the new flavours available in the US. For us Brits they are a real life saver when it comes to us being able to try them. Below are my thoughts on these two flavours:

-----
Oreo Peanut Butter

 Kcal 140 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 20.0g (per 2 cookies) 

I received these in a 432.0g pack that contained 28 individual cookies - more than enough to get some second opinions from some very willing work colleagues :-) Despite not being referred to on the pack I was pleased to find that these were 'double-stuff' Oreo rather than just the regular variety. I thought that this made them look exceedingly attractive with their plentiful, orange tinted creme centres. I was also pleased they were double-stuffed as I recall my experience with the Oreo Cakesters Peanut Butter (See HERE). They were horrendously under powered in terms of their peanut emphasis, though my hopes were a little raised given the proportion of the fillings and nutter aromas on offer. Raised expectations proved to be not misled and I'm pleased to report these were pretty darn good. Some of my fellow work mates still thought the peanut butter was under powered, however I differed in opinion and thought the peanut butter effect was achieved pretty well. There was definitely a sweet nuttyness to underlying chocolatey cookie flavours and it was for me at least the lasting impression left in the mouth. I think if the saltyness of the nuts were played up a bit more that could have made these even better, just a touch more creamyness to the creme would also have probably made these stand out that little bit more. These didn't come close to dethroning my favourtie Oreo flavours Double Mint or Birthday Cake, but they deserve a place in the Oreo line up and I would suggest peanut butter fans give them a try.

7.7 out of 10 

-------
Oreo Creamsicle

Kcal 150 Fat 7.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 20.0g (per 2 cookies)

I've got nowhere near trying all of the Oreo Limited Editions they've had in America this year but thanks to the chaps at AmericanSoda I've certainly tried my best to cover the best of them. One of the Limited Editions that really chaught my eye this summer were these Oreo Creamsicle after I read a review of them on Marvo's Impulsive Buy website (See HERE). Creamsicles were ice creams I used to  eat all the time when I used to go on holiday to the US - for my unaware UK/European following Wiki describe Creamsicles as 'a brand name for a frozen dessert owned by Unilever. It is made as a single flat bar with a rounded end and comes on a flat wooden stick. The center is vanilla ice cream, covered by a layer of flavored ice. Creamsicle flavors include orange, blue raspberry, lime, grape and cherry. In the United States, August 14 has been named as National Creamsicle Day' - Don't tell me you don't learn something new everyday on this site now :-) Well anyways these Oreo Creamsicle are one of the latest additions to the Golden Oreo range and came described as 'golden Oreo cookies with vanilla and orange flavoured creme'. As with the peanut butter ones above these were double stuff Oreos so the Creamsicle flavour theme had no problem getting over in the taste. Ultimately it was the development of flavours that I liked most about these Oreos and I enjoyed the way the vanilla elements of the cookies and half creme led nicely into a decent fruity orange fondant flavour burst and aftertaste. Contrary to what Marvo found I thought the Creamsicle element came across pretty well, but hey I'm a Brit what do I know about Creamsicles huh!? As far as fruit flavoured Oreos go I think this is one of the better flavours I've tried. I wouldn't rush out and buy them again but as a Limited Edition they certainly held their own.

7.9 out of 10