Cadbury
Cadbury Fudge was a completely new discovery for me. I’d never heard of it before and I couldn’t help but wonder why, as all of Cadbury’s offerings are pretty widely known. Is it just a bar that is rare? Something unworthy of mention? Or is it the other way around and it’s so good no one wants to share it outside the UK? These and a dozen other questions whizzed through my head as I looked at their cute, bright orange and purple wrappers.
The Fudge is really pretty self explanatory, described as “fudge covered in milk chocolate”. They’re small in size, only about four to five inches long and are round and tubular in shape.
It only smells sweet, and I dove right in as I knew this one would all be about the taste. The bite is soft, a little crumbly and a little grainy. The texture is just like fudge but a little dried. It softens up and it gets soft, chewy and sticky in the mouth. It’s very thick and satisfying.
The flavor is very, very, sweet and I get more flavors of caramel and cream and burnt sugar than actual chocolate. I’m not surprised, since the basis of fudge is cream and sugar, so it’s a accurate representation in that regard. I was particularly impressed by the caramel notes it had.
Still, Fudge is not for the faint of heart and it’s just really, really sweet. I liked it, just be forewarned.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links Cadbury Website
I was a very late bloomer in terms of my appreciation of the Cadbury Creme Eggs (or CCE’s in shorthand). My first memories of them was the ads I recall as a child of the 1980’s, featuring a white bunny that clucks like a hen, surrounded by impostor bunnies that made noises of different animals. I recall my Mom wrinkling her nose at these adds, stating that she “hated” those things, as they were too sweet. I paid little attention to her comments, like most children do with their parents. It wasn’t until college where I actually got my first taste of a CCE, and from then on, I was forever changed.
There’s many types of CCE’s on the market. There’s the original, caramel, fudge (or was it truffle?), mini, mini caramel, and most recently orange (which I reviewed for CandyAddict last year). I’ve tried them all and liked them, but I keep returning to the original as my favorite. If I had to give one second place, I’d go for the orange.
The concept of the CCE is simple. It’s a hollow milk chocolate egg with a creamy fondant center that’s white with a yellow spot in it, so it looks like an egg yolk. The egg is a good size (though it’s been shrinking over the years) and the packaging changes every year it seems. The photo above is the new update of the design for 2008.
Unwrapped, the egg is beautiful and feels heavy in your hand. You can see the seam whee the two halves come together to seal the fondant interior. The chocolate sides have a design of a eight pointed star on each side and lines that circle them.
The egg smells lightly of cocoa and cream.
The chocolate is thick and has that wonderful European flavor to it. Sweet, milky, a little tart, and a good chocolate flavor. Now I can see why my mom complained that this style of chocolate is too sweet, but I like it just fine. The center’s overall texture should be thick and flowing, like egg white can be. But the one I got here to sample was more dried out and grainy, which I found odd. The flavor is extremely sweet with hints of vanilla. The texture in the mouth is smooth with a little grain to it, and it feels cool on the tongue. It can be a little sticky, and it feel like eating frosting fresh from the bowl.
I bought a few more in search of that creamy, flowing center. I think I got it here.
What can I say, I love these things. I tend to get a small stash to last myself a little while each Easter. They’re the kind of candy I can only have so often, as if I eat too many close together I feel I need to pass out in a sugar coma. Yes, they’re that sweet and that addicting. Isn’t that a sign of a good candy? It is in my book.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links Cadbury Website
At long last! The Cadbury Double Decker bar! I’ve been wanting to try one of these ever since I read a review of them over at Chocablog. My excitement heightened when I had the bar in hand and read the description on the side: “milk chocolate with smooth, chewy nougatine and crisp crunchy cereal filling”. CANDY SWOON! I couldn’t tear it open fast enough.
Firstly, this bar is nothing to sniff at. It certainly lives up to its name, as it’s hefty and tall at 60g.
Unlike the Triple Decker I had from Australia, the Double Decker is not a “solid"bar. Instead it’s enrobed, hiding all sort of deliciousness underneath.
So what is under all that chocolate? The bottom half is like a Nestle Crunch bar and the top is fluffy and soft like the inside of a 3 Musketeers. smells sweet, milky of dried milk powder. The flavor is sweet, with a nice chocolaty taste from the coating, a sweet caramel flavor from the nougatine, and the malty carby flavor of the cereal. I also get some light coffee notes in here too.
Aside from the amazing flavor, the Double Decker is really all about the texture. It has a play of soft and crunchy, smooth and grainy…. a true master of contrast. It’s quite the mouthful too. It’s got a very substantial, hefty chew. It’s very satisfying and filling because of this.
Love, love this bar. It’s everything I was expecting it to be and more. Only downside is because of it’s heft, I have to limit myself with these. Or else become a Double Decker myself!
Rating: Will Buy Again
Cadbury, like Hershey’s and Mars here in the US, jumped onto the dark chocolate bandwagon and have been producing their own line of special bars. I don’t recall how long the Bourneville line has been around, but I do remember seeing reviews of them around the blogosphere when they first hit shelves. I am immediately skeptical of these mainstream dark chocolates, as I do not feel like they are a true representation of what dark chocolate is. Usually milk is added, as is too much sugar, since these dark chocolates are meant to appeal to the mainstream tastes of the public.
The chocolate is very dark in color with smooth undertones and a subtle, blue sheen to it.
The break is very hard, clean and showing only a couple of air bubbles. The label says it’s 60% cocoa solids, although it’s not a true dark as there’s milk fat in there (to replace some of the cocoa butter I’m assuming, since de-fatted cocoa is also listed). The chocolate smells very rich with notes of red berries, raisins, coffee, and caramel.
My first bite was accompanied with a great, full “clock” sound showing a nice temper to the bar. It’s immediately rich and slippery on the tongue and I love that texture! The flavor is beautifully mild with lots of cream, caramel, subtle coffee and cocoa flavors. At the very end I get a bit of red fruits, but it’s really just a hint and no way is it acidic or tart because of it. Color me impressed Cadbury.
A very “mainstream” dark chocolate, and a delicious one at that. I’d by this over Dove or Hershey’s Special Dark any day. Can I please get this in the US?
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links Cadbury Website
Cadbury Picnic is a bar hailing from the Land Down Under. I’ve heard about it, but it wasn’t until an Australian friend sent me a candy care package that I finally encountered one. The specific one I got is actually a limited edition Picnic bar of the “Honey Almond Nougat” variety. “New!” and “A unique combination of almonds & crunchy pieces of honey almond nougat caramel & wafer covered in delicious Cadbury milk chocolate” are the descriptions on the wrapper. I’d by lying if I said it didn’t sound appealing and terribly tasty.
The regular Cadbury picnic bars have a wafer center, creamy caramel, and rice crisps all covered in chocolate. So this new variety adds more textural and flavor elements by replacing the rice crisps with the almonds and nougat. I still think that this will give me a pretty good indication of what the original bar is. It’s kinda funny how the Picnic sounds like the offspring of a Kitkat, a Nestle’s Crunch and a Milky Way.
I’m relieved to say that according to the ingredients list, this Picnic bar is using real chocolate! Yay! It’s gotten to the point where that’s always the first things I look for in candy bars. Yes, I’m a stickler for quality.
The bar itself looks like a very large, lumpy 100 Grand or a smaller, chocolate covered PayDay. Take your pick. It smells very strongly of sweet honey and almonds. It’s hard for my to explain but something in it also smells really “carb-y” and it’s hard to lay my finger on it. I don’t know what else it could be other than the nougat.
My first bite was extremely crispy. The center is the wafer and very similar in structure to a Kitkat. Wrapped around the wafer is the caramel, so already we have a crispy/chewy texture working here. The nougat and almonds add a slight crunch and it’s very addicting to chew and munch.
As for the flavor? It took me a moment to concentrate on it to be honest, I was already too busy trying to dislodge the pieces of nougat and caramel on my teeth. It’s got a lot going on: I get nice milky caramel notes, some light blandness from the wafers, then there’s a big salty hit from the almonds and finally a honey sweetness of the nougat. I don’t hardly taste any of the chocolate, as it cowers behind the big three of the caramel, nougat and almonds. I do like how the honey stands out, it proves a nice sweetness, especially blended with the caramel, and the saltiness provides a wonderful contrast. I just wish I wasn’t going to be picking bits of this out of my teeth for the next couple of hours. Ah, sacrifices, right?
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links:
Cadbury Picnic Webpage
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