Green & Black’s have been pushing this bar quite hard lately. Oddly, there seems to be a lot of large ads for it in London Underground stations at the moment, proclaiming that it’s a creamier and lighter than their standard milk chocolate bar which (they claim) some people find “too dark”. I’m not sure I believe that.
The standard Green & Black’s milk chocolate bar is 34% cocoa solids, while this is 30%. G&B make a big play about the Dominican Republic Trinitario beans and “real Madagascan vanilla” used in the bar. They don’t tell you where the sugar comes from though – and there’s rather a lot of it in this block.
Despite being sold as a creamier milk chocolate, the taste is more akin to a rich white chocolate. It’s very creamy and sweet, and – as the wrapper says – it melts effortlessly in the mouth. But it does have some nice cocoa flavours too. There’s a hint of nuttiness, and lots of vanilla.
Rather than being a step down from G&B’s 34% milk bar, I would classify this as little more than a step up from Dairy Milk. None of the advertising says so, but I’m sure that’s the market they’re going for. There’s no nasty added vegetable fats here, but sugar and milk powder are still the first ingredients on the list. If a Dairy Milk is as far as you’ve ever delved into the world of chocolate, then this is certainly worth giving a go, but I suspect that hardcore chocolate lovers aren’t going to be that interested.
It’s also worth noting that while its more common cousin is now certified fair trade, this bar is not. I assume it’s only a matter of time before all Cadbury chocolate products carry that little logo, but it would have been nice to see it here as well.
Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria from South Africa is back with a local Dairy Milk variation…
According to this wrapper, this is “Local ‘n Lekker” (collective cringe from English majors worldwide).
“Lekker” is an Afrikaans word that means nice, good, great, cool or tasty, pronounced thusly – lekk-irr, with a rolling R. 1 “Local” is the part I have a problem with. Clearly, the name is French, and the origin of the traditional crème caramel is actually Spain. Crème caramel is a dessert which is basically a custard tart with a caramel top and sugar syrup poured over it. A variation would be crème brulée, where the sugar forms a hard crust. I understand that in other parts of the world, it is also called flan, but I’ve never heard the term used here.
What makes crème caramel so utterly delectable is its subtlety. The actual custard part (which constitutes the larger part of the desert) is creamy and delicately flavoured. The caramel top and sugar syrup adds a little more sweetness and a very pleasant almost burnt taste, and voíla – dessert.
Unfortunately, subtlety is one thing Cadbury can’t do. Once again, the milk chocolate is of their usual standard quality – sweet and satisfying but not quite chocolate – but the filling tips this slab into the realm of the grotesque. I quite like crème caramel, and I’m very disappointed with this.
On a positive note, at least they’ve stayed true to the sickly orange representation on the wrapper – the filling tastes exactly how that looks.
Seriously, though.
It really is sickly sweet, and I don’t know what type of crack cocaine Cadbury’s team was on, but this is not even crème caramel flavoured. The texture is grainy and puts one in mind of syrup that’s been left in some dark corner of the pantry for too long, except the taste doesn’t even offer that burnt caramel flavour that syrup would.
I made myself a cup of chai to accompany this, as the spiciness of the drink really compliments the creamy dessert, but found that after two pieces, I couldn’t take any more. Cadbury has once again provided acceptable chocolate, but the filling is far too overwhelming for one to even pick up on the milk chocolate.
For shame, folks.
Because it’s Halloween season – and because we were too busy stuffing our faces with chocolate to remember to do anything ourselves, we thought we’d bring you a roundup of some of the best Halloween chocolate links from around the web.
These rather horrific looking skulls are so realistic because they’re moulded from the real thing. At $120 the cost is quite scary as well… for that price, they should at least come with a genuine death certificate…
Visit Site
Disney’s Family Fun site has a creepy-but-nice selection of Halloween Dessert recipes. Some of them even have chocolate in, including this rather interesting sounding Halloween Chocolate Slime.
Visit Site
Vosges have a whole range of Halloween gifts, including some of the cutest skulls I’ve ever seen.
Visit Site
Candy Addict has a tonne of weird and wonderful Halloween related candy reviews and recipes, including some rather disturbing Candy Tarantulas.
Vist Site
The official blog of the American National Confectioners Association shows that we’ve still got a long way to go in the UK to match the US for creepy Halloween goodies.
Visit Site
Finally, don’t forget to visit our own Halloween Tag Page for a list of all the Halloween related articles and reviews we’ve posted on Chocablog over the last three years.
Got any chocolatey Halloween links of your own? Share them in the comments below! Happy Halloween!
I really wish someone would make a seasonal pumpkin chocolate. That one would be sure to catch my attention. But as eating these caramel squares is my sole Halloween act this year, I’d say Ghirardelli’s redress of a daily product is fitted to my meager attention to the holiday. These are a small step up from the Valentine’s Day squares, being wrapped in their own Halloween designs. There are three different designs, accompanied by three different messages, like “Come in for a coffin break.” Now, usually, messages are for when you’re giving candies out, but I can’t see too many people being willing to lavish forty cent each chocolates on Trick-or-Treaters. If they did, however, I’m sure everyone who got some would be quite pleased.
I’m not sure that this is the same chocolate as was in the Valentine’s assortment. It may just be my memory, but this one seems to have a firmer, chewier caramel. The caramel also has a very strong, clean smell. The more solid caramels usually are waxy, while this one is wonderfully fresh. The calm milk chocolate has a rounded out flavor to accompany it. I can’t even call it sweet — there are so many cheaply done caramel/milk chocolate combos out there, they don’t compare much to this one.
The Peanut Butter squares have also gone Halloween. Either one would be a nice choice if you want to celebrate a little with more than just the piles of candy at every corner.
