Candy Bars Archives - Page 27 of 29

October 29, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Double Decker – A Seriously Delicious British Candy Bar

Candy Bars

This is yet another British bar from the import store. This one actually makes me wish I lived in Britain; I’m not sure I’ve ever had this bar before, but I know I’ll be eating it again – even if it means a trek out to the import store and paying a bit more than normal (imported candy bars tend to go for two or even three bucks).

Double Decker consists of two layers: the first being milk chocolate nestled with bits of crisped rice, and the second being “chewy nougatine” (no, I haven’t heard of nougatine either – perhaps it’s a British thing?). The nougatine actually reminded me more of marshmallow than nougat – it had that sort of soft, spongy texture marshmallow tends to have, and it tasted a little bit richer than the usual nougat, with an almost subtly roasted marshmallow type of flavour.

As for the bottom layer, it’s kind of like a Crunch bar, only with crunchier, more substantial pieces of crisped rice. The crunchy rice works very well here, doing a great job of complimenting the chewiness of the nougatine. Also, the amount of chocolate in the bottom layer gives this bar a much chocolatier flavour than the standard candy bar.

Double Decker kind of tastes like the love child between a Nestle Crunch bar and a Mars bar (a.k.a. Milky Way, for all you Americans). It’s pretty great. Cadbury definitely needs to bring this one to North America, and fast.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (60 g bar): 275

October 28, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Coffee Crisp – A Tasty, if Somewhat Boring Candy Bar

Candy Bars

Coffee Crisp is another one of those bars that, though not particularly exciting, certainly has its place. Though I should mention that its motto (“makes a nice light snack”) is a tad misleading – it’s about the same as any other candy bar as far as its fat content and calorie count goes. Not that I particularly care – my philosophy is that generally, if you want something low in fat/calories, you probably shouldn’t be eating candy in the first place. But if you’re buying this because you think it’s somehow less fattening than other candy bars, you are out of luck.

Speaking of misleading, the name Coffee Crisp is probably also a bit of a misnomer. Not that this doesn’t taste of coffee at all, but the coffee taste here is quite subtle. The “crisp” part of the title, however, is right on the money – the bar is filled to the brim with crispy wafers.

Basically, Coffee Crisp consists of several layers of wafer, with a filling that is sweet and slightly crumbly. The whole thing is coated in a somewhat negligible coating of milk chocolate. The aforementioned coffee taste is really more of an aftertaste – the first thing that hits you when you’re eating this bar is the sweetness; the coffee taste takes a while to kick in.

So yes, this is a good bar – even if it doesn’t taste much like coffee.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (50 g bar): 260

October 27, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Cadbury Flake – Plain Chocolate in an Interesting Shape

Candy Bars

Flake is one of those candy bars where the title really says it all – it is extremely flaky. It’s basically just plain milk chocolate, molded in such a way that it becomes very flaky and delicate. It’s not a particularly attractive bar, resembling an old tree, or an extremely old piece of chocolate, if chocolate were able to grow old and become wrinkly.

Other than the very different presentation, it’s essentially just Cadbury milk chocolate, though it does seem a bit sweeter than usual. It’s also not quite as creamy as you might expect, with a slightly grainy consistency, however that might just be because the bar I had was a bit on the stale side (the packaging indicated that it was due to expire in a couple of months).

The real highlight of Flake is its signature shape — it has an appealing crumbliness in your mouth, which makes it a bit more interesting to eat than a standard piece of chocolate. It’s kind of like Aero or Mirage in that sense, so it’s a bit more exciting than your usual bar of plain milk chocolate (not that plain milk chocolate isn’t exciting, but sometimes you want something a bit different).

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (32 g bar): 170

October 24, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Crunch Crisp – An Uninspired Twist on a Classic Bar

Candy Bars

There was a time, a few years back, when new candy bars were a fairly regular occurrence. It was always exciting to walk into the store and see a brand new candy bar you’ve never heard of before. I guess at some point the candy manufacturers realized that they could make more money by releasing variations on existing bars rather than introduce something completely new. So now whenever there’s a new bar, it’s always some twist on a currently available candy, no matter how tenuous the connection is with the original product.

The original Crunch bar, containing milk chocolate and puffed rice, is a classic. Crunch Crisp adds wafers filled with “chocolate crème” to the mix, and replaces the milk chocolate with fake chocolate (i.e. the dreaded mockolate). I generally don’t mind when a candy bar like this is coated with mockolate; it’s not exactly my preference, but there’s usually not a whole lot of it, and it tends to take a backseat to the other ingredients.

The mockolate here doesn’t necessarily hurt the bar, but it certainly doesn’t help it either. The main problem with this bar is that it doesn’t really taste like anything. It has an amorphous sweetness, but none of the ingredients really contribute any particular flavour – the wafers and puffed rice add crispiness but don’t taste like much, and the chocolate crème is sweet without having a strong chocolate flavour. The whole thing is covered in mockolate, which is also lacking in the taste department, and of course has that slightly waxy texture all mockolate tends to have.

That’s not to say that this is a horrible bar, simply one that epitomizes the word “meh.” If there’s one lying around, I guess I’ll eat it, but it’s not something that I’m going to be running to the store to buy again.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (49.3 g bar): 240

October 22, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Cadbury Fudge – A Slap in the Face to Fresh Fudge

Candy Bars

In my experience, fudge is generally something that has to be eaten while it’s reasonably fresh. I’ve never had a prepackaged fudge that I’ve been particularly fond of; this, unfortunately, is no exception. Actually, this may just be the worst fudge that I’ve ever had.

Cadbury Fudge is, as the name implies, just a stick of fudge. It’s also coated with a thin layer of milk chocolate, but I’m not sure if that adds much, if anything, to the flavour. My first impression, upon taking a bite, was that this bar definitely has the texture right – it has that thick, slightly grainy consistency, almost like a really thick peanut butter, that you expect from fudge. That’s pretty much the only thing that this bar has right.

The bar is ridiculously sweet – burns the back of your throat sweet. There’s really not much to it other than the extreme sweetness. It has an underlying artificially fudgey taste, but mostly it’s just sweet. Eating a handful of sugar straight from the bag would probably be less sweet, and would probably taste better, too. The bar also has an unpleasant aftertaste.

This is another candy I bought from the import shop, and boy am I glad Cadbury saw fit not to inflict this upon North America. Wow. I’m generally pretty easy going when it comes to candy, but this was awful, and certainly not up to Cadbury’s generally higher-than-average standards.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (1 bar): 115