British Archives - Candyrageous

August 31, 2021 Michael

Walnut Whip – Chocolatey, Gooey, and Tasty

Candy Bars

I wasn’t even sure what to expect from Walnut Whip, a British candy that I hadn’t heard of until I ordered it for this blog. It looks more like an oversized selection from a box of chocolates than like a traditional candy bar, but it’s basically like a Valomilk or a Mallo Cup in a different shape.

It’s pretty simple — it features what the packaging calls a “fondant centre” surrounded by a thick layer of milk chocolate and topped with a walnut.

The fondant is creamy and marshmallow-like (it’s extremely similar to Marshmallow Fluff, though without the vanilla flavour, which I missed), and the milk chocolate is very British; Walnut Whip is a Nestle product, but the chocolate tastes like it’s trying hard to be Dairy Milk.

The walnut, oddly enough, is a bit superfluous; it adds some crunch, but is otherwise lost among the sweet chocolate and even sweeter filling. Still, the whole thing is tasty enough — it’s probably better than Mallo Cup, but not quite as good as Valomilk.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 whip, 30 grams): 148 calories, 7.2 grams of fat (4.2 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 19.9 grams of carbohydrates, 0.4 grams of fibre, 18.1 grams of sugar, 1.4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, dried whole milk, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, lactose and proteins from whey (from milk), whey powder (from milk), vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal, mango kernel), skimmed milk powder, emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)), sugar, walnuts (6%), glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, dried egg white, humectant (glycerol), flavouring, tartaric acid.

January 10, 2021January 10, 2021 Michael

Curly Wurly – Ultra-Chewy Caramel Coated in Chocolate

Candy Bars

Curly Wurly is a British import, and yeah, obviously. There’s something about it — the name, maybe? — that feels thoroughly British. I’ll bet it’s Ray Winstone’s favourite candy bar.

It’s fine. It’s chewy caramel coated in milk chocolate. The texture of the caramel reminds me a bit of Riesen, mostly because it’s super duper chewy. It is the chewiest of the chewy. If you don’t want to eat something that’s going to get all up in your teeth, stay away.

It has a decent flavour, though unlike Riesen, it is very, very sweet. I wouldn’t say it’s too sweet — there’s enough of a rich caramel flavour to balance out the sweetness, at least somewhat — but it’s clearly on the sweeter end of things.

Ultra-chewy caramel isn’t my favourite, and if I did have a craving for that I’d go for Riesen instead, but Curly Wurly isn’t bad. The relatively generous layer of milk chocolate compliments the caramel quite nicely, and the whole thing is tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 bar, 26 grams): 118 calories, 4.6 grams of fat (2.5 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0.2 grams of fibre, 13 grams of sugar, 0.8 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Glucose syrup, sugar, palm oil, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey permeate powder (from milk), milk fat, emulsifiers (E471, sunflower lecithin, E442, E476), salt, flavourings, sodium hydrogen carbonate.

August 3, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twirl – An Easier to Eat Flake Bar

Candy Bars

Twirl is basically just an enhanced version of Flake; it’s a Flake bar that’s been covered in milk chocolate. That doesn’t seem like much, but it actually makes a pretty huge difference when you’re eating it.

Flake is one of the more painful chocolate bars to eat. Its distinctive shape means that as soon as you take a bite, it starts crumbling into bits.

Twirl thoroughly solves that issue; the chocolate coating holds it all together quite nicely. Every bite is crumb-free.

Other than that? It is what it is. It’s standard Cadbury milk chocolate, but in a different shape. It’s certainly not the most interesting candy bar in the store, but if you’re craving chocolate, it’ll hit the spot. The flaky texture makes it a slightly different experience from eating a standard block of chocolate.

As for the quality of the chocolate itself, it’s very sweet, but it’s nice and creamy and has a pleasant milky flavour. It’s good.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 finger, 21.5 grams): 114 calories, 6.3 grams of fat (3.6 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol (British labeling standards are different, I guess), 50 mg of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0.5 grams of fibre, 12 grams of sugar, 1.5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder (from milk), vegetable fat (palm, shea), emulsifiers (E442, E476), flavourings.

January 5, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Drifter – Delicious Crispy Wafers and Chewy Caramel

Candy Bars

This is another British bar, and I’m really not sure if there’s anything else quite like it. I’m starting to get somewhat bitter eating all these imported products; it’s giving me a bunch of new candy bars to crave, most of which are almost impossible to find. Oh well; such is the life of a candy blogger, I suppose.

At first glance Drifter looks kind of like Twix – two smaller bars sitting side-by-side. But it tastes almost nothing like Twix, with each bar consisting of a piece of wafer covered in chewy caramel and enrobed in milk chocolate.

Sometimes the caramel in a candy bar has the problem of being sweet without having much of a flavour at all. Drifter doesn’t particularly have that problem, with caramel that is sweet without being too sweet, with an appealing almost Golden Syrup-like flavour. It’s really chewy and slightly grainy. The wafer is crispy and has a particularly pronounced wheaty/wafery taste, which works quite well with the chewy caramel.

So basically, Drifter is definitely another addition to the “candy bars I like but can’t really buy” list.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (2 bars, 52 g): 264

December 22, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Aero – Uniquely Bubbly Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Aero is another British bar that, for whatever reason, is sold pretty much everywhere in the world except for the States. I’m really not sure why; it’s pretty good, and as far as I’m aware, there’s nothing else in the US quite like it. There’s Mirage, but I think that may only be available in Canada.

Aero is just pure milk chocolate. What sets it apart is the unique way it’s made – the inside of the bar is filled with tiny bubbles, which gives Aero its unique texture. This uniqueness helps compensate for milk chocolate which isn’t exactly of the highest quality; it’s decent, but it’s too sweet and not really creamy enough.

I actually prefer the dark chocolate variety (which features dark chocolate on the outside, while the inside – ie. the bubbles – remains milk chocolate) because the dark chocolate helps to balance out the overall sweetness of the bar. But even if the chocolate itself isn’t that great, I still enjoy eating these on occasion, if only for the uniqueness provided by the bubbly consistency of the bar.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (42 g bar): 220