dessert Archives - Page 2 of 2

June 28, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Strawberries ‘n’ Creme – Is it Supposed to Taste Like Medicine?

Candy Bars

Hershey recently released three white chocolate bars with ice-cream-inspired flavours: Birthday Cake (which I just reviewed), Strawberries ‘n’ Creme, and Cookies ‘n’ Mint (which is up next). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Birthday Cake variety, which had an appealingly junky flavour that reminded me of store-bought frosting.

This one, on the other hand? Swing and a miss.

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but nothing here particularly works. The slightly sour strawberry flavour is neither here nor there; it’s muddled, with a medicinal quality that I found to be vaguely unpleasant. I guess it’s supposed to taste like strawberry ice cream, and it kinda does if you use your imagination, but mostly it tastes like lousy white chocolate with a watered-down strawberry-like flavour.

It doesn’t help that the chocolate isn’t particularly creamy, with a slightly grainy consistency (which, to be fair, seems to be an issue with all Hershey chocolate).

There are little crispy bits interspersed throughout, but unlike the sprinkles in the Birthday Cake variety, I’m not sure what they’re supposed to be or why they’re there. They lack the pronounced crunch of the sprinkles, and only serve to emphasize the white chocolate’s lack of creaminess.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 39 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, corn syrup solids, lactose, strawberry juice, maltodextrin), cocoa butter, milk ingredients, sunflower oil, modified palm oil, corn starch, lecithin (soy), natural and artificial flavors, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, beetroot concentrate, citric acid.

June 21, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Birthday Cake – Like Betty Crocker Frosting in Bar Form

Candy Bars

Birthday cake flavour can be extremely hit and miss; it’s often just vanilla-flavoured sweet overload. That’s basically what I was expecting here, so this was actually a pretty delightful surprise.

The aroma hits you as soon as you unwrap the bar: Betty Crocker frosting. And it hits hard.

That’s what it tastes like, too; it’s like someone took a tub of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting, mixed in some sprinkles, and then magically transformed it into a candy bar.

I actually like that flavour (a childhood spent eating Dunkaroos probably has something to do with this), so I liked this, but your enjoyment entirely depends on your tolerance for overly sweet, artificial-tasting frosting.

The sweetness level here is intense, but in the context of the birthday cake flavour, it feels right. It would be weird if it weren’t a throat-burning assault of sugary sweetness. That’s the deal. That’s what it is, and it works.

The sprinkles work too — they add a nice crunchy counterpoint to the creamy white chocolate.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 39 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, com syrup solids, lactose, glucose), cocoa butter, milk ingredients, modifed palm oil, sunflower oil, lecithin (soy), corn starch, natural and artificial flavours, carnauba wax, beeswax, turmeric, spirulina extract, beetroot red, palm and shea oil, polyglycerol polyricinoleate.

June 14, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Ritter Sport: Butter Biscuit and Chocolate Creme – Tasty Cookie, Mediocre Chocolate

Chocolate

I recently reviewed the coconut variety of Ritter Sport, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was under the impression that Ritter Sport had gone downhill, but eating that made me question myself. Maybe I’m wrong about Ritter Sport, and by extension, my entire life??

I figured I should probably try a different flavour to figure out what’s what.

Thankfully, it looks like my existential panic can stop (for now), because the Butter Biscuit and Chocolate Creme variety was okay at best.

The main issue is the chocolate itself. I noted in the coconut review that the chocolate flavour was a bit too mild, and that issue is even worse here. The flavour is all generic sweetness. It’s not outright unpleasant, but it’s nothing anyone is going to get too excited about.

The cookie is nice. It’s got a good amount of crunch and a decent buttery flavour. But it doesn’t go all the way to the edges of the bar. Which means that while the middle pieces — which feature cookie all the way through — have a good balance of creamy and crunchy, the edge pieces are a bit overwhelmed by the middling chocolate.

Manufactured by: Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG
Nutritional info (6 pieces, 38 grams): 210 calories, 13 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: sugar, palm fat, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, wheat flour, lactose, whole milk powder (6%), skim milk powder, cream powder, butter fat, butter (1%), soy lecithin, wheat starch, glucose-fructose, salt, whey powder.

May 18, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Ritter Sport: Coconut – A Tasty Combo of Coconut and Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

I was under the impression that Ritter Sport had gone downhill; the last couple I’ve had have been fairly mediocre, so I had mostly written them off. But this one was quite tasty! So there’s my entire world-view, shaken to its very core.

I will admit that I’m a sucker for the chocolate/coconut combo; Bounty would easily be in my top five favourite candy bars. So maybe I’m just going easy on this one because the combination is so inherently delightful.

Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s basically like Bounty, but with a higher chocolate to coconut ratio. Oddly, the chocolate flavour isn’t quite as pronounced as you’d think it would be; it has a bit of a generic sweetness, and I wish it packed a more chocolatey punch.

That’s pretty much my only real complaint here. Otherwise, the chocolate is nice and creamy, and there’s a good balance of coconut flavour along with a mild crispiness from the flakes. I don’t know that I’d pick this over a Bounty, but then the increased amount of chocolate makes it feel fairly distinct.

Manufactured by: Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG
Nutritional info (6 pieces, 38 grams): 220 calories, 15 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 25 mg of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 19 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, palm fat, cocoa butter, grated coconut (9%), whole milk powder, cocoa mass, skim milk powder, lactose, butter fat, coconut milk (1%), glucose syrup, soy lecithin, pea protein, concentrated lemon juice.