Some months back, M&S launched a wave of retro-inspired products. All sporting a 'Tastes of the British Isles' banner, the offerings spanned sweet and savoury and aimed to celebrate the best of traditional foods - something GBD wholeheartedly supports. One particularly fun element came in the form of biscuits based on classic British cakes and puddings, including, as featured here, good old Battenberg cake. Admittedly, at the time, I missed out on all of this as M&S wasn't terribly accessible where I lived; however, a store has recently opened in my local town and, seeing these biscuits still knocking around, I knew I had to give them a go.
Presentation-wise, I liked these. The imagery was clean and fresh conveying a distinctly summery feel. The product name text sported fine, unfussy lettering that stood out elegantly against the pink background. The accompanying bit of historical text was a nice touch and provided insight in to the source of inspiration. As for the biscuits themselves, I thought they looked great with that classic square, checkerboard design certainly bringing something different to the biscuit tin.
With regards to taste, I will start by saying that, as a cake, Battenberg is something I'm slightly wary of. Shop-bought versions all too often reduce this offering to a barrage of sweetness leaving all but quirky looks and nostalgia to redeem things. Indeed, homemade Battenberg should burst with flavour from the nuttiness of the marzipan to the light sponge punctuated with sweet jam. To that end, I was really hoping this biscuit spin-off would shine were others have faltered.
Digging in, the almonds immediately shone through and the initial hit was pleasant. However, unfortunately, things almost immediately went downhill as the almond flavour became really quite bitter. First, I thought the biscuits just lacked a touch of sweetness but, on reflection, I'm confident too much 'flavouring' - what I assume to be something like almond essence - has been added. I suppose you could pair these with sweet tea to offset the taste but, at the end of the day, the almonds really need to reigned in to balance things and allow other flavours to express themselves.
To sum up, these Battenberg biscuits looked the part with a quirky, colourful appearance. Moreover, for a product purporting to represent the best of British, kudos to M&S for using an all butter recipe and not resorting to cheap vegetable oils. However, I have to admit that I found the almond flavour overdone and really quite bitter. There were elements of promise but, ultimately, these didn't work for me.
BRAND LINKS
M&S Website - Food & Wine Page
Digging in, the almonds immediately shone through and the initial hit was pleasant. However, unfortunately, things almost immediately went downhill as the almond flavour became really quite bitter. First, I thought the biscuits just lacked a touch of sweetness but, on reflection, I'm confident too much 'flavouring' - what I assume to be something like almond essence - has been added. I suppose you could pair these with sweet tea to offset the taste but, at the end of the day, the almonds really need to reigned in to balance things and allow other flavours to express themselves.
To sum up, these Battenberg biscuits looked the part with a quirky, colourful appearance. Moreover, for a product purporting to represent the best of British, kudos to M&S for using an all butter recipe and not resorting to cheap vegetable oils. However, I have to admit that I found the almond flavour overdone and really quite bitter. There were elements of promise but, ultimately, these didn't work for me.
BRAND LINKS
M&S Website - Food & Wine Page
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