HOMEMADE: Orange, Vanilla and Cinnamon Rock Cakes

Quick, economical and addictively tasty, the humble Rock Cake is a kitchen treasure that'll delight both young and old alike. All that said, with an abundance of recipes now available both online and in books, such simple creations can easily be overlooked. In my case, it was only the other day when someone happened to mention their love of Rock Cakes that I was reminded of how long it had been since I last made them.

Presentation-wise, I'll keep this brief. Their golden exterior and visibly irregular studding of dried fruit make for a suitably rugged-looking bake. Indeed, their uneven form goes some way at least in capturing the idea of a rock - or mound of rocks. Admittedly, not at all sophisticated but charming nonetheless. 

As for taste, the notes of vanilla and orange are immediately apparent and certainly more than welcoming. Taking a bite, these flavours translate to the palate with the vanilla's flavour deliciously distinct, the cinnamon's sweetness chiming in and the orange's zestiness cutting through the whole ensemble. Thankfully, texture-wise, Rock Cakes don't live up to the solidity of their name. The basic dough crumbles beautifully to the bite with the exposed surface offering a slight crispness; whilst, the generous helping of dried fruit punctuates proceedings beautifully as it interjects with soft, juicy bursts of flavour. 

All in all, this offering boasts the usual charm of a Rock Cake whilst offering a twist that balances notes of vanilla, orange and cinnamon well. On reflection, I might include a teaspoon of orange juice next time to just bump up the citrus tang slightly but, still, these were an absolute delight to eat. Recommended.

RECIPE

See here.

NOSTALGIA HIT: 1980's Bisto Kids

Created by illustrator Will Owen, the 'Bisto Kids' first appeared alongside the brand in 1919. Using the line 'Aah! Bisto', these boy and girl mascots - named Bill and Maree - eventually made their way on to television. The following 80's adverts showing their use as both primary and secondary characters. Enjoy.

RECENT ADDITION: Magnum Black

Magnum is an old ice cream favourite of mine and, in general, their various offerings never fail to impress me. To that end, I was delighted earlier today when I was going through the large chest freezer and found a pack of espresso-flavoured Magnum Black's buried away between some leftover tagine and chicken live pate - on reflection, a frozen three course meal albeit an odd one:)

Given the espresso twist, the packaging was suitably sophisticated in its overall look with a black background and white highlights - almost mimicking stirred milk or cream.  Moreover, the type was kept simple and refined with serifs employed across the main Magnum logo. Finally, to break with the predictable contours of the design, the top left of the design was cracked as per the picture of the product. 

Tucking in, I was delighted to find a prominent wave of espresso. Indeed, the coffee wasn't toned down to the point I thought it would be and, consequently, all those deep, dark notes were evident. Of course, the slight sweetness of the base Magnum ice cream together with the chocolate shell offset the espresso, but not overly meaning the taste profile remained pretty mature. 

In summary,  the design felt consistent with the coffee theme and its extensive use of black differentiated the product nicely from other colour schemes commonly used in this category. Whilst, taste-wise, Magnum Black proved an impressively mature taste experience with the character of the espresso coming through well. I'll definitely be going back for more of these and, hopefully, this time they won't go amiss:)

BRAND LINKS

Unilever Website - Magnum Page

Wall's Website - Magnum Page

Magnum Website

Magnum Facebook

NEW PRODUCT: Cranstons Dalemain Marmalade Sausage

For those that don't know, every year in the historic Lake District house of Dalemain, the world's original and most renowned marmalade festival takes place. The marmalade-munching bear, Paddington, always shows up, lots of fun activities are put on for families to enjoy and, crucially, marmalade makers compete in the prestigious awards. Notably, the winner of the awards' 'homemade' category gets their marmalade sold in Fortnum & Mason for a year.  Fortunately though, this year the fun didn't end there because our local butchers, Cranstons, teamed up with with the festival to produce a special marmalade sausage. Having tasted this citrussy pork delight in store there was no way I was passing up the opportunity to do a very quick review.

Whilst the above picture doesn't do it justice, cutting in to the sausage, the marmalade made its presence known with a light studding of orange to the pork interior. Tucking in, the promise of marmalade was immediately realised with a wonderful wave of zesty orange cutting through the meaty offering. Moreover, with the base sausage being a peppery Cumberland, the slight sweetness of the preserve provided a welcome counterbalance to all that spice. Indeed, it was a delicious sausage that made for a great change in pace and I can certainly see myself stocking up.

BRAND LINKS
Cranstons Website
Dalemain Marmalade Festival Website

PACKAGING UPDATE: Pieminister Moo Pie

For those unaware, Pieminister, founded in 2003, is a British company that runs a number of pie shops in the UK and retails its range via select supermarkets and stores. I haven't seen their products for a while now because my local supermarket has seemingly stopped stocking them. However, out and about the other week, I managed to get a hold of their Moo pie and noticed some distinct changes. 

On the packaging front, it still has a fun, informal edge but the mature overtones are more pronounced. As for the ingredients, whilst I still thoroughly enjoyed the pie, there are plenty of little changes, including: a one percent drop in both the steak and ale components - not so good but the difference certainly wasn't noticeable; the ditching of vegetable suet - semi-good as they haven't replaced it with proper suet; and the inclusion of leeks and mushrooms - something I must admit I didn't detect at all when eating. Anyway, here's all the pictures and, if you wish, the old packaging is viewable here.

BRAND LINKS

Pieminister Website - Moo Page

OLD FAVOURITE: Spaghetti Bolognese

Based on a traditional meal served in the northern Italian city of Bologna, Spaghetti Bolognese, or simply 'Spag Bol', is a wonderful example of a foreign-inspired dish that we Brits have taken to our hearts. Indeed, here at GBD HQ, Spag Bol is a Friday night tradition with defrosted homemade sauce and garlic bread portion making for an ultra quick and flavoursome end to the week. To that end, I thought I would share the 1973 Reader's Digest inspired recipe that I grew up with and still use to this day.

RECIPE

See here.

RECENT ADDITION: M&S Scottish All Butter Heather Honey & Oats Shortbread Rounds

The other day I reviewed M&S's Eton Mess Shortbread Rounds (see here) as a Scottish instalment in the brand's growing 'Taste of..." promotion. Two problems I had with this offering were that the Eton Mess twist wasn't at all Scottish and, in the tasting, didn't really come through. That said, the core shortbread was lovely and I thought the range still had promise in it so I turned to this much more Scottish sounding oats and Heather Honey variant.

As with the Eton Mess rounds, the packaging for this offering is lovely.  Refined type, tartan strip and delightful photography come together in a mature design that reinforces the quality and provenance of the product. The rounds themselves aren't quite as visually interesting as the Eton Mess ones; however, they are still nicely baked with a slightly knobbly top thanks to the oats. 

Taste-wise, thankfully, these are a step up from the Eton Mess ones. The oats supports the lovely buttery shortbread with their coarser texture whilst the Heather honey comes through gently with its distinctive flavour appreciable. Indeed, there's a bit of the flapjack about these that's hard to resist. 

In summary, these shortbread rounds boast the strong basic packaging that's shared across the accompanying range. Moreover, they deliver on flavour with the character of the Heather honey evident and working in almost flapjack-like concert with the oats. Simple yet effective stuff that gets another recommend from me. 

RECENT ADDITION: M&S 'Taste of Wales' Welsh Cakes

Baked on a griddle and served either hot or cold, the traditional Welsh Cake is a simple yet delicious treat that complements a cup of tea beautifully. That said, when I saw packets of them in M&S the other day as a 'Taste of Wales' product, I struggled to remember the last time I had one. Needless to say, I took the moment as the perfect opportunity to remedy the situation.

The packaging employs a large area of clear plastic to show off the Welsh Cakes's lovely, golden exterior. The card packaging that is used appropriately sports the red of Wales and, in keeping with the quality of the product, features refined type and smart-looking product imagery.

The Welsh Cakes themselves look the job with their browned exteriors temptingly dusted with sugar and studded with currants. Biting in, the cake's soft body is delightfully punctuated by the chew of the currants, the slightly sweet edge of the dusting and, finally, the gentle wave of nutmeg. Indeed, the inclusion of spice elevates these cakes to another level and delivers an incredibly moreish teatime treat.

All in all, the packaging may be no-frills but it delivers the basics well to help reinforce the product's quality and provenance. As for the cakes, they prove a reasonably light, flavoursome offering with a beautifully spiced edge to them. Recommended. 

HOMEMADE: James Martin's Coffee, Cardamom and Pistachio Cake

Coffee cake is a very old favourite of mine that I originally developed a love for thanks to it being a regular in my mother's baking repertoire. Over time, I've religiously stuck to a reasonably basic recipe on the principle that less is often more. That said, I was interested to try something different this time round and, consequently, turned to a recipe by James Martin's that sports an intriguing sounding cardamom and pistachio laced twist.

Getting stuck in to the recipe, everything was pretty straightforward up to the baking part where the sponge ended up taking far longer than the stated time. I should also say that the sponge slightly split in the middle and peaked making me wonder about the oven temperature. 

Moving on to the filling, I'd probably say that I just slightly over whisked the cream but, then again, it was still a nice alternative to my usual coffee buttercream. Finally, the icing was easy and, together with the sprinkling of chopped pistachios, added a lovely finishing touch. 

Taste-wise, I'll start with a couple of negatives. Firstly, the coffee flavour, whilst there in the background, was dominated by the cardamom. Secondly, I thought the slight extravagance of using pistachios in the cream filling was a bit wasted as their flavour didn't particularly come through. That said, on the positive side, treated as a cardamom cake, I thought this bake had its merits; the subtle coffee flavour lent a pleasant depth to the sponge whilst the creamy filling offset the injection of sweetness from the topping beautifully. 

So, in summary, this cake looked alright and had a reasonably mature balance between sweet and savoury notes. Admittedly, the coffee element was largely lost on me but, thought more of as a cardamom cake, I think there's promise here.

ORIGINAL RECIPE

See here.

HOMEMADE: The Guardian's Perfect Carrot Cake

Hands down, carrot cake is one of my all time favourites. It boasts a wonderful array of flavours and textures and, unlike many icings and butter creams which often overwhelm sponges with sweetness, carrot cake's cream cheese filling and topping is as good as it gets for me. Given my love for this classic, I need very little motivation to make one and, with it being National Carrot Day earlier this week, I quickly found myself in the kitchen.

Wanting to try a slightly different recipe, a quick Google turned up an excellent article on The Guardian's website detailing what they thought constituted the perfect carrot cake and why. Boasting tried-and-tested flavours I was pleased to see their recipe didn't get lost in chefy elaborations. Moreover, I was interested in the fact that it switched in butter for the often heavily prescribed glugs of vegetable oil. Indeed, anything that gives me an excuse to advocate for the use of butter, a wonderful, but tragically maligned, fat choice, is a very good thing in my book.

Anyway, I went ahead with the recipe keen to see if it could live up to its title. I must say I did make a couple adjustments by exchanging wholemeal self-raising flour for white (I find wholemeal too heavy in cakes), adding in more spice and slightly upping the lemon zest content of the icing.  

That aside, the method was quite straightforward with one only having to be careful over folding in the dry ingredients so air wasn't overly knocked out. At first I thought there wouldn't be enough cream cheese mixture but the recipe ended up judging it perfectly as the mixture had a lot of flavour meaning only a relatively light spreading was needed.

The resulting cake looked good with a cross section revealing a nice sponge studded with sultanas, pecans and grated carrot. As for the taste, well, nothing is 'perfect', but this was probably the best carrot cake I've ye to taste. The sponges were jam-jacked with the flavour and textures courtesy of the spices, savoury pecans, juicy sultanas and tangy orange peel. Whilst that cream cheese filling and topping stole the show for me as zingy lemon offset the slightly sweet creaminess beautifully. All in all, this carrot cake was an absolute joy and I thoroughly recommend it.  

RECIPE 
See here.

NEW PRODUCT: Nestle Blue Riband Dark with Orange

For some, Nestle's original Blue Riband (a combination of very thin milk chocolate and wafer) is considered just a bit too bland. Personally, in a very British way that has seen the likes of the Rich Tea biscuit endure, I quite like the not-too-sweet plainness of this offering. That said, Nestle has tried some flavour variants over the years to help the brand cater to those wanting a bit more from their snack bars. This newest offering, dark chocolate and orange, is a good example of this and, with the time-tested combination a particular favourite of mine, I thought I'd give it a go.

The multi-pack packaging shares the core offering's basic look with the shades of brand blue sitting behind large 'Blue Riband' text in somewhat flamboyant white font. The inclusion of brownish/orangey hues at the bottom of the design is actually quite nice and brings feelings of warmth and luxury to the overall look. Moreover, a bit of thought has been put in to the attendant text with the 'dark' font slightly more stylised for those connotations of sophistication and the 'orange' font more rounded as per the fruit's form. 

The individual bar's packaging, the multi-pack design benefits from being uncluttered as it condenses down rather nicely on to the small area of plastic. As for the look of the bar itself, I have to say that the dark sheen of the chocolate just puts this offering ahead of the original in my book.

Taste-wise, a pleasant smell of orange is apparent straight off the bat. Tucking in, that orange flavour translates beautifully with the thin layer of dark chocolate providing some deep cocoa notes on the back end. Personally, I would say it's more 'orange with dark chocolate' than the other way around as the fruit certainly leads the bar's flavour profile. In any case, the not-too-sweet basic offering proves itself a great vehicle for these flavours and I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Overall, the packaging communicates the flavour variant well with the added hues complementing the core blues very well for me. As for the bar itself, I thought it was an interesting offering with a bit of role reversal: orange led the charge whilst the dark chocolate came through in the background. Indeed, for a cheap, everyday snack bar I thought this worked well.

BRAND LINKS

Nestle Website - Blue Riband Page

Nestle Twitter

Nestle Facebook

PACKAGING UPDATE: Maynards Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts

A quick packaging and branding update for the GBD classic, Liquorice Allsorts. As you can see in the new packet on the right, the product now sports 'Maynards Bassetts' masterbranding along with a strip-like design running from top to bottom. These design touches are shared across the range (includes the likes of Sports Mix, Wine Gums and Jelly Babies) to bring a level of visual integration. 

This move from brand owner Mondelez (the Kraft subsidiary Cadbury also now falls under) is supposedly an attempt to reinvigorate this classic confectionery by playing more concertedly towards its primary consumer, adults. Of note, with this move has come the launch of a new fruit flavoured gum mix, Berties - so named after the Liquorice Allsorts' mascot featured in the pictures above.    

BRAND LINKS

Maynards Bassetts Facebook

NEW PRODUCT: M&S 'Taste of Scotland' Scottish All Butter Eton Mess Shortbread Rounds

At its very simplest, shortbread is just the combination of flour, butter and sugar meaning it could easily be written off as a bit boring. But, for me, this humble buttery mass ranks as one of my very favourite biscuits to enjoy with a cuppa and I pretty much always have some knocking about the kitchen somewhere. To that end, I was more than delighted to recently see M&S's range of 'Taste of Scotland' shortbread, including this new Eton Mess inspired offering. Admittedly, for a range trading on its provenance, I didn't quite see the relevance of Eton Mess to Scotland - something like Cranachan would have been more appropriate. That aside, the biscuit sounded mighty fun and I was intrigued to see how well the dessert translated.  

I thought the packaging for these biscuits was great. The primary panel sported a lovely photograph of the Scottish landscape alongside a very appropriate tartan design which was brought together nicely by a shared purple tone. Whilst the white type boasted low stroke weight and some italicised, serif font to reinforce a sense of refinement and quality. 

As for the taste, the basic shortbread was beautiful with a rich, buttery flavour that ticked all the boxes for me. Though, unfortunately, on the Eton Mess front, I was less enthusiastic. I got some pleasing textural contrast from the strawberry and meringue pieces but, unlike M&S's 'Summer Berry Eton Mess' from their 'British Treat Cakes' offering, I didn't really get much flavour at all. Indeed, the berry component in particular needed to be much more pronounced to give the biscuit a fighting chance of imitating the dessert.

Summing up, the packaging was smart with simple white type complemented by lovely photography and a particularly appropriate tartan strip. Taste-wise, the basic shortbread was very good and the added ingredients provided some pleasant textural contrast; however, ultimately, the biscuits failed in delivering that all important Eton Mess flavour. Close but no cigar I'm afraid.

BRAND LINKS

M&S Website

M&S Twitter

M&S Facebook