NEW! Rainbow Ring Doughnut (Greggs)

OK so I mentioned yesterday that there's in fact two new doughnuts to grace the Greggs summer range. The banoffee doughnut didn't hit the mark but I didn't have huge expectations from the rainbow doughnut in the first place (given my previous experiences with Greggs' rings*). The two friendly girls in Greggs Hereford however were quick to sing the praises of the new summer addition though, so I tried to refrain from judging it before actually taking a bite.

"If you like something that looks AND tastes good, then look no further than our rainbow doughnut.

A soft ring doughnut is coated with raspberry flavour fondant and finished with multi coloured decoration."

It's a very pretty doughnut, I'll give Greggs that. Although if you want to keep yours that way I'd suggest that you ask them not to put it in a bag in the shop, or else most of the icing will stick itself to the bag!

The dough was slightly softer than yesterday's banoffee doughnut, but it was still a lot denser than the Krispy Kreme ring. It also lacked the sweetness of Krispy Kreme's dough, which may make it more preferable to you if you find the glazed doughnuts too cloying, but to me it just tasted bland. 

As for the raspberry topping, it was very mild in flavour. Think of a stickier version of the toppings you find on raspberry finger buns and you'll get the gist. The trouble is, those buns also tend to have a jammy centre -and without that the doughnut was insipid. Yesterday I said that KK could do with some doughnut filling training from Greggs, well today it turns out that Greggs could do with the training from KK on how to make a topping flavourful. After all, the shimmery raspberry topping on the (ridiculously under-filled) PB&J doughnut was delicious. 

Meh. This is just a pink ring doughnut, and to be honest, Tesco's pink ring doughnuts are far tastier. They're also a lot cheaper; the Greggs rings are 75p each, whereas Tesco's rings are currently 80p for four (normally £1). Even better yet, @productsinstore found new filled raspberry ripple ring doughnuts in Sainsbury's yesterday, which -I hope you agree- look incredible!

6/10

*Previous Greggs rings doughnut reviews:
Lemon Sherbet
Toffee Apple
Rhubarb & Custard

Choc Affair Peach & Raspberry White Chocolate (Online)

Peach Melba is a flavour combination that is rarely appreciated nowadays. Whilst Black Forest occasionally makes a welcome appearance, Melba seems to be the even less cool cousin that's been left in the 80s. But why? Raspberry and peach is a beautiful pairing -never more so than during these summer months. It therefore filled me with delight to discover that Choc Affair have created a chocolate bar featuring the classic flavour and -even better- it's white chocolate too! 

"What a combination, our peach & raspberry chocolate is like a dream come true. This chocolate is easy to eat, as it’s almost yoghurt or icecream like in its profile. When we do our tastings, even those who don’t usually choose a white chocolate try this and are  light and are nicely surprised with the result."

They say not to judge a book by its cover, but this bar was beautiful inside and out. The wrapper was undeniably attractive, as was the pink flecked bar within.

I have had a bar of Choc Affair's white chocolate before; last time it was the Mango bar and I mentioned that I'd have preferred a touch more fruitiness. However, this peach and raspberry bar ticked every single box. There was no escaping the smooth creamy nature of the white chocolate base, but the freeze dried raspberry pieces shone through, breaking up the sweetness in the most wonderful way. The only other time I have tasted a peach infused chocolate I found the peach to be completely redundant, however Choc Affair have not half hearted the fruit and it was noticeable against both the chocolate and raspberry flavours. Bravo Choc Affair.

The only problem with this bar is that it was completely moreish. I made myself save half the bar so that I could enjoy it in two sittings, but found myself constantly thinking about it. Let's just say it didn't last very long. There's a link to a recipe for peach and raspberry cookies on Choc Affair's website which sounds incredible, and I have the utmost respect for anyone who manages to refrain from eating this bar long enough to make cookies with it! 

Fancy a summery white chocolate bar that's like no other? Look no further than Choc Affair's Peach & Raspberry bar. At £2.50 for 100g bar (or £1.50 for a 50g bar) it's affordable, and you'll also be supporting cocoa farmers in Colombia with your purchase. What are you waiting for? Go go go! 

10/10

Thank you to Choc Affair for the chocolate bar! 

Rhubarb & Custard Iced Buns (M&S)

M&S' rhubarb and custard buns have been around for a couple of summers now, but I hadn't brought myself to buy any thanks to the unimpressive reviews I'd read on them. To be honest, it's only in the past six months that I've learned how great M&S filled buns can be. If you'll recall, the Christmas boobie buns kicked things off, followed by the lemon Whitby buns, and I well and truly fell in love with the carrot cake & cream cheese hot cross buns -which I've only just run out of thanks to my excessive hoarding. It was these discoveries that got me wondering about the rhubarb buns, and praying that they'd return once again this year. Alas! When the summer products started to grace M&S' shelves, the rhubarb buns were missing, but thankfully they were just a little late to the table. The rhubarb & custard buns are £1.35 for two, but of course a I waited to find them reduced. 

"Vanilla custard flavoured buns filled with a tangy rhubarb jam."

I also managed to buy them during the heatwave, which means that they were difficult to retrieve from their cardboard wrap without smearing the icing everywhere. To be fair, I was impressed that the topping had stayed as intact as it had. 

Slicing the bun in half revealed the generous pocket of oozy pink sauce. It was much looser than normal jam, and had a hard time staying within the bun -as you can see from the photo below. I felt that Rhubarb and custard was a bit of a marketing ploy on M&S' part, for the 'custard flavoured bun' didn't taste any different to their normal sweet dough. I mean, it was light, fluffy and scrummy, but it wouldn't live up to Ronseal's standards. 

As for that oozy rhubarb sauce, it was very sweet, lacked the promised tang and was just too thin. I'd have really like to have seen a chunky, slightly tangy, soft-set conserve here instead. Well, actually, if it was me designing the buns I would have filled the buns with both rhubarb jam and custard (or Creme patisserie). The consistency and abundance (which I'm certainly not complaining about) of the filling means that it's a bun best reserved to eat at home. Especially if you're even remotely in the clumsy club, and never eat one in a white shirt. 

The final disappointment came from the icing. I'd have liked to have seen a rhubarb flavoured topping as per the Greggs ring doughnuts (which have made a reappearance this year). M&S have been lazy though, and just used a standard unflavoured icing. 

Despite my complaints about them not being really rhubarb and custard-y, these are yummy buns and so If you imagine them to be big, sticky, raspberry filled finger buns you won't be disappointed. I will point out though that the Lemon buns are far more exciting, and well worth a try if you haven't yet. 

7/10. 

NEW! Haribo Starmix Summer Frenzy: Berry Flavours (Tesco)

Is it just me or is Haribo slacking recently on the innovation front recently? With the exception of the little cupcakes and fairly-dull-fairyland, we just seem to have had variations on the Tangfastics and Starmix of late - this season it's ice cream Tangfastics and these berry Starmix. 

"NEW limited edition HARIBO Summer Frenzy Starmix, a mix of favourite iconic Starmix pieces in new juicy berry flavours!"

To be honest, the Tangfastics sound the more interesting of the two, but neither Bert or I are particularly fond of sour sweets and so bought the Berry Starmix instead. 

Flavours from top left-bottom right: strawberry, pomegranate & cranberry, mixed berries, Blueberry, blackberry, raspberry & cherry.

To be honest, none of the flavours were particularly imaginative, and none tasted that great either. I was most looking forward to trying the blueberry bear, and hoped that it would remind me of blue Panda Pops (yes I'm showing my age here) but instead it was wishy washy. As for the pomegranate & cranberry 'cola bottles' they were pretty grim and I actually couldn't eat them. Bert and I  normally fight over the foam backed 'eggs' but the strawberry in these were neither Nesquik milkshake-esque or fresh and fruity. Even the cherry heart was lacklustre, which was surprising considering that Haribo's cherry shaped cherries are normally pretty good!

To be honest, I'd rather have a normal bag of Starmix.... Well actually I'd much rather go to Wilkinsons and faceplate their enormous Candy King stand instead, but that's quite a bit more expensive and I am a student after all! 

5/10

NEW! Lemon Sherbet Doughnut (Greggs)

Ok, it's not that new. Greggs' lemon sherbet ring doughnut was released the same week as their brilliant caramel cookie filled doughnut*. The thing is, I don't really see the point in non-glazed ring doughnuts -surely the best bit is the squidgy filling? That's if you get any of course, both Krispy Kreme and Greggs seem to be hit and miss. I've been having citrussy cravings of late though, I think it's due to the changing seasons, and so I decided it was time to try Greggs' other limited edition offering. 

"If you're after something with a sweet and sour kick to it, then this is for you! 

A soft ring doughnut topped in a tangy lemon sherbet flavoured fondant finished with a white chocolate flavour spin decoration. "

There's two Greggs in Hereford. I went into the first yesterday, took a look at the sorry state of the lemon sherbet doughnuts and decided to stop into the second branch instead as it was on my way home. Humf. The second lot didn't look any better. The icing wasn't sitting attractively atop the rings, instead it was sliding off all over the place. It wasn't even that hot outside! I even sneakily brought a doughnut box from LIDL with me to protect it, so this time I'm not taking any blame for the sorry state of the topping. 

Slicing the ring in two revealed the well aerated dough. It was adequately soft too, although nowhere near as soft as the Tandem Bakery's incredible doughnuts**.

Sweet and sour icing you say Greggs? Lemon sherbet? That's news to me. Yes it was lemony, yes it had a slight tang, but it certainly wasn't about to cause any lip-puckering. The lemon flavour was little stronger than the icing you'll find on lemon buns**. I found it pleasant, but it certainly didn't earn the sherbet badge. What was stranger was the dusting of caster sugar that I found underneath the icing. It was like Greggs had made too many sugar dusted ring doughnuts and then whacked some lemon icing on top -which perhaps explains why the topping was sliding off. Very peculiar. 

As for the dough itself, it seems to be an improvement on the rings I've had from Greggs in the past. That's to say it was less bread-like, with a sweeter flavour and lighter texture. 

At 75p the lemon sherbet ring doughnuts are unlikely to break the bank, but I know I'd rather have a plain jam doughnut from any of the supermarkets. Last year's rhubarb & custard doughnut was better -but still not great- so please pull your socks up Greggs for your next seasonal release.

6/10

*please buy one if you haven't yet, they're better than Krispy Kreme! 

**Tandem doughnuts...check out these Easter week doughnuts (they were the size of my hand!) 

Creme Egg

Hot Cross Bun

***oh god, I'd forgotten about Sainsbury's nostalgic finger buns, adds to shopping list.

NEW! Summer Inspired Apple & Elderflower Muller Light (ASDA)

Hurrah, it's Good Friday! I hope you're stuffing yourself silly with hot cross buns today, and have plenty of chocolate ready for Sunday! Don't forget, I've reviewed many of the most innovative 2017 hot x buns, all of which can be found here. 

As we can all appreciate, life is about the balance, and so in contrast to the aforementioned seasonal treats, today's review is of a limited edition, fat free, low calorie yogurt. Let's forget for a moment that I swore off Müller yogurts, after all I bought this pot at the same time as the new 'Goes Nuts' corner, and Apple & Elderflower is a combination I adore. 

Apple tends to be an under-used flavour when it comes to yogurts. Müller is the one exception to this however, having brought out the Apple Strudel pots in late 2015, which were rather good (for a Müller light). 

The yogurt was a pale green colour, and was just as runny as expected. Tucking in I discovered the apple flavour to be well executed, delivering the same refreshing fruitiness that I remember experiencing with the Strudel flavour. However, instead of the cinnamon in the Strudel edition, the apple in this new version was backed by notes of elderflower, which came through pleasantly. The resulting flavour combination was lovely, and different to any other yogurt currently available. I approved of the soft apple chunks too.

If it wasn't for the awfully thin nature of the Müller Lights I'd be inclined to give this yogurt a higher mark. As far as the range goes though, this is a brilliant new flavour that's pretty perfect for the summer months, and it's tastier than the Treacle Tart & Cherry Bakewell Cake Shop flavours. 

7/10

Happy Easter all, enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend! 

NEW! Dark Chocolate & Mango Jaffa Cakes (M&S)

Have you visited a Marks & Spencer food hall in the past week or so? You really should, it's pretty wow. I can't believe that one company can launch so many new lines such a short space of time! The sun might not be blazing where you are (it's not here at least!) but summer has well and truly arrived in M&S. You can't miss their new 'Spirit of Summer' range in their brightly coloured packaging, and there's some truly scrummy looking products to be found. I can't even begin to tell you about all of the temptations I've spotted, but a glance at Kev's Instagram feed will give you a pretty good idea. 

M&S have created some pretty wacky lines this year, but I was enticed by the sound of their new Dark Chocolate & Mango Jaffa Cakes, and at £1 they're not too expensive either. I love a good Jaffa Cake, and I have to admit that I believe Marks & Sparks make the very best. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of love for McVities' version, but the dark chocolate covering on M&S' makes them extra special.

On a side note, do you remember Pim's white chocolate and cherry 'jaffa' cakes? I loved them as a child, but no-one seems to to recollect them. Anyway...

The box contained 13 rectangular cakes. and as soon as I unwrapped them from their cellophane I was bowled over by their strong tropical aroma. If the smell was anything to go by, the flavour was going to knock my socks off. 

The bottom was soft, and whilst it wasn't particularly exciting, it was a decent sponge all the same. The chocolate was at the milder end of the dark spectrum, meaning that I could enjoy it (you might already know that I'm a dark chocolate wimp). My only complaint is that it was a very thin coating, making it difficult to peel from the orange-coloured centre. Please tell me I'm not the only one who laboriously pares the chocolate off, before eating the jelly separately? 

The centre was wonderful; it was sweet yet sharp, the perfect contrast against the plain sponge and dark chocolate. The mango was the most prominent flavour, but there were hints of orange in the background, resulting in a tang that danced on my tastebuds. All of the three layers worked in harmony together, and whilst I'm not sure that it beats M&S' original (or indeed Pim's) its a lovely summery new addition. I can't wait to try some of their other new products soon!

9/10