Galaxy Treat Cakes (Morrisons)

I was on a rare venture into Morrisons yesterday where I spotted a huge display of 'new' Galaxy, Milky Way and Bounty cake slices. I'm not sure how recent they are because I'm well aware that companies often label their products as new way longer than they should, probably to trap obsessives such as myself. 

I realise that Galaxy has been a mainstay of the bakery aisle for years now with the chocolate cake bars, caramel cake bars and the festive 'Mistletoe Kisses' edition:

*Photos copied from www.tesco.com

The new treat cakes are presumably marketed as little indulgences because they each contain less than 100 calories. The galaxy version is simply chocolate sponge cake covered in milk chocolate, omitting the creamy layer of their previous bars altogether. 

I was disappointed to discover that the packet of 5 was half empty when the wrapper was removed, thanks to each cake being only marginally larger than a matchbox. The bars had a nice even chocolatey coating, which tasted more like the casing of a Mars bar than true Galaxy. The sponges were dry -unsurprising really given that they have a dubiously long shelf life- but the chocolate element edged them closer to enjoyable than simply edible.

These new 'treats' truly taste like the dieters version of the normal Galaxy cakes so -given that the caramel version contains only 18 calories and 0.5g saturated fat more-  I suggest that even if you're watching your weight that you stick to the original (and tastier) bars. 

6/10

M&S Chocolate & Honeycomb Ice Creams

It can't be denied that M&S has some beautiful and innovative food. I've recently spotted lots of exciting sounding treats, most of which I've pored over and posted onto my instagram feed. However, being a student I'm restricted by finances and therefore have to keep M&S treats to special occasions.

Yesterday I had some good news which warranted a treat, so I went to M&S specifically to purchase these Chocolate & Honeycomb Ice Cream cones which I've had my eye on for a good few months now. They come in a pack of 4 for £2, which I know isn't excessively dear, but is more expensive than the supermarket own brand ice creams (like the white chocolate & raspberry cones from Tesco I reviewed a little while ago.)

They are described as 'chocolate honeycomb flavour ice cream rippled and topped with toffee sauce and milk chocolate coated honeycomb pieces in a biscuit cone with a chocolate flavour coating,' heavenly right? 

When I opened up my cone, the chocolate coating around the edge of the cone had 'bled' onto the waffle, rendering it a little sad looking. However, the top was generously flecked with the chocolate honeycomb pieces, and was adorned with a lovely thick slathering of toffee sauce. 

The honeycomb nuggets were gorgeous. I'm not a huge fan of Cadbury's Crunchie bars as I find the balance between honeycomb and chocolate completely off, but these were just right.The toffee sauce was deliciously sweet, and worked well with the topping. 

The chocolate ice cream however, was a completely different kettle of fish, What a let down! I expected pure luxury from M&S, but the chocolate was.. well.. just not chocolate-y enough. You know what it's like if you eat chocolate cake that looks like it should be really rich and decadent, but just tastes faintly of cocoa powder? Well this was the ice cream equivalent. My other gripe is that it's just chocolate ice cream- I certainly couldn't distinguish any notes of honeycomb. 

The cone itself was pretty standard.. although the area affected by the 'chocolate bleed' had gone disappointingly soft like a stale biscuit.

All in all, I think the ASDA & Tesco own-brand ice cream cones are FAR superior in quality and taste than these let-downs from M&S.

3/10