NEW! Mars Dessert Bar (Iceland)

I was so impressed with the new Twix cheesecake at Iceland that it was only going to be a matter of time before I ventured back into my local branch for the Mars Dessert Bar. I still think that the £3 non offer price is a tad on the pricey side, but for £2 it wasn't so bad. As with the cheesecake, the dessert bar is also actually made by specialists Coppenrath & Wiese.

"Layers of delicious chocolate sponge, mousse and caramel, smothered in milk chocolate."

The child in me was delighted when I removed the bar from it's box and saw that the inner wrapper made it look like a whopping great big Mars Bar (the pen is there to give you an indication of its size)! Surely that means I could eat it all? Sorry guys, no sharesies! Pah, I don't think my other half or sister would have agreed. Although it wasn't quite as preposterous as the cheesecake, 6 servings did seem a bit meagre and I decided that fifths would be more reasonable.

The serving suggestion warned me to defrost it inside its wrapper for the first hour and then naked for the last 1.5 -what a faff! There was also 3 of us for dinner, and I wanted to keep the remaining 2 portions for another day, so I ignored the destructions and unwrapped the bar straight away -slicing into it whilst still frozen. My defiance meant that the chocolate casing shattered upon impact, but I wasn't too bothered by the aesthetics as long as it tasted good. 
Whilst we're on the subject of prettiness, I did appreciate the distinct layers of cake and mousse, but was somewhat disgruntled when I realised that the caramel sauce only ran through one tier (unlike the picture on the box, humf). 

Meh, my disappointment didn't stop there. The Mars Dessert Bar is yet another case of style over substance. Where was the rich chocolate flavour? The mousse was light and airy, sure, but what's the point when it doesn't taste of much? The same went for the cake, which fortunately wasn't dry or stale, but was so non-descript that I wasn't savouring every morsel as I expected to. What made matters worse was that the caramel was the best bit, and the only nod to the chocolate bar that it's supposed to resemble.. If only there was more of it. Pants. 

Gah. I don't really think I need to tell you that I won't be buying another Mars Dessert Bar. There are far tastier chocolate gateaux on the market -Tesco's own for example.

6/10