31 March 2021

Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale


I have a ginger beer before bedtime every night. It helps to settle my stomach after a good meal. I always have a sugar free ginger beer. Counting calories is a bummer, but when I'm exercising like mad and trying to eat pretty and drink much what I like, but keep my weight down, extra calories on something I'm not used to here and there are just a waste to me. I'd rather have a beer or a chocolate bar. 

Here is a flavoured ginger ale from Fever Tree with added sugar. I may have mentioned in the past that there is a difference between ginger beer and ginger ale. Whereas ginger beer is brewed and fermented and usually has a strong ginger bite to it, ginger ale is carbonated water flavoured with ginger. This Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale is not only flavoured with ginger, but it is also flavoured with sweet clementines and spicy cinnamon.

So my first concern is the carbonated water. I just don't like it. It doesn't taste of anything. It makes me burp and it's not even lemonade. I do like lemonade. Well, who doesn't? I like a good ginger beer with a good bite to it. I know Cinabar was looking for alternatives at the time because of a shortage of ginger beer in the shops, I just wish ginger ale hadn't become a part of those alternatives. I do like clementines, so that's a plus, but I really don't like cinnamon. I just reckon the cinnamon is going to take over the whole drink. I'm just going to end up burping cinnamon throughout my bedtime here. I can see it coming off... So as you can see, this Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale has quite a bit going against it.

On opening the 500ml bottle, which incidentally has 18 calories per 100ml, so it's like drinking a small chocolate bar but without the fun, there was a spicy cinnamon and orange smell with a slight hint of ginger. The angry bubbles from the carbonated water assaulted my nostrils at that point and I had to pull away.

The drink itself definitely has bite, it just wasn't of ginger. The cinnamon took over everything. This Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale was definitely the most fiery ginger ale I've ever drunk. However the fire came from the cinnamon. The clementines tried their best to calm the cinnamon down, but the cinnamon was just having none of it. The cinnamon burnt through whatever ginger was present and pretty much burnt through the bottom of my pint glass. I could feel the cinnamon setting aflame to my throat as it went down.

Oddly moreish in a deranged masochistic way, I did drink the whole pint. I won't go as far as to say that I liked this Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale. Oh no... Cinabar might go and buy me another. I would say that it was the fiercest ginger ale I've ever drank, even if there wasn't much ginger. I would say that it was the tastiest ginger ale I've ever drunk, because the clementines were rather nice mixed in with the battling spices. I would say that I had a rather spicy burping contest afterwards against no one in particular. I would say that if I was bought another one of these Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ales, just... just as an alternative mind, I would drink that one down too. I just wouldn't say that I liked that one either, or any others that came after that!

30 March 2021

Tango Dark Berry (Ocado) By @Cinabar

Tango Dark Berry

I was quite excited to see a new flavour from Tango on the Ocado website, these cans of Tango Dark Berry looked rather interesting. I will start by saying it is sugar free drink and does therefore contain sweeteners which I know will put some people off completely but I’m quite happy with diet flavours, so that is my disclaimer. I’m used to artificial sweeteners, sorry folks.

The Tango Dark Berry is a mix of blackcurrant, blackberry and apple and it pours out as quite a dark purple coloured drink. As you would expect with Tango there is plenty of fizz and bubbles. The flavour reminds me of blackcurrant and apple as the berries come through first and are tart but are then softened by the sweeter softer apple flavour. I pick up mostly on the blackcurrant over the blackberry but that might be because I’m used to that favour being mixed with apple in cordials and that is what this reminded me of.

There was plenty of flavour and it was a lovely drink, I’m glad I bought a six pack of cans as they are nice and refreshing on these warmer days. Here is hoping the weather holds out too.

Tango Dark Berry


29 March 2021

Mint M&Ms (USA) By @Cinabar

Mint M&Ms (USA)


Time is flying at the minute, somehow we are almost in April and I think I blinked and missed some of the year. The only good thing about it is that Monday has come around again and that means time to open up some M&Ms for the very special even we call M&Ms Mondays. We have been writing about a different flavour each week, because outside of the UK there are loads of interesting ones to try! This week we have a bag of Mint M&Ms and as I have a love of peppermint I couldn’t wait to try these.

Mint M&Ms (USA)

Inside the bag the M&Ms are red, white and green and the filling is a solid peppermint flavour milk chocolate. These sweets have a good balance of flavour with plenty of chocolate and a lovely cooling kick of mint. They are very moreish. I can see that the packaging for the Mint M&Ms is christmassy but I would hope these are available all year. If I could pick one flavour that I would love the UK to release it is these ones (unless anyone has found cinnamon M&Ms anywhere). These are sweet but fresh and minty and they would bring a nice new (but still safe) flavour to the UK and really break up the stale selection we currently have.

Mint M&Ms (USA)


28 March 2021

Artisanal Sourdough Bread or Meteorite? (@NLi10)


What is this meteor that has struck the worktop?  It's a 'loaf' of artisanal sour-dough bread from a special order bakery.  Truly a luxury in this time of lockdown.


It even comes in a lovely brown bag.

I am however convinced of one thing - artisanal means 'very hard to slice'!


This took real effort to carve - but it doesn't look too bad - the crust while a little burnt and a little hard was lovely too.  The flavours are all there and the middle is like a sponge cake - I just think that for me and my dodgy wrists I'd be better off getting a sliced one that maybe is less fresh towards the weekend than this was.  It's still fluffy and lovely today too!



27 March 2021

Disco Forklift Truck Beer (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Disco Forklift Truck Beer


Disco Forklift Truck Is a Mango Pale Ale. Fun fact some may know and others may not; I don't like mango. I don't like mango as a fruit, or mango flavouring anything in drinks or ice cream. However, and this makes no sense to me... I won't eat a curry without Mango Chutney on the side with my Papadums!

Brewed by the Drygate Brewery in Glasgow this possibly refreshing, possibly revolting 5.1% volume Disco Forklift Truck was indeed brewed with actual mangos, and with caramel malt and tropical hops. The can tries to spice things up by recommending you live it up at a disco or try washing down a barbecue with this mango pale ale. I do love a good barbecue, and I guess the disco is out for a good long while... but hopefully things will start to get back to normal in the later part of this year. Unfortunately it's also a bit iffy outside right now for a barbecue.

On opening the rather cheerful tropical looking can there was certainly a fruity tropical aroma from the beer inside. In the smell there was a mix of tropical fruits with mango, possibly passion fruit, and even papaya. This deep shining golden Disco Forklift Truck poured with a fluffy excitable head. There was more tropical fruity aroma from the glass, but I also noticed there was a fair sweetness mixed in from the pale malts. On taste I expected to be overwhelmed by the mango, but the right amount in my opinion, humble as it may be, was added in the brewing. The tropical hops and mango quickly gave way to the sweet malts into the aftertaste. Very nice indeed.

I was surprised to like this mango pale ale Disco Forklift Truck straight away. I know I wanted to dislike it from reading the can after being presented it with a smirk from Cinabar. It's rare indeed if I don't like a beer, even rarer if I pour one away. I savoured every drop of this Disco Forklift Truck and might even hunt down another. In my humble opinion, I reckon it will go rather well with a good spicy curry!

26 March 2021

Peeps - Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon (GB Gifts) By @Cinabar

Peeps - Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon

Hot Tamales aren’t common sweets in the UK, you can get them in the import shops and they are fiery cinnamon hard boiled sweets. I like them but truth be told they take warming spice and throw an initial flame at it that even this cinnamon lover finds a bit over the top. Peeps also are usually also only found in the import shops and consist of marshmallow shapes (usually chicks) and often seasonally flavoured. These Peeps Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon are a combination of both of those products and are presented as bright red marshmallow chicks. They certainly do look fierce, in colour at least.

The Peeps Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon are stuck together in two rows of five and I plucked one off. I cautiously tasted a bit and found the cinnamon really pleasant. This might mean that Hot Tamales fans may think these mallows are too mild and certainly aren’t the promised ‘Fierce Cinnamon’. They are actually a nice warming sweet cinnamon in a cute marshmallow chick form, which I loved. These are a super tasty Friday night treat. I have a burning desire to float one on a hot chocolate too for that ultimate end of week comfort. Remember people my mantra; cinnamon, it isn’t just for Christmas.

Peeps - Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon


25 March 2021

Rana Pan-Fry Gnocchi - Pumpkin version! (@NLi10)

Is it Halloween?  It feels like it with this Pumpkin variety of our newly-beloved pan-fry gnocchi.


Rana Family have again brought the quality - and it's a generous 2 person portion - really you could stretch this to three with no issues.


Look at their dusty orange magnificence!


Put butter in pan - fry lightly until crispy on all sides.


Bury in leaves and garlic bread and enjoy with a movie!

As ever these have an amazing texture and the crisp/chewy combo only adds to the subtle pumpkin flavour these add.  The butter fry is recommended as it adds a salty tang to the outside and improves the crunch.

I'm going to keep buying all the flavours, but I think I've reviewed all the key ones now!

 

24 March 2021

Soreen Vegan Chocolate & Orange flavour (Gifted) By @SpectreUK

Soreen Vegan Chocolate & Orange flavour


I have a mini loaf of Soreen everyday with my lunch. At generally just under 100 calories I always find them a perfect healthy tasty treat, as I munch on whatever fruit and eat my protein yoghurt that I have after my sandwich, crisps and the ubiquitous tomato. If I have a chocolate bar instead at the same amount of calories, I don't find it quite as filling. Besides there's always a little guilt that goes with chocolate. Although I have a much smaller stomach these days, so can't seem to fit an awful lot in there before I start to feel full.

I actually like all the flavours of Soreen mini loaves. The original flavour is probably my favourite, but I do really like the apple flavour and the strawberry flavour. I was pretty shocked when we had a delivery of the banana flavoured Soreen mini loaves as a replacement a while ago. I don't usually like anything flavoured with banana, as it can be such a strong flavour in most snacks and drinks. However, I even like the banana flavoured Soreen mini loaves.. "So can Soreen do anything badly?" You may be asking, we'll find out...

Easter is well on the way and Soreen have brought out these Chocolate & Orange flavoured mini loaves. Soreen very kindly sent me a packet of five mini loaves, and also all of their other flavours. So that'll keep me going on lunch snacks for a good long while. These Chocolate & Orange flavoured mini loaves are Vegan approved.

On opening the first Chocolate & Orange flavoured mini loaf there was a zingy Orange smell from the deep brown loaf. There are milk chocolate chips running through the loaf. The squidgy brown loaf had a predominantly orange malty flavour with the milk chocolate chips merging for a chocolate bonus towards the aftertaste. I found these Soreen Chocolate & Orange flavoured mini loaves delicious, and I'm rather chuffed with my lunchtime stash of all the other flavours of Soreen mini loaves too!

Information on the packet;
There are 5 mini loaves in a packet, with each 30g loaf at 106 calories, with 2.1g of fat, 6.5g of sugar, and 0.2g of salt. Please see ingredients in photograph.

Soreen Vegan Chocolate & Orange flavour


23 March 2021

Cadbury Mini Eggs Bar (Tesco) By @Cinabar

Cadbury Mini Eggs Bar


Sometimes I don’t think things through completely. I ordered this Cadbury Mini Eggs chocolate bar online with my groceries and popped it on the kitchen table when it arrived content in the fact that I had bought a chocolate of bar that would also contain ‘Cadbury Mini Eggs’, I mean look at the packaging. I did not stop to think how Mini Eggs in a bar would work, in retrospect Cadbury Mini Eggs are a bit too substantial in size to fit in a chocolate bar, they would take up most of the bar. Now I think about it I realise it wouldn’t work. The bar wrapper states Mini Eggs in large text but underneath it states in smaller print ‘with micro mini egg inclusions’ which is a bit weird and a bit disappointing if I’m honest.

 
Cadbury Mini Eggs Bar

Once the bar was unwrapped you could see bits of the micro mini eggs colours showing through, when you brake a piece off you can see there are quite a few distributed too. The taste is lovey creamy sweet familiar Dairy Milk and these is a nice sugar shell crunch. I like the texture from the candy shells. This is a nice bar, with good old Cadbury chocolate. It is an Easter edition because of the Mini Eggs, but there aren’t really any Mini Eggs so despite me realising it wouldn’t have worked I still came away disappointed. I’m still going to much the rest of this watching Cobra Kai on Netflix, it is nice chocolate, I’m just not sure what it was I was expecting.

Cadbury Mini Eggs Bar


22 March 2021

Fudge Brownie M&Ms (USA) By @Cinabar

Fudge Brownie M&Ms (USA)


This week I am welcoming in M&Ms Monday with these American Fudge Brownie M&Ms. I think I was ranking the potential from the American M&Ms flavours in my head and in doing so I put Fudge Brownie quite low on the list. Even in the UK we get chocolate M&Ms I could work out how different these ones would be. We are quite used to getting products wrapped up as being more exciting in description than in flavour ie ‘blood orange’ is code for regular orange but probably at Halloween.

 
Fudge Brownie M&Ms (USA)

I poured out the Fudge Brownie M&Ms and had a look at the colours, they seem to be the regular colours although there were no green in my bag, the M&MS are fairly large too. I gave one a try and couldn’t quite believe that what I was trying was actually like eating a fudge brownie. The texture was firm and slightly gooey and moist in the middle like a proper brownie. The flavour tasted like a chocolate brownie mix i.e. a mix of cocoa dough and even a touch of salt. Heaven. I was so wrong about these being just a lacklustre variant of milk chocolate, and as a fan of texture I found myself munching through far too many of them in one sitting.



21 March 2021

Easter Cronut - WhyNot? Coffee Bearwood (@Nli10)

 Puddings are yummy.  We miss not being able to eat out in cafe's so occasionally my partner picks up a cake to take away (people getting coffee to take away are doing it wrong) usually from Whynot? Coffee in Bearwood as it's near the good supermarket.


Today we got a cronut - which is a croissant mixed with a fried doughnut.  I'd much rather have one of each - but this is a nice hybrid.

You can tell it's an Easter cronut as they put things on top.


Mmmm - fresh coconut but not Cadbury mini-eggs!


And inside there is an amazing vanilla crème - the highlight of the whole thing!

Luxury puddings should not be a casualty of LockDown, but I'd prefer to sit and eat them there too.



20 March 2021

Zaffir Pale Ale (Co-Op @stonehousebeer) By @SpectreUK

Zaffir Pale Ale Stonehousebeer


I have a curry tonight. I fancy a good citrus pale ale to wash it down with. This bottle of Zaffir doesn't have a heck of a lot of information on it. It states it's a pale ale, and it has hints of tropical fruit. It was brewed by the Stonehouse Brewery, in Oswestry, and is 4% in volume.

Oswestry, in Shropshire, was where I had my most recent knee operation. That is what I've been rehabilitating from for the last two years, and also a previous operation on my right shoulder after a care accident. I'm keeping my weight down through dieting and I'm getting stronger through plenty of exercise in my kitchen gym. This week I received some slightly heavier weights from a nice lady from Amazon. I even received a lovely smile when she was driving away... remember those? We used to do them all the time before the masks became essential at close quarters. Anyway I used my new weights with all of my old weights today. It was a tougher workout, and I'm pretty tired, but I'll slowly get used to it. Besides a hot bath in a while will help soak away some of the aches and pains.

This curry is our first takeaway since the original lockdown last March. There was so much guidance about replacing and reheating anything that was delivered, we figured we'd just give it a miss. Meals For All very kindly sent us a curry each via a courier to review, which is quite a honour. We left the meals overnight in the fridge. I have a Lamb Rogan Josh. I'm not sure a pale ale will go well with lamb, but the tropical hops should go well with the curry spices.

So onto Zaffir. On opening the bottle there was a refreshing blast of tropical citrus hops. There was a fulsome sweetness from the malts behind the hoppy aroma. On taste this Zaffir has an initial crisp and biting tropical bitterness, which is quickly followed by the sweetness from the pale and possibly crystal malts. This is a lovely biting and refreshing pale ale. I'd certainly have Zaffir again. It went rather well with my lovely spicy curry too. Lamb and all...

19 March 2021

Cadbury Flake Dipped - Coconut Flavoured Chocolate (GB Gifts) By @Cinabar

Cadbury Flake Dipped - Coconut Flavour Chocolate


We don’t get limited edition Cadbury Flakes in the UK very often at all. Years ago we used to have a white chocolate Flake covered in Milk Chocolate called Cadbury ‘Snow Flake’ if I remember correctly. Foodstuff Finds is more than ten years old and that bar pre-dates this website! So yes, we have been a bit short of interesting Flakes recently. The same isn’t true in Australia though and thankfully we can get their imports via internet shopping, perfect in a lockdown. I ordered a lovely selection of chocolate goodies online and that included this Cadbury Flake Dipped with Coconut Flavour Chocolate, which sounded quite different. We don ’t get a lot of coconut products here either so I was looking forward to this.

The bar is dipped in milk chocolate which makes it a little less messy than a regular Flake but it still is very crumbly as it is all Flake on the inside. The flavour is very rich, there are all the lovely tones of Cadbury milk chocolate and creamy sweet coconut taste running through it too. It has none of the coconut texture (which some people don’t seem to like) but the flavour is wonderfully exotic coconut and chocolate through and through. This is one bar I would happily buy again even at import prices and I just wish they would release something like it here too.

Cadbury Flake Dipped - Coconut Flavour Chocolate


18 March 2021

Giovani Rana Filled, Pan-Fried Gnocchi - Tomato & Mozzarella (@NLi10)

 Spoiler pic for the tweets & Instagram stories!


Oh no - so good I forgot to take a picture in the bag!


We've been pan-frying our Gnocchi for a little while now after discovering the Rana plain ones to fry.  And they have all been amazing - I'd eat some right now!

These however - have a filling - which sounds like a pain to make.


Look at them - burnt on the sides, and squishy in the middle. Some with a little tail.  Ragu cooking in the background.


And here the tomato is bursting out as I cooked them for a few seconds too long.


Amazing stuff, lovely fillings and great potato dough stuff.  Either the best starter ever for 4, or add some veggies and sauce for 2.  I'd eat these every day if I could.







17 March 2021

Sour Patch Kids - Heads 2 Flavours in 1 (Amazon) By @SpectreUK

Sour Patch Kids - Heads 2 Flavours in 1

Sour Patch Kids soft and chewy candy or sour gummy sweets, as they may be known in the UK, were recommended by our friend in America. I have another couple of varieties of Sour Patch Kids packets to try in the future. These Heads 2 Flavours in 1 have three double flavours of sour then sweet chewy candy. Apparently they are twice as big as the original, although I haven't seen the originals, so I wouldn't know. That maybe a hint to Cinabar!

Sour Patch Kids - Heads 2 Flavours in 1

So to the first double head flavour I tried; Pink Lemonade and Blue Raspberry... There was a Pink lemonade flavour first, and there was a good sourness to here, a little like a sherbet taste and then a fruity sweetness from the raspberry. The Peach and Orange flavour had a mainly peach sourness to it, followed by the orange which offered the sweetness. Nice, very nice. I reckon this was my favourite flavour. The Pineapple and Red Berry worried me a little, as I immediately thought the Red Berry might be cherry flavour. There was a strong flavour of pineapple first, which was quite sour, and yet also very fruity. This gummy sweet tasted mainly of sour pineapple. The Red Berry seemed to be a bit like raspberry flavour too, which was very nice and fruity next to the sour pineapple. I liked those gummies also. In fact all three double flavours were really good indeed, with a good fruity sourness and then followed by a fruitier sweetness. I really like these Sour Patch Kids - Heads 2 Flavours in 1, and would definitely have them again.

Information on the packet;
The 5oz or 141gram bag has 120 calories per 6 pieces. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Sour Patch Kids - Heads 2 Flavours in 1






16 March 2021

Pringles Pulled Pork Burger (Sainsbury's) By @Cinabar

Pringles Pulled Pork Burger

We were having a sort out of the crisps mountain, I mean crisps cupboard, in the kitchen and found this tube of Pringles Pulled Pork Burger variety. They were still in date! These Pringles were released with a football competition on the packet but for me it is all a out the new flavour and I do like pulled pork. Spectre accidentally looked at the calories on the pack and reminded us both why you should never check Pringles, just know the focus is on tasty rather above anything else. We shared some with sandwiches and fruit, for balance! We didn’t even finish the tub (well we did but not until later in the evening which obviously doesn’t count).

The flavour was really nice, there was quite a lot of meatiness from the pork and the smokey sweet barbecue flavour too that worked well. I could pick up on paprika and nice spices and thought it went well with the base pork taste. As ever with Pringles they are far too moreish and the temptation is to eat the whole tube, despite the fact that it reseals. I suspect these were a limited edition that is coming to an end which is a shame as they are seriously good crisp flavour. I do like meaty flavours. On the bright side we found plenty of other goodies to explore in the slightly more organised crisp cupboard, including some chilli cheese Pringles for another day.

Pringles Pulled Pork Burger

15 March 2021

Sugar Cookie M&Ms (USA) By @Cinabar

Sugar Cookie M&Ms (USA)


As we start another week (how is in Monday again already) I am here to start on another bag of M&Ms for what we are called M&Ms Monday. This is my way of easing into the week with chocolate. We are exploring the M&Ms flavours available in the States via a gift from a friend over there, he sent an epic selection for this tour of their varieties. This week we are looking at Sugar Cookie M&Ms which are a Christmas edition. When I opened up the bag there was such a lovely aroma of vanilla. The M&Ms are in a selection of seasonal colours; red, white and green to keep with the theming.

 
Sugar Cookie M&Ms (USA)

Each Sugar Cookie M&M has a candy shell, then a layer of white chocolate and centre of a Sugar Cookie. The texture is rather lovely on these as the centre part is crispy but very light and I loved that light crunch especially in conjunction with the white chocolate. The flavour is mostly vanilla and sweetness but that was good too, there was nice hint of butter. If I had to guess the flavour it made me think of vanilla cake batter, but crunchy. I think it is time for the UK to catch up and introduce some exciting flavours here, we really are missing out! We have never seen a Christmas edition like these Sugar Cookie M&Ms here in the UK.

Sugar Cookie M&Ms (USA)


14 March 2021

Merchant Gourmet Aromatic Persian-Style Quinoa & Lentils (@NLi10)

 I'm a big fan of grains, and simple things that I can make without effort.  These bags are very similar to the old Uncle Bens rice bags - but they contain a lot more excitement.


Merchant make the lovely pre-chopped Sundried tomatoes that I use in as much of my cooking as possible so when I saw these on offer I had to pick up 4 to try.


It's healthy, has lots of meal suggestions - and instantly smells amazing!


Naturally I gently warmed them in the pan with a little water - you can whack them in the microwave but that dries them out and ruins the experience a little.


And I added them to some falaffell and tomatoes from the oven and some olives from the fridge.  Healthy (ish) Middle-Eastern (ish) meal in 15 mins.  Hooray.

And I still have three flavours left to try.









13 March 2021

The Original Small Beer (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

The Original Small Beer

I quite often fancy a session beer. It can be rare to find a beer that doesn't pack a punch and make me dizzy if I drink it too quick in the afternoon. And don't mention Mead to me... Woosh... it goes straight to my head! Of course I'd never drink during working hours... perish the thought! Besides session beers were brewed to be drunk during working hours when beer and booze was second nature and a lost finger here and there on heavy machinery possibly a daily event. Nah, just kidding. 

At 2.5% in volume The Original Small Beer is a "Small Beer for big thinkers". This Is The Original Small Beer's Brewery's idea of a "Brewvolution of thinking big, but drinking small". Brewed in their South Bermondsey Brewery, this Session Pale Ale should go well after my working day at home. I want something that is small to drink, and so not particularly high in calories. Cinabar baked a Rainbow Cake yesterday. It tastes like you'd buy one in a store. I had a huge piece with my white hot chocolate last night. It was bliss. The perfect pudding. It's my beer night tonight, and Cinabar had shown me earlier just how much butter she'd added to the cake to make it. A Small Beer is what I'm looking for, and here it is...

On opening the bottle there was quite a strong malty smell from the bright golden beer inside. There is an oatiness to the smell mixed with wheat as well in the malty aroma. On pouring this beer, this excitable brew had a deep fluffy head. The thick mix of sweet malts, and wheat and oats springs to the fore on first taste, making a fulfilling meal of a flavour to start with. This is followed by a herbal hoppy bitterness that made my lips smack.

This Small Beer tastes like a big beer in a small bottle. Flavoursome to the max, there is no hint of low alcohol about it. I certainly didn't miss it. The flavours of malts, oats and wheat and herbal bitterness even complemented my big piece of sweet lush Rainbow Cake after my dinner, making this Small Beer almost a pudding beer for its versatility. You see; "Small Beer - Big Thinking!"

12 March 2021

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Kit (Moon Pig) By @Cinabar

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki


This fantastic looking Bakedin Rainbow Cake Kit came as a birthday present back in January from my brother and family. I think there might have been a hope that I would bake the rainbow Cake when they visited, unfortunately though the use-by was edging closer so I had to make it without them. We could call it is trial run. I also had the day off work so what better plan that to give myself a fun baking project and to stop worrying about what emails are waiting in my work inbox.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

So the Bakedin Rainbow Cake Kit arrived with all the dry ingredients and the four foil baking trays as well a cake board and some grease proof paper. I simply added the fresh ingredients butter, milk and four eggs. 

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

To make the kit you start with the first bag of dry mix and add butter which is mixed in until it looks like bread crumbs. I rubbed this in and ended up with coloured fingers.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

Next you add an egg and a drop of milk and whisk until you have a fluffy looking cake batter. There are four bags of dry cake mix and you have to repeat the process four times. The strong colours this means that everything needs washing (bowl / whisk / spoon / hands etc) every time in between. Once you have the batter you pour it into the foil baking trays which you’ve greased and lined with baking paper.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

Next you bake them for 20-25 minutes. The colour of the cakes makes it difficult to judge when they are ready so I did the skewer test to make sure they came away clean. Then leave the cakes to cool in their tins, before turning out to cool some more. Never ice a hot cake, we’ve all watch The Bake Off.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

Once they are cool you mix the icing bag with butter and whisk until fluffy. I am not skilled in neat cake decorating but I followed the instructions, a layer of of sponge topped with a layer of icing and repeat until all four layers are stacked and then you add the icing all around the edge too, finally topping it with rainbow sprinkles. If you can’t bake neatly I have discovered rainbow sprinkles and or edible glitter are heaven sent.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki

Next came the moment of truth and the cutting in to see how the sponges turned and what the colour looked like. I was really pleased, they were fairly bright and all looked pretty even. This is an amazing cake and I realise it is an even cake but in my head it is belated birthdays cake. The height of the cake in impressive too, it is a proper party piece. The flavour was wonderful and despite the four different cake batter was fairly easy to make with impressive results. Here is hoping the next time I make it all the family can share.

Bakedin Rainbow Cake Ki