Walnut Whip Mini Cup Cakes (Marks & Spencer) [By @cinabar]

If you are a fan of the humble Walnut Whip you will also probably know that the very best place to find them is Marks & Spencer. They always have the classic style ones, and usually some limited edition whips, such as Easter ones or whatever is seasonal. Marks & Spencer is actually celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the walnut whip, so they have gone to town a bit with the goodies available. The range now has all sorts of thing in, ranging from giant whips to these Mini Cupcakes. I couldn’t resist picking up a box to try out.
After getting them home I soon realised that the clear plastic on top of the box was incredibly flimsy and despite the card lightly supporting the sides, the top had touched the whips within the box, even though I hadn’t carried anything else in the bag. Oh well. Once the packaging was off they still looked quite pretty! There are nine mini walnut whip cupcakes in the pack, laid out in three rows of three. Each one consists of a chocolate sponge, soft chocolate icing, a small dollop of vanilla whip and a few sprinklings of walnut pieces. This review sits in the category of the item was tasty, but didn’t quite do what it said on the tin. There wasn’t much nut flavour from the walnut, the pieces were too small and got lost in the overall product. The white whip was lovely, and would have been a purer experience if this had been the only topping on the cupcake, ie instead of the chocolate icing. The key ingredients to a walnut whip are the nut and the fluffy white filling both of which were underrepresented in theses mini cupcakes. Having said that I’d be lying to you if I tried to claim that these didn’t go down well and taste good. They were taken with us on a picnic and their chocolaty goodness meant that they didn’t last long. The sponge was soft and rich with plenty of chocolate flavour. The icing added a lovely chocolate hit and the fact that looked so cute meant we were on to a winner. I liked the dollop of vanilla whip, it was the same as proper whip’s filling I just found myself wishing there was more of it! Ditto the walnuts, they could easily put a bigger piece of nut on top. Come to think of it, these mini cupcakes should have been filled with whip, that would have been perfect.
If you are wanting a purer novelty walnut whip experience I’m thinking you’d be better off pick up one the giant ones currently for sale in M&S, (I’m trying to resist the urge)! If you just want to get some different but mainly chocolate mini cupcakes, there won’t be any complaints from these because they are still all super tasty.

By Cinabar

Mount Dew Sugar Free (WH Smiths) [By @cinabar]

As excited as I was when Mount Dew made it to British shores, I was also a little disappointed about the lack of a Diet or Sugar Free version. I know I have a sweet tooth and I might not strike you as the kind of person who is constantly worrying about calories, but I do tend to buy sugar free soft drinks. Call it compensation for all the other goodies! :-D
Anyway on a recent road trip Spectre and I found ourselves at Holy Island, looking forward to the walk up to the very beautiful Lindisfarne castle. Amongst our supplies we included a couple of bottles of Mount Dew Sugar Free to help fuel us. Yes I’m aware walking up the hill we probably could have been excused a full sugar drink, but the caffeine would have to be enough!
We cracked open the bottle and found a lovely refreshing citrus drink. It was impressively fizzy, but the orange, lemon and lime tones were fruity and zingy on a hot day. I enjoyed the drink and think the caffeine boost probably helped us along the way. Spectre’s more of a traditionalist and although he finished his off with no complaints, when pushed he did admit he’d choose Sprite over it next time.
The drink got the thumbs up from me, and I enjoyed the refreshing citrus taste. I’m also really pleased to see the sugar free version, and it is something I’ll buy again. Particularly as these came from the branch of WH Smiths near where I work, and sometimes I do need a bit of a caffeine boost to get through Monday morning blues!

By Cinabar

Um Bongo Original & Orang-utan (Asda & Tesco) [by @NLi10]

A while back, while reviewing some Ribena I happened to mention that it reminded me of Um Bongo. Well the people at Um Bongo saw this and soon enough I had a couple of cartons to try out!

I wasn't overjoyed however, as Cinabar had tried some modern Um Bongo back in 2009 and it didn't live up to the hype.

A quick glance at the packaging told me that this wasn't that imitation - this was the real deal!

It even has silly rhymes and messages from the animals on the carton

And more importantly no bananas, just the ingredients from the original song!

This truly is the original 1983 mix of flavours that is jumbled up but somehow unique.  It's very refreshing and worth a trip down memory lane as it goes on general supermarket release for the summer. I'm no Um Bongo expert (Umbongologist?) but my little sister is so after I had a few drinks and it tasted authentic (but maybe a little weaker) to me I took half a carton for her to try.

She agreed that this tasted a lot more similar to the original recipe, but that it was perhaps less strong.  Maybe there is less artificial things in it these days.  It's certainly still very nice!

The Orange variety is a different idea - essentially this is like the vitamin enhanced Orange drinks of my youth.  This I am more familiar with and while it doesn't taste like normal Orange juice (carton or squeezed) it's a familiar taste that I do quite like.  I think the overeall sweetness of it would appeal more to kids, but it's certainly not as orangey as Innocent's modern versions (and dare I mention - it reminds me of Kia-ora?)

Palanquin – Spiced Tea (Tesco)[By @SpectreUK]

This traditional Masala Chai Spiced Tea from Palanquin is a blend of tea, cinnamon, ginger, clove, black pepper and cardamom. The 125g box had 40 square teabags in it that smelt of rich spices. Once made and with a dash of milk the tea exuded warmth and spice that tingled the senses. Ginger, clove, cinnamon and cardamom mixed together dreamily in the smell. Where clove and cardamom were the leading initial flavours in the taste, the other spices mixed perfectly with a touch of black pepper to finish. The back of the box stated that whilst the tea provides the antioxidants for the freshness of the tea, the cinnamon provides the warm spice to the tea helping with aching joints. The ginger adds further warmth with its spice whilst boosting circulation, relaxing blood vessels and helping to detox the body. The clove has antiseptic qualities, fighting against colds and flu revitalizing and re-establishing body heat. The black pepper eases aches and pains and adding further warmth to this drink and your body upon drinking. Finally the cardamom is used to fuel the mind and helps with bloating, fluid retention and digestion. This was a very refreshing and healthy feeling drink. With its warming qualities and healing affects it’s difficult to put any fault at its door. The mix of spices in this brew merged together perfectly for a comforting after meal drink to help with the digestion and a relaxing end of day drink to sooth me off to sleep. Palanquin also produces Red Bush, Kenya Tea, Cardamom Tea, Ginger Herbal Tea, Spearmint Herbal Tea, Red Bush Spiced and Red Bush Cardamom. With the excellent quality of this Spiced Tea, I’ll have to hunt them out!

By Spectre

Moorland Pudding aka Bramley Apple & Winberry Pie (@TebayServices)

This is another of the treasures I picked up at our favourite Tebay Services. All the fruit pies were laid out on a big stand and I fancied getting a nice dessert to help with post holiday blues. I was trying to decide which flavour pie to buy, when the winberry pie caught my eye. Spectre asked what winberries were and I explained I had no idea and that I'd never tasted them before. This sealed the deal, winberries were go!
On closer inspection it turns out the winberry pie also contains apple for sweetness, has a crumble top and a pastry base. Google informs me that winberries are a relative of blueberries, but that they grow better in cooler climates. I wish we'd known this before buying the blueberry bush in our garden which never seems to get enough sun for a decent crop!
The pie just needed heating in the oven before serving to warm it through and we had it with hot custard despite the pack recommending ice cream.
The berries inside the pie were a lovely dark purple colour and looked really nice. The flavour was quite soft, not bitey and sharp like blackcurrants. The taste was syrupy and mellow with a nice sweetness shining through from the apple. The crumble and the pastry gave the pie substance, and worked well with the custard. I was so impressed with the smooth sweet berry taste I really want to get a winberry bush for the garden! We have blackcurrants and raspberries and these would be perfect for my jam making!
Thanks again to the lovely Tebay for introducing me to a new fruit, and a fabulous pie. ;-)

By Cinabar