Wednesday 7 September 2016

Review- M&S NEW Spirit of Summer: Summer Tartlet Selection

Penultimate SoS review, Folks! One I was particularly looking forward since my discovery and now, undying love of the Banoffee version.. A flavour trio this time - Mississippi Mud, Coconut & Lime and Dulce de Leche & Pecan.. It's a Summer Tartlet Selection! 


The 178.5g (Oo precision), box of 6 cost £2.50 with 2 tarts of each flavour, all suitable for Vegetarians.. But not Mustard, Sesame or Nut allergy sufferers due to manufacturing methods. Talking of Nuts, the box also comes with a nice warning not to feed such a thing to your Sprog as small children can choke on nuts.. I expect so can some adults. 


The tartlets were presented in a nice little plastic tray and weren't too smooshed.. Unlike some of the other boxes on the shelf! It does make you wonder whether it is in transit that products get destroyed or could the shelf stackers be the blame.. I assume they aren't in such a state when they leave the factory. Someone let me know. 

Mississipi Mud


All butter chocolate pastry tartlets filled with a chocolate brownie and topped with a chocolate buttercream and chocolate sauce. 

Smelling extremely cocoa rich, the ooey gooey tartlet was a pure hit of chocolate from start to finsh - The buttery, soft pastry encasing a squidgy brownie and a thick, ganache like buttercream with a final hit from the runny sauce centre. The proportion of each element was spot on and texture wise, was not dry in the slightest. Nothing but a Chocoholics dream! - Divine.

Coconut & Lime


All butter pastry tartlets filled with lime curd and a coconut sponge topped, with a coconut buttercream, lime curd and desiccated chipped coconut. 

Moving onto the Coconut & Lime, the pastry here seemed to be a little too tender as in the process of cutting in half, the side broke.. Although faultless in taste! A real zestyness was apparent when munching through the tartlet but was not all that easy to identify as being lime - It could have quite easily been lemon and I wouldn't have questioned it! As for the sponge, it also had problems in feeling a tad to thick for a treat of its size and surprisingly didn't deliver in terms of coconut - Not in taste, signature chew or even with the sweet buttercream to heighten the potency! A strange one!  

Dulce de Leche & Pecan


All butter pastry tartlets filled with caramel and toffee sponge, topped with a Dulce de Leche caramel buttercream, a pecan nut and white chocolate. 

Last but by no means least, Dulce de Leche & Pecan. The tart halved well with no pastry lost or even a crumb out of place to reveal the golden sponge within which tasted very much like golden syrup! Soft and sticky, the butteriness was undeniable with bucket loads of sweet caramel tones to compliment. The Dulce de Leche aspect really shone in the buttercream however, as seen above, I do feel there could have done with being a little more! Topping the lot was of course, the choking hazard of a pecan which tasted fresh and crisp - A nice finishing touch! 

Overall, this Summer Tartlet Selection isn't to bad at all and with a few tweaks, could quite easily be amazing.. It's the Coconut & Lime which is the main problem and letting the team down! Hunt yourself down a box, give the aforementioned to some unsuspecting chum and enjoy the rest with afternoon tea whilst M&S still have them! - It's a 3.5 out of 5 from me. 

No comments:

Post a Comment