Review- Asda NEW Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Following on from their Dessert take over, an influx of NEW bakery items are now rocking Asda's shelves with the Cupcakes particularly catching my eye.. Naturally - They don't call me Cupcake for nothing!

After conferring with MSW, we came to the conclusion that the Lemon Meringue flavour was the only feasible option and purchased the pack of 2 for £1.50 - Kudos to Asda for the cute cardboard carrier and illustrated packaging! 

The yellow cased and buttercream topped, cakes were easy to remove with nothing in terms of squashing, meringue tumbling or frosting lost a long the way. 

Generously filled & Hand Decorated with a sprinkling of love and care. 

One very spring like, sunny Cupcake which I can't dispute was made with love and care - It's flawless!

Generously filled however? I think not! In fact, it was the exact opposite when cut in half, being pretty much empty and totally lack lustre! Taking a bite, the sponge was also disappointingly dry but with not to bad of a flavour and bearable thanks to the pilled high frosting. Super thick and smooth in texture, the topping was deliciously sweet and buttery combined with a zesty kick of lemon from the curd - I have to say it went a long way in saving the sponge! The crumbly, melt in the mouth meringue was a lovely finishing touch and far more substantial in both texture and taste than a measly sprinkling. An interesting one!

Overall, these NEW Lemon Meringue Cupcakes are really only good for the topping.. And the topping alone - Sadly, the sponge is just plain poor with a pathetic filling of a centre to match so one could argue, are redundant as a whole! Sorry Asda - It's a 2 out of 5 from me. 

Review- PG tips NEW Green Tea: Strawberry Cupcake and Lemon Pie

As a massive Tea/Green Tea/Hot Beverage fan, I was so very giddy to hear about NEW releases from PG tips last month which were due to be on our shelves, well, right about now! Surely enough and true to their word, my Tesco is now over run with a smorgasbord of NEW snazzy flavours - The range could easily challenge that of the Asda Desserts and that really is going some! 

Naturally, I already knew which flavours I was going to buy before even finding said Teas in the shops.. Strawberry Cupcake and Lemon Pie! - Lets face it, if their is a baked, cakey, all round delicious option, I'm going to take it! Each box of Green Tea containing 25 pyramid bags cost £1.39 which is a bit of a steal considering the price of Twinings.

Brewing

OH MY GOOD GOLLY GOSH, these smelt amazing! I can't quite believe how such a yummy scent was achievable but the Strawberry Cupcake was full on summery fruit with the Lemon Pie, literally smelling of lemon cake. Literally. Once I calmed myself, I brewed the bags as instructed for about 2 minutes to ensure for a good flavour infusion and watched the water change colour with Monkey. 

Strawberry Cupcake

Put the cake down! You don't need to be indulgent to indulge with this smooth green tea inspired by a juicy, sweet, strawberry cupcake. It's a hot, sweet fix. 

I whacked a bit of cold water in as I just couldn't wait for it to be at a drinkable temperature and took a sip.. It didn't disappoint at all! The warm, comforting liquid was as promised - Mild Strawberry with hints of something cakey with the familiar, ever so slight Green Tea taste in the background. Everything was perfectly balanced and although the Strawberry was subtle, anything stronger I feel or heaven forbid, artificial would have completely overpowered and spoiled the lot. Almost perfection - It's a 4 out of 5 from me. 

Lemon Pie

On one hand this Lemon Pie flavour tea is zingy and sharp, and on the other it's sweet, warm and mallow. It's a treat and a herbal delight. It's brimming over with personalit-tea. 

Once again, I added some water to cool the golden tinged tea and proceeded to get stuck in. Tasting exactly how it smelt, it was lemon cake all the way with it's sweet, mellow tones which were true to the latter part of the description - There was zero zing or a lip puckering tartness, thankfully! A buttery flavour lingered which only likened it more to a yummy drizzle sponge and with no real tea flavour to "ruin" things, it was bloomin' wonderful and so very, very smooth! Not pie but who cares? A 4.5 out of 5 from me! 

Oh PG tips.. You are some beautiful people - I love the Tea, I love you, I love Monkey, I love it all! These NEW Strawberry and Lemon Green Teas are the best I have tasted when it comes to the sort.. There's no two ways about it! They are the perfect in-between of Green and Herbal so if neither are your thing, these might just be! I will most definitely be buying a variety of the other flavours - Orange sounds amazing as do the Apple options.. I best drink up! 

Review- Mr Kipling NEW Cupcakes: Angel, Cherry Bakewell and Apple Pie

NEW Mr Kipling products? Yes! Everyone's childhood favourite treat supplier has recently and very quietly I might add, released 3 NEW Cupcakes into the world.. Well actually they've only made it as far as Tesco given that they are exclusive to the store but times are exciting nevertheless with Angel, Cherry Bakewell and Apple Pie!

As I was never not going to get the full set, I picked up the trio of 68g each, Cupcakes for £1 a pop, in the Cake aisle where they were situated with all the other Mr Kipling products. Now, I don't know if the company think we are dense or if they are just so use to selling multipacks but it states both on the front and back of the box that there is "1 Cupcake" inside.. Just incase you were thinking the dinky cube was a Tardis and would contain more than a single portion. Naturally. 

Popping the Cupcakes out, I was pleased to see the use of plastic hinged pots to prevent any squishing action and loss of frosting - There is nothing worse than losing half of your topping! 

Angel

Pink and yellow vanilla flavoured sponge with a raspberry jam filling (9%), topped with a decorated pink and yellow buttercream frosting (47%). 

Erm.. Someone's nicked my jam. 

Found it! I tried my upmost to cut the little cake directly down the centre so unless I was totally off.. I'd say the sponges weren't equal and the jam was most definitely hiding in the right half! I also thought it smelt of banana initially (It didn't) so a real mish mash of first impressions! Starting with the sponge, it was light enough although not exactly the same in texture or taste to a Angel Cake loaf, with a sweet fruity sort of flavour even before hitting the jam. The off centre blob of the dark red sticky stuff was as expected, very sweet with a sort of Tutti Fruity flavour rather than raspberry - I enjoyed it whatever it was! Vanilla-y and extremely thick sums up the frosting on top which left indentations when bitten.. It certainly wasn't a soft and pillow-y buttercream that's for sure! It's a 3.5 out of 5 from me! 

Cherry Bakewell

Almond flavour sponge with a raspberry jam filling (9%), topped with almond flavour buttercream frosting (44%), decorated with half a glacè cherry (3%) and a dusting of fruit powder. 

Huzzah - The jam wasn't hidding from me in this Cupcake and was much more of a generous blob than above. Texture wise, the sponge was soft, tender and essentially, like any other mass produced cake - Not exactly moist but is what it is. The almond aspect really shone and was plenty potent for something of the size - Having tasted the cake and the frosting seperately, I can confirm that both elements had the Bakewell flavour which wasn't artificial in the slightest. Once again, the jam wasn't identifiable as being cherry flavour but it was tart and counteracted the sweetness from the creamy mound it lay beneath. I have a feeling the percentage of buttercream is off in the description as even by eye, you can see there is more than the Angel version - It's a good job it wasn't throat burningly sweet and tasted amazing! A 4 out of 5. 

Apple Pie

Apple flavour sponge with a Bramley apple filling (11%) topped with a buttercream frosting (27%), Bramley apple sauce (14%) and soft crumble pieces (3%). 

Last up is the Apple Cupcake which I am happy to admit to not cutting straight - I did try my best! Similar to the first delight, the amount of filling wasn't all that abundant but was forgivable given the extra sauce on top. Super fruity apple hit immediately when taking a bite and it really was uncanny to that of the jarred stuff. This went well with the vanilla sponge although I found it to be slightly drier than the Bakewell for whatever reason. As seen throughout, the buttercream was super dense, smooth, creamy and delicious with a nice subtle crunch from the crumble, sprinkled on top.. I do however think it would have been nicer to have a Cream Cheese frosting instead but perhaps I was just sick of buttercream by this point - It does happen, believe it or not. It's another 3.5 out of 5 from me!

Overall, these NEW Cupcakes by Mr Kipling aren't bad additions to the range - They are far cheaper than a "gourmet" Cupcake and will perfectly suffice for when you need something sweet. No, the sponge itself won't change your world and the buttercream might clag you up a bit but they are worth a whirl, especially if baking isn't your thing.. Yes, I am a broken record and yes, that was a dig at non-bakers - Release the Mr/Mrs Kipling within! ..Or just go to Tesco. Fine. Whatever. Is anyone even still here?

Review- M&S NEW Red Velvet Valentine's Cupcakes

It's Valentine's Day on Sunday! Ooh, ahh, ee - Exciting times! I trust you have all gotten or at least will be getting something for your loved one - Nothing conveys ones affection quite like a nice bunch of flowers, a balloon and chocolates after all! Naturally, I always gravitate towards the latter of edible gifts so thought I would get into the lovey dovey spirit of it all by buying myself the NEW Red Velvet Valentine's Cupcakes from M&S.. Since no one else is going to. Clearly. 

The red and pink, love heart decorated box of 2 cost £2 with each cake weighing in at a rather dinky 75g. I ventured all the way to the bakery section to pick these up but I have been in several stores which have a Valentine's display at the front of the shop so they won't be hard to miss!

2 chocolate and vanilla sponge cupcakes filled with milk chocolate sauce, topped with cream cheese frosting. 

The entire time from first spotting these to when I got home, I was a unsure about how little frosting there was but I think there was some sort of optical illusion going on as it transpired that once out of the box, the proportion of the two was pretty much equal! 

Cutting the sponge in half, it wasn't the light texture I had hoped for with more of a madeira feel than a soft and fluffy cake.. Although it was not dry in the slightest. Taking a bite of the creamy smelling treat, I am sad to report that Red Velvet certainly didn't hit me. There was none of the signature taste you find in such a cake with the sponge tasting more like a generic semi sort of chocolate but at the same time, not really of much at all. The centre of sauce was fairly generous given the size overall but once again, the flavour didn't live up to my expectations - It felt very much cheap with 0 in the way of rich cocoa tones. As for the frosting, there was plenty of it with a good thick texture but it was extremely sweet and could easily have passed as a buttercream as the tang just wasn't there. Very disappointing! 

Overall, these NEW Red Velvet Valentine's Cupcakes aren't great - The trio of elements aren't repulsive by any means, they just don't taste of an awful lot and all in all, are a poor excuse for their delicious namesake! I say, skip these, your lover won't appreciate them and stick with the flowers, a decent box of chocolates and the balloon.. The balloon is key, trust me! It's a 2 out of 5 today. 

Review- Lola's Cupcakes NEW Chia Seed & Blackberry

Oh look.. A Cupcake - As you can see, January's healthy eating is going splendidly. No joke, this treat from Lola's is perfectly acceptable as it contains a Superfood.. Chia Seeds! What are Chia Seeds, I hear you ask? Haven't the foggiest, I eat chocolate not Chia but Google has informed me that they're from a plant in the Mint family and are full of fibre, protein as well as being super absorbing which makes todays review of the NEW Chia Seed & Blackberry Cupcake practically sinless. 

I picked up the classic sized Cupcake from the little stand at Bluewater for £2.95. It seems their much larger stomping ground, situated in the Lower Winter Garden Dining area has been taking over by Earl of Sandwich - Some sort of famous, American hot sammie Company. I am not best pleased about this as it means I can no longer get my hands on one of Lola's epic Cupcake Milkshakes which are literally the things that dreams are made of! 

I managed to get my Cupcake home completely unscathed, without a single buff in sight - There is nothing worse than loosing half the frosting on the box! Cutting the thing in two, I was a little surprised how stodgy and almost damp it felt.. Although I don't suppose I should have been given my overall lack of experience with Chia Seeds and in turn, not having a clue what to expect! The sponge was a bit like Carrot Cake with its signature soft and squidgy feel, along with the obvious bits of the grated vegetable I could see for myself. An abundance of seeds ran throughout which weren't exactly hard but did have a bite to them as well as some chopped almonds adding further crunch. Flavour wise, this Cupcake was a bit bizarre.. It didn't taste of anything really - Not Carrot Cake, spice, seeds or nuts! I couldn't even identify what the thick topping was but decided it had to be Cream Cheese Frosting, despite not having any sort of tang, purely due to the fact it wasn't the full on sugary sweet you find with a Buttercream. The Blackberry element was also pretty redundant with its total lack of fruitiness or any sort of flavour - Rubbish! 

Overall, I can't say I am all that impressed with this NEW offering from Lola's Cupcakes.. Not to mention Chia Seeds in general! I have absolutely no idea what they were trying to achieve here.. It's like a confused Carrot Cake thats had its spice removed in exchange for some hard but not hard, bitty things, tasteless nuts and tang-less frosting to top.. And I don't one bit feel rejuvenated by my intake of a Superfood either. Perhaps I need to eat more. I don't want to eat more. Chia Seed & Blackerry Cupcake, it's a 1.5 out of 5 from me - Sorry Lola's!