All new Cakelings @MOD

Mad Over Donuts introduces Cakelings – a range of premium cupcakes deliciously designed in 8 different flavours to satisfy any sweet tooth. These gourmet treats are freshly made and crafted from scratch at Mad Over Donuts every day by their very own pastry chefs, using the highest-grade ingredients & baking methods. The Cakelings are packed in an irresistibly cute take-away box.

Whether you’re a chocolate or an Oreo fan, or simply love bananas and strawberry or you relish the refreshing flavor of lemon, Mad Over Donuts has a Cakeling for every one! Cakelings are available in the following flavours:

• Chocolicious: Dense chocolate cupcake with a swirl of rich chocolate ganache 
• Rich Crumble: Chocolate cupcake with Oreo buttercream frosting – creamy, crunchy & utterly addictive
• Nutella Frost with Snickers: Rich chocolate cupcake topped with Nutella buttercream and garnished with chopped Snickers chocolate! Contains nuts
• Coffee Cream: Chocolate cupcake with a creamy coffee buttercream frosting, dusted with cocoa powder
• Strawberry Chocolate: Chocolate cupcake with strawberry buttercream frosting, topped with choco chips
• Berry Bliss: A vanilla cupcake with blueberry buttercream icing, garnished with blueberry filling and silver candy sprinkles  
• Lemon Swirl: A vanilla cupcake with refreshing lemon buttercream 
• Caramel Banana: A vanilla cupcake with caramel & banana buttercream icing, with caramel drizzle 

Available in beautifully designed boxes of 1, 3 or 6, Cakelings are the next generation cake to celebrate any occasion. They are glorified cupcakes really, but when they look so pretty, who really cares?

Packaging: Box of 1, 3 and 6
Price: INR 65/ Cakeling. Buy 5 Get 1 Free at Rs. 325.
Website: www.madoverdonuts.com

Heidi Dark Espresso

There's a reason why Swiss chocolates are considered among the best in the world. Brands like Heidi uphold the legacy of quality and variety and delight consumers year after year. However, the Swiss brand has changed hands recently, and was formally taken over by the Romanian company, Kex Confectionery SA in April 2013. One can only hope that Heidi retains the reputation it has built over the years.  And going by this chocolate bar, nothing has changed.

I was fairly impressed the first time I ate and reviewed a bar of Heidi chocolate. It was a Heidi Grand 'Or Milk chocolate with Almond Florentine and I remember being amazed at the innovative combination. So when a friend gifted me another one from the house of Heidi, I was like this ---->  :D

The Heidi Dark Espresso is one delightful coffee-chocolate and I know because I've tried quite a few of those. I think I am partial to caffeine's kick as far as flavoured chocolates go. On opening, the bar smells rich with the distinctive aroma of coffee. The slim bar snaps cleanly and easily into convenient sized squares. The rosette inscribed chocolate pieces melt beautifully in the mouth, releasing dense cocoa and coffee flavours. My only grouse against this are the tiny coffee nibs in the chocolate... not too fond of them. But for those who love a little texture in their chocolate, the Heidi Dark Espresso will be a delight.

This 100gm bar will cost you approx. INR 200 and it will be well worth it. It'll also make for a good last minute Christmas present if you haven't bought anything yet!

RATING: 4/5

Honey Dukes Coffee Dark Chocolate

This looks like the week of discovering new Indian chocolates, and a chocolate reviewer couldn't be more thrilled. I found this nice-ish looking pack called Honey Dukes Chocolatier at a local store and half suspected it to be Bangkok/ Singapore/ Kuala Lumpur-made - the lands of fancy-looking, ugly-tasting and corny-sounding chocolates. But on inspecting the packet further, I found that these are made somewhere in Bangalore, India by a company called United (India) Interlinks. The coffee flavour was especially exciting and I couldn't wait to try it out.

So I eagerly opened the box - layer number 1, and was greeted by a silver plastic casing - layer number 2. OK.

I peeled that off to be greeted by a pencil-box like plastic casing - layer number 3. Hmmm.

When I opened the plastic case, there was layer number 4 - a green foil. Aahlright. I was beginning to empathise with Duryodhana by now. He must have felt like this when disrobing Draupadi.

Thankfully, no Krishna came to this one's aid and the chocolate bar with just five blocks was finally revealed to me. Yeah, roll the drums. I was finally going to be able to taste Honey Dukes Coffee chocolate. *eyeroll*

Anyway, apart from the saga of unwrapping, the chocolate turned out to be surprisingly decent. The packet - layer number 1 - vaguely says 'Dark Cocoa', but the cocoa percentage is nowhere to be found. Nonetheless, it is dark chocolate with coffee in it. The overall taste and texture are passable, but the coffee blend isn't smooth. It reminded me of those 'fake' coffees, which have loads of chicory in them. There is that unpleasant graininess in coffee-chicory blends, which I found in this chocolate as well.  

However, for most people who don't eat their chocolate like a review-obsessed moron, this will be good enough. As non-Cadbury Indian chocolates go, this is of a fair enough quality and I am glad more and more indigenous chocolate brands are coming up with new products. The packaging makes you feel a little cheated, and INR 40 for 50 g seems a little steep, but I'd say try it at least once.

RATING: 3.5/5

Frey Coffee & Cocoa Milk Chocolate

Since I've started chocolate blogging, airports have become a special place. Small kiosks stock the most unusual and wonderful of brands and varieties, and I picked up quite a number on a recent trip to Chennai. One of them was a bar of Frey's Coffee & Cocoa Milk Chocolate. I was drawn to it for three reasons: its attractive packaging, the fact that it was Swiss and most importantly, the coffee component in it. So, while I'm not into milk chocolate, this had stuff in it that could make me happy. Besides, I wanted to try a Frey product, because the brand claims to be the largest-selling (and by that measure, the number one) Swiss chocolate brand and is over a 100 years old.

So, this is an 'extra fine milk chocolate with a touch of ground hazelnuts, coffee & crispy cocoa nibs'. The hazelnut part is not really detectable, because the cocoa nibs part is so prominent. The chocolate, as you can see, is densely packed with these nibs and linger in your mouth towards the end. The coffee is blended well in the chocolate, but the aftertaste is mostly sweet. I ate this 100 g bar over four days, and despite trying to slowly savour it, the strongest gustatory memory of it is sweet.

At INR 270, this isn't too great a bargain according to me, but if you are a lover of milk chocolate, it might be a great pick for you.

RATING: 3.5/5