Ambrosia Deluxe Custard Vanilla with Salted Caramel

The new luxury custard range from Ambrosia came out a lot earlier this year but I've only just got round to trying them. In theory I liked the idea and I love custard but couldn't see this being as versatile due to the flavouring of each one. Plain custard is quite neutral and complements anything from crumble to jam roly poly but this salted caramel one I feared might be too overpowering to have with desserts.

However, I spied individual 150g cartons which I thought would be an ideal way to try it and it makes a nice handy sweet treat on a weeknight when you want something a little treatier than a yogurt but not a full on dessert.

Opening it up, it looked wonderfully creamy and looks thick and luxurious with a beautiful yellow colour and a slightly sweet caramel scent coming from it. I dug in and found the texture sublime - it's only 1% cream but the texture is much creamier, thicker and more naughty than standard Ambrosia custard by a long way and feels really special.

The salted caramel also came through well and works very well with a rich, sweet flavour with a very faint hint of salt. It just about stayed on the right level of sweetness without getting sickly although I don't think I'd want any more than the 150g pot. What I was really surprised about was just how warming and comforting this and actually I think it would be more versatile than you think it is.

Whilst it is salted caramel flavoured and you can taste this, it is still a custard and you get that faint vanilla taste as well. I actually think this would go well with a lot of desserts as well as being great straight from the pot. This on top of a sticky toffee pudding or even apple crumble would be fantastic and I'd love to see these desserts mingle their flavour into the custard for added complexity. Whilst it probably wouldn't work as well with say a blackcurrant sponge as normal custard, there's loads I do think it would work with.

||Definitely a lot more interesting than you think it might be and definite a luxury upgrade on normal custard.

Price: 75p
Bought at: Morrisons
Nutrition per pot: 180 calories, 6.8g fat, 4.1g sat fat, 19.1g sugars, 0.38g salt

Rachel's Organic Coconut Divine Rice Review

It’s another coconut based review today with a coconut rice pudding from Rachel’s’ organic. I’ve had a proper coconut rice pudding before with the Tesco dairy free one but this is a coconut twist on the more traditional milky rice pudding. I’ve always enjoyed the Rachel’s Organic rice puddings before and enjoy them as a fairly wholesome treat. This is again all natural ingredients made to a traditional recipe using milk, rice and cream and like the regular rice pudding it uses whole milk and cream for a more luxurious mouth feel.

The only twist on this one is the inclusion of organic coconut milk (helped along with a little natural flavouring) for a tropical and more modern take on what is a proper old school British dessert. For something a bit on trend, it’s a shame Rachel’s haven’t really done anything with the packaging. Bar the word ‘coconut’ on the outer sleeve, there is nothing to distinguish this from the regular rice pudding. 

And this isn’t even applied to the individual pots, which are exactly the same as the regular pots.

However, it’s taste that counts and unusually for me I decided to have it warm (I usually eat my rice pudding fridge cold). Lifting off the lid, you instantly get a nice sweet coconut aroma that is fairly strong whilst not overpowering and this intensified slightly after microwaving. I gave it a little stir and the texture is similar to the normal rice pudding from Rachel’s – fairly milky and smooth but not quite as thick as I like it.

It’s a very milky, soothing eat indeed and retains all the nursery charms of the regular rice pudding even with the coconut infusion. I have to admit whilst I enjoyed the proper dairy free coconut rice pudding from Tesco, rice pudding needs milk for that creamy, comforting texture.

As said, it’s maybe a little too runny with Ambrosia being my preferred thickness but the coconut comes through well rather than being too subtle or underpowering as I feared. The 150g pot is the right serving size as it is slightly too sweet and was potentially getting a bit sickly towards the end but as the pot is quite small, it didn’t really matter.

It’s not altogether a hugely exciting dessert but makes a fairly simple, not too unhealthy treat. Regular rice pudding is probably still king but it’s worth a try maybe.

Price: £1.30

Bought at: Tesco

Nutrition per 100g:  145 calories, 5.9g fat, 3.8g sat fat, 10.9 sugars, 0.3g salt

Score: 7/10

Marks and Spencer Spirit of Summer Passion Fruit Roulade

I've had my eye on this summery roulade from M&S for a while now but I don't usually buy desserts unless there's an occasion for it. Luckily with the summer weather, a barbecue and inviting people over I finally had an excuse to buy one.

It looked colourful and importantly for a summer dessert, quite light and fresh. For a dessert it's actually relatively guilty free. You get six servings per roll and each serving is very generous and yet they're only 120 calories each. Mostly because this is mostly a very light sponge with a good bit of whipping cream and some passion fruit sauce.

For once this was a delicate dessert that had been well packaged and was protected and intact and it cut very easily with each piece coming out clean and perfectly presentable. The swirl is aesthetically very nice and it's a nice colourful end to a barbecue.

The sponge is exceedingly good, not overly sweet in any way with a very light and fluffy texture that makes a nice soft pillow to the billowy dense cream and the little bursts of tropical fruitiness from the passion fruit. It all made for a very fresh end to the meal that felt not at all dense or sickly. I would prefer a little less cream and maybe a bit more passion fruit as I find cream quite dull and it can blanket over other tastes but all in all it's a deliciously summery pud and one I would buy again if we're lucky enough to have some more nice weather this summer

Price: £2.49
Bought at: Marks and Spencer
Nutrition per sixth of a roll: 120 calories, 5g fat, 3.2g sat fat, 10.7g sugars, 0.17g salt

Waitrose Frushi (Taiko) Review

Always one for a novelty, there was no way I could pass this fruit take on sushi from Taiko I found in Waitrose, called 'frushi'. Taiko exclusively supply Waitrose for their normal sushi and I have to say it's probably the best supermarket sushi out there with a nice light, clean feel to it and powerful flavours.

For those who don't like fish or for existing sushi lovers looking for something a bit different, this replaces the fish in the centre with melon and mango and. It's then wrapped in the traditional nori and sushi rice and then coated in dessicated coconut for that extra tropical edge - coconut paring vary well with the sweetness freshness of mango. Two of the frushi are then covered in a mango and mint coulis and then topped with a blueberry. It looks extremely attractive and is presented absolutely immaculately and just look at those beautiful colours and delicate arrangement.

It's not exactly a big pack at just over 100g and four pieces and all together I calculated the whole pack is around the 150 calorie mark roughly. It's not going to fill you up by any means but as a light sweet finish to lunch or dinner it's perfect.

The rice as usual from Taiko is soft, sticky, delicate and light. The fruit is refreshing and cooling and in all this heat we've been having makes a much lighter and cooling sweet option that is easy to eat and not heavy. The whole thing isn't particularly sweet and at around 7.5% sugars in total is pretty low sugar. For any sugar fiends this isn't going to curb that sweet craving and it's hard to call a proper dessert.

Nevertheless it feels very clean and makes a good palate cleanser. One or two of these after a Chinese or Japanese meal would make a lovely refreshing end to it and whilst not overflowing with flavours, it's a simple and subtle little bite that I quite enjoyed.

It's pretty pricey for what it is (I got it at £1.75 on an intro offer with 25% offer) and if I'm honest the world probably doesn't need frushi. The fruit in it is so small it's not going to be one of your five a day by an stretch of the imagination but I did enjoy it and it's quite fun and makes a good talking point.

Bought at: Waitrose

Score: 7/10

Coconut Collaborative Dairy Free Milk Little Choc Pots Review

Whilst I tend to prefer soy for my yogurts, coconut makes the best dairy free desserts. It provides a natural creaminess and richness from the good fats that make coconut products feel so indulgent. Having really enjoyed Rebel Kitchen's Coffee Coconut Yogurt, I decided to give these new chocolate ganache desserts from the Coconut Collaboriative a try.

According to the coconut collaborative - Our Little pots of chocolate ganache are the perfect thing to satisfy that sweet tooth in calorie-controlled portions. At just 105 calories per pot, they are the ultimate chocolate fix. They are rich, velvety, and extremely delicious. Our Little Choc Pots are a combination of dark chocolate and coconut cream, therefore containing all the health boosting properties of coconut milk. Coconuts are full of fatty acids, and, instead of storing them, the body uses these fats instantly for energy. Even better, they contain zero cholesterol.

All sounds pretty promising - I ordered these via Ocado so couldn't really tell what they would look like. Upon getting the pack of 4 x 45g pots, I could see instantly why they are 105 calories even though coconut is pretty calorific. The pots are absolutely miniscule! If you really wanted, I imagine you could scoop the entire pot out with a table spoon and eat the whole thing in one bite.

However, being one to want to prolong my dessert as much as possible, I went with a little plastic spoon and scraped miniscule mouthfuls out at a time. And actually this is really the best way to eat it as goodness these are rich. I thought the coconut yogurt from Rebel Kitchen was rich but these are even moreso. They are definitely up there with any kind of resturant dessert for pure indulgence mouthfeel. It is so thick that you would have difficulty spreading it with a knife and is almost solid. But this makes them feel so creamy and delicious.

Even people not interested in dairy free would find this utterly indulgent. It is a really intense, chocolatey hit and it's nice to see the ingredients use proper dark chocolate - one containing more cocoa mass than sugar. There isn't really much of a coconut flavour - it's pretty darn chocolatey so it's pretty accessible for all but the coconut fat does add that richness.

Frankly any more than a 45g pot and you would feel sick. I actually wouldn't be able to make my way through a whole pot by itself as it's so decadent. I ended up having it with a banana to lighten it up a bit and to spread the chocolatey mouthfuls with a bit of freshness. It's also fairly sweet, which I would like to see tempered down a bit but it is a very special dessert.

Utterly naughty feeling and satisfying but at 105 calories, it's a pretty guilt free dessert.

Price: £2.99
Bought at: Ocado
Nutrition per 100g: 234 calories, 14.4g fat, 11.2g sat fat, 22g sugars, 0.1g salt

Score: 8/10

Tesco Freefrom Coconut Rice with Senga Senegana Strawberry

Tesco do tend to do some interesting own label products and whilst browsing the dairy free aisles, found these own label coconut rice with senga sengana strawberry pots. I love rice pudding (I have a bit of a weird love of all things old fashioned like custard, digestive biscuits and malt loaf) so was intrigued to try this modern and on trend variant to rice pudding. It's wheat, dairy and gluten free.

First thing I was really impressed with was how clean the ingredients were. It is literally just the following:

Coconut Milk (Coconut, Water) (62%), Senga Sengana Strawberry (20%), Caster Sugar, Rice (8%), Gelling Agent (Pectin)

All things I recognise, which is a really good sign. Sugar content is also ridiculously good – how many desserts contains under 5g a serving?! Although big watch out is that a pot contains 44% of your saturated fat for the day. Now I know there is a lot of hype around coconut fat being good fat and apparently saturated fat being okay now but I think it is best to advise caution with these fats. A bit of fat and a bit of sugar now and then seems more sensible than going all out on any one nutrient.

It actually feels like a slightly more premium product that the packaging suggests. The little desserts come in smart little pots that I initially mistook for glass but actually seem to be a good, thick high quality plastic. They feel nice to eat out of and I actually ended up washing the pots out and keeping them. Any dairy avoiding guest would be happy to be presented with one of these at a dinner party as they have that Gu like feel to them.

Pulling the lid I instantly got a nice sweet exotic smell of coconut. Digging the spoon I realised it was thick, very thick due to the high fat content. I tried  bit of the top half first and it tastes extremely decadent, very creamy and rich too. Coconut comes through nicely and it’s not too sweet. However, it is a fairly rich dessert and would be sickly if you had to consume it by itself.

Stirring in the fruit compote at the bottom really helps ligten it up. The strawberry isn’t jammy or sickly sweet but fresh and uplifting and when mixed with the coconut rice makes a really creamy, delicious pudding. 

The only negative aspect of the dessert for me was the rice – at just 8% it gets totally lost in the thick fatness of the coconut milk and bar the odd little bit of bite now and then isn’t noticeable. As a rice pudding I’d rather have a looser, less fatty texture with more rice in.

Overall it’s a very nice dessert and at £2 for the two pots seems quite well priced for what I  thought was a pretty premium dessert.

Price: £2

Bought at: Tesco

Nutrition per pot: 155 calories, 9.4g fat, 8.8g sat fat, 4.9g sugars, 0.1g salt

Score: 8/10

Marks and Spencer Raspberry Layered Soy Pots Review

I don’t when know when I got so into yogurts but I have found recently that I am consuming on them on a daily basis and am absolutely loving the sheer variety of flavours, textures and types. I’m particularly into high protein thick yogurts like Skyr, Arla Protein and Total at the moment but love trying new types as well. I’m also getting quite into soy ‘yogurts’ as a nice change now and then. They feel lighter to me and make a great guilt free after lunch or dinner snack when you feel like something sweet.

These raspberry layered soya pots are new to Marks and Spencer who seem to be having a big free from push at the moment. Even just a quick glance around the store showed me a whole new chilled shelving area just for free from wheat products such as crumbles and pies and they also have an extensive range of free from wheat bread, cakes and biscuits and even dairy free frozen treats.

These are the first dairy free ‘yogurts’ I have seen in M&S and there were 3 in my local store. One a standard strawberry flavour and then two which had a compote with ‘yogurt’ layered on the top – available in apricot or raspberry. Each pack contains two pots.

The ingredients list for a fake ‘yogurt’ is reassuring short and it’s nice to see raspberry above sugar in the ingredient list. Although I think mine had got a big shook up on the way home, the see through pot showed clear layers and looked very attractive.

The ‘yogurt’ is thicker than I expected it to be. By no means isit like Greek style yogurts but it is certainly not overly runny and actually is really quite creamy despite containing no milk Consistency wise it’s probably on par with a full fat Activia yogurt. Initially I tried a spoon of just the ‘yogurt’ layer on its own and although initially there is a slightly soy taste, it’s certainly not bitter or too beany and there is a hint of raspberry coming through that isn’t artificial or too sweet. So good is the soy yogurt that I could have eaten it by itself – although the fruit compote elevates it even further!

The fruit compote at the bottom by itself is maybe a little runnier than the kind you get in other yogurts but it is refreshing and the high fruit content is evident (12% raspberries) as the taste of raspberries feels natural and clean rather than syrupy or sweet. Mixing it all together created a yogurt which to be honest really could pass for a good quality dairy yogurt. The raspberry flavour is clearly raspberry and not another fruit and it’s not overly sweet but deliciously mild with a subtle sweetness.

 

This was a really delicious sweet finish to my lunch and it felt really light and was an excellent palate cleanser. At only 80 calories a pot as well, it’s certainly a good choice when a sweet craving hits and you’re trying to be goof. These will be really good in the summer when you want something light but delicious.

Bought at: Marks and Spencer

Price: £1.00 for 2 x 100g

Nutrition per pot: 80 calories, 1.9g fat, 0.3g sat fat, 11g sugars, 0.05g salt

Score: 8/10

Aero Mousse Limited Edition Hazelnut Flavour

After reading such a glowing review at 1treat about this new limited edition, I just had to seek it out and give it  try. I absolutely adore hazelnut and chocolate - it's the winning combination that Nutella has perfected - so although I don't normally buy this kind of product, I really wanted to give this a try.

I haven't really eaten a fake mousse from a supermarket since I was a child - myabe occasionally I'd eat a genuine homemade mousse au chocolat or order one in a nice restaurant but usually this kind of very aerated, slightly fake stuff isn't really for me so I was interested to see what I'd make of it.

It's packaged nicely enough although unless I'd read about it and proactively gone to find it, I don't think I would have noticed it on shelf. Even the fact it's hazelnut isn't really overtly advertised. However, the pots feel nice to hold and are a pretty decent size. One thing which was a bonus is that each tub is only 85 calories and yes, although there's some pretty unnatural ingredients in there, it's not overly horrendous. It's not too suagry either really as the bulk of the mousse (68%) is milk. Just over a fifth of the product is sugar, which translates to 11.8g per pot, which for a dessert is really quite good. There are many cereal bars, which are over a third sugar and mainstream chocolate is well over 50%.

Opening up each pot, it looks pretty inviting and there is a nice faint chocolatey aroma, which is quite pleasant. However, upon my first taste, I'm afraid to say I was disappointed. Sorry!

I just couldn't get the hazelnut hit I was after. It is there but it is way too subtle. The main taste is just sweet and, although chocolatey, not very satisfying. As I've said, I don't really eat this kind of product and I remember why now. It's so airy and light you don't get any satisfaction and still want something else to eat afterwards. Yes, it's only 85 calories but I would have enjoyed just one indulgent biscuit instead. If you like mousse, you'll probably like this but it wasn't a proper treat in my eyes.

Score: 5.5/10

Rachel's Organic Rice Pudding

I'm a big fan of Rachel's yoghurts but have never got around to trying the rice pudding - mostly due to the fact I can usually only find it in 500g tubs, which is probably a bit much. However, upon finding a 150g individual portion, I finally got around to buying one.

Even before opening it, I was salivating at the thought of trying this. I find rice pudding such a simple treat. It's relatively natural and unprocessed and lower in sugar and fat than most puddings. Rachel's is also synonymous with high quality and simple ingredients and this is no exception. Just milk, rice, a very little amount of sugar and cream for a little luxury and some egg.

Luckily it lived up to my expectations. Seriously smooth and milky, it was pure comfort food. It's sweet and creamy but not overly so, so that it's very clean tasting. It's actually quite a good palate cleanser because it is a sweet and soothing finish to a meal rather than a high sugar hit.

The texture is spot on. It's thick but still velvety with an almost yoghurt like consistency. With subtle vanilla undertones, it's just a simple milky nursery treat. And because it's natural, real ingredients and organic, I feel it's guilt free.

Price: 75p
Available: Major supermarkets

Pros: Creamy, luxurious, organic and simple
Cons: Not as indulgent as other desserts

Score: 7.5/10

GU After Dark Hot Chocolate Souffle

GU, like Ben & Jerry's, Hotel Chocolat and Dunkin' Doughnuts, seems to be one of those brands that everybody raves about. Many years late to the party, I finally decided to give the brand a whirl and see what all the fuss was about with these dark chocolate souffles.

At £3.59, these aren't cheap for just two but I certainly felt it was justified based on the quality of ingredients. At 300 calories per pot it's obviously never going to be a healthy treat, but it reassuring how short the ingredients list is and that it is mainly high quality, natural ingredients like chocolate, eggs, butter and sugar. If you're going to be indulgent, better to do it with 'real' food.

Chocolate makes up 36% of the product and is the no 1 ingredient. The fact cocoa mass, not sugar, is the main component of the chocolate demonstrates it's premium dark chocolate rather than standard chocolate. The dessert is also pretty low in sugar overall. At under 16g per 100g you'd be hard pushed to find many yoghurts, let alone desserts, hitting this mark.

The packaging is also very high quality and looks very deluxe both on the outside and the little pots within. I like the fact they are individually sealed as it makes them perfect for freshness and portion control. The jars are high quality and look like the type of thing you get in a restaurant. I even kept mine as it was too nice to throw away - so an extra bonus!

These were very easy and quick to cook. 12 mins in the oven and they came out perfectly just like the pack said. They smelt gorgeously chocolatey and were puffed up and moussey. The perfect souffle texture.

If this was given to you as a dessert in a restaurant, you'd happily pay for it. It was rich, intense and so chocolatey. The top had a nice, thin, chewy crust. There was a moussey creamy texture underneath and, right in the middle, dark oozing pools of molten chocolate.

Portion size is just right. Enough to get a good chocolate hit and feel you've had a treat without being too much as it is very intense. My only issue was, much as I enjoyed it, I didn't enjoy it enough for 300 calories. There are other treats I'd rather use it for. However, for chocolate lovers, this would be a great choice.

Price: £3.59
Available: Major supermarkets

Pros: Premium, reuseable pot, portion control, high quality ingredients, restaurant quality, fairly low sugar, so chocolatey
Cons: Very pricey, 300 calories for very little

Score: 7/10