Get Some Snack Facts

 If you've ever wanted to learn more about the snacks you love, but in a fun way, pick up my book Snack Facts. Follow Barbara and Sir Francis Sweetums as they learn everything about your favourite snacks and treats.

You can pick up your own copy of Snack Facts right now at candycritic.org/snackfacts/ or on Amazon (just search "snack facts chris stewart")

When Mascots Are Better Than the Candy

I've never done the research, but I'm wondering if the quality of the candy mascot is related to the quality of the candy. I would say that for the most part, the better the mascot, the worse the candy. It's probably not always the case, but I think it's probably the case most of the time. I also don't think it works the other way around. I've seen some pretty bad candies out there with some pretty awful mascots as well.

Check out my latest review of a fairly blah taffy, but it has a great mascot.

Supercakes?

 

On a recent trip to my local grocery store I came across something called a Supercake. The premise is seems simple, they're small cupcakes (this can be argued) themed to superheroes from the DC Universe. I'm not sure if there are any more, but I found 3 different types of cake, one for Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman. Being a comic book nerd and a fan of sweet treats, I couldn't resist. The question that rang into my mind immediately however was what flavour do these characters actually represent. My assumption is that the folks at Bolerio (the people who make these cakes) would have done some research as well as some creative thinking to match the small cupcakes to the characters. 

So I've decided that I'm going to look at each one of these cupcakes and not just judge them by the quality and flavour of the cakes, but also how the cake flavour choice might (or might not) work with the character.

I decided to start with Wonder Woman. 

Her cake is a double chocolate cupcake, and honestly I was kind of stumped right off the bat (pun intended, you'll see later). First of all, let's just get the cake quality/expectations out of the way. The cupcake on its own is kind of disappointing. The package shows a dollop of icing/cream on the top that just doesn't exist on the cake. The amount of cream/icing is also really disappointing. The flavour of the chocolate filling is okay, but honestly the cake was much better. It's not to say that the cake is great, it's just better than the filling.

How this cake works with Wonder Woman is also confusing to me. I would think that two dark ingredients would work better with Batman, since he's the Dark Knight. If I was to choose something for Wonder Woman I might go with a nice vanilla cake with bits of cherry or strawberry, but maybe leave the chocolate filling. Basically that she's feminine, with a slightly dark interior. The yellow cake with bits of red would also reflect her outfit a little too. 

Next I went for the Batman cake.

Batman's cake is a deep chocolate cake with a vanilla cream/icing. Again, like the Wonder Woman cake, the execution of this cake is not great. The picture on the package would suggest that there would be a dollop of icing on the top, but there is not. The amount of icing is also pretty slim. However, both the cake and the icing in this case tasted pretty good. The chocolate cake was the highlight, but the icing wasn't bad either.

As for the theme of the flavours compared to Batman, I'd say it's not bad. It's very possible that Bolerio didn't put any thought towards the flavours and I'm just projecting my own story here, but I feel like it's an easier story to write. What I see here is a dark exterior with a light hearted filling. Batman is a dark brooding characters, but deep down he does have morals and even a bit of heart. I might be grasping at straws for this, but at least it feels like an easier story to write.

Finally the Superman cake.

As a cake goes, this is kind of the opposite of the Batman cake. It's a vanilla cake with a dollop of chocolate icing/cream in the middle. Like the two cakes before, it also disappointed with both the presentation and lack of cream in the cake. Flavour wise the vanilla was kind of boring, but the chocolate was a lot more bold than I expected.

As far as how it compared to Superman as a character, I'm once again going to give the folks at Bolerio the benefit of the doubt and claim that they actually might have thought about how the flavours might go with the characters. In this case Superman, who I consider one of the more boring characters is well suited to a vanilla cake. The interesting thing is that occasionally there's actually a really good Superman story, and I would say that's well represented by the surprisingly bold chocolate filling.

I have to admit, I feel like the folks at Bolerio probably just stuck random cakes to random characters. I would be happy to be proven wrong about this, but I feel like it's unlikely. The idea of creating cake treats that work with famous superheroes would be a really fun exercise, maybe one I could do with my Geek Shop partner. For now I'm just happy to see cool characters on a package and to eat some adequate cupcakes.

In Hindsight - Big Turk

 The name of this candy bar might be a little offensive to some, the candy in the middle is a little offensive to me.

Treats and Beasts

 If you love beasts and you love treats, then check out my awesome alphabet book called Treats And Beasts, the perfect book for anyone, even if you already know your alphabet.

You can pick up your very own copy of Treats and Beast right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/ or on Amazon (just search "treats and beasts chris stewart").

Okay, So I Might Have a Problem

Today's review has two problems. The first is that it's a classic bar from a huge company (Cadbury), that I for some reason haven't reviewed till this point. I'm not sure why I've never reviewed it, but it's taken way too long. The second problem is it seems like as of late I've been reviewing way too many fruit and nut bars. I'll admit that even the reviews themselves are getting repetitive, but that's only because every single fruit and nut bar has one fatal flaw.

Check out my latest fruit and nut review, I'm sure you'll figure out the flaw I'm talking about.

10 Second Kitchen - Kenny Rogers Roaster Manila, Philippines

 Watching the chicken slowly rotate in the over at Kenny Rogers Roaster.