Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Candy Tease: October 2011

imageName: Angry Birds Fruit Snacks and Gummies
Brand: Healthy Food Brands
Description: The chewy candies are shaped to resemble characters from the Angry Birds video games, and packs feature the games’ logo and graphics. Made with fruit juice, all products are fat-, nut- and gluten-free, and come in cherry, lemon, raspberry, apple, grape and strawberry flavors. Angry Birds Fruit Snacks come in 2.25 and five-ounce peg bags with SRPs of 89 cents and $1.59 while Angry Birds Gummies come in 3.5-ounce theater boxes with a SRP range of $1.29 to $1.69.
Introduction Date: current
Notes: Angry Birds has been devouring your time, now you can devour them. Actually, I appreciate that the shapes are actually of the little characters. I hate it when I get a themed candy that’s just about the packaging, nothing inside is any different from the usual brand.

imageName: 3 Musketeers Coconut Bar
Brand: Mars
Description: Send your taste buds to paradise with the sweet taste of new 3 MUSKETEERS Coconut Bar. Coconut flavor has been added to the 3 MUSKETEERS signature light and fluffy chocolate nougat and then wrapped in rich, milk chocolate.
Introduction Date: December 2011
Notes: Mars has already introduced Coconut M&Ms, Coconut Twix and Dove Coconut Cream Eggs (and maybe you can count the Snickers Adventure Bar that had some coconut in it). Sometimes Mars’ innovations feel more systematic. They introduce a version of something with a new flavor, like Cherry M&Ms and then they say, “What else could have cherry in it?” So then we have Cherry 3 Musketeers, and then Cherry Dove Bars and so on. The other flavored center varieties of 3 Musketeers have been interesting, I did appreciate the Coffee one and Raspberry was interesting too. I’m not sure how long we’ll have to wait for the Chili & Lime 3 Musketeers or the Wasabi 3 Musketeers.

imageName: M&Ms Mint Dark Chocolate
Brand: Mars
Description: Consumers can add some cool to their crunch with new M&Ms Mint Dark Chocolate Candies. It’s a delicious, new way to experience the colorful, shareable M&Ms bite-sized candy they love, now with cool, refreshing mint combined with creamy dark chocolate and coated in a crunchy candy shell. Mars Chocolate has responded to consumer requests for variety and has shown proven success in adding new flavors to its iconic brands. Mint is a large and growing segment of the chocolate category.
Introduction Date: December 2011
Notes: These may have existed in the distant past and I’m happy to see that they’ll return. (It also appears that the seasonal Milk Chocolate Mint M&Ms will also be back.)

imageName:
Brand: Mars
Description: Consumers will experience the chocolate lover’s dream with new SNICKERS 3X Chocolate 2 to Go Bars. Layer after layer offers perfection, with roasted peanuts in chewy, chocolate caramel atop a fluffy chocolate-flavored nougat and covered in creamy milk chocolate.
Introduction Date: December 2011
Notes: I’ve never met someone who likes Snickers that would say that Snickers needs less peanut flavor. I’m not saying that this is going to be a bad bar, but if they only thing that’s still Snickerish are the peanuts, is is not going to go well. But what do I know, the experts at Mars (or their advisers) say, “In consumer testing, this new offering scored as high as the original SNICKERS Bar in overall product liking,1 and 67 percent of consumers said they would “definitely” or “probably” purchase SNICKERS 3X Chocolate Bars.”
A few years ago there was a Triple Chocolate Twix bar, it was chocolate caramel on a chocolate cookie covered in chocolate. So Mars already knows how to do this.
Don’t Miss: Gobble Monkey tried the UK iteration of the Triple Chocolate Mars Bar (really a triple chocolate Milky Way).

imageName: Sun Cup Caramel
Brand: Seth Ellis Chocolatier
Description: Seth Ellis is already know for their peanut free Sun Cups, which use sunflower seed butter instead. Now they’re expanding the line to include the new milk chocolate caramel cups. They’re also gluten free, tree nut and peanut free and use
Introduction Date: May 2011
Notes: Caramel Cups. I don’t really get them. Nothing against this one, they’re just not quite my thing. But they’re also gluten free, tree nut and peanut free and use Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate and finally, are Kosher certified.

imageName: Sun Cup Mint
Brand: Seth Ellis Chocolatier
Description: Love Dark Chocolate? Love sweet cool peppermint? Then you are going to LOVE Dark Chocolate Mint Sun Cups.
Introduction Date: May 2011
Notes: They’re also gluten free, tree nut and peanut free and use Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate and finally, are Kosher certified. The only real issue I have with them is that they use white chocolate as part of the ingredients list. It’s not really a problem for me, but they had an opportunity to make a vegan product (which is pretty rare in the chocolate/mint fondant world) and kind of missed the boat for our animal-free and dairy-free friends.

imageName: Ritter Sport Espresso Bar
Brand: Ritter Sport
Description: Ritter Sport is introducing the new 3.5 oz. Milk Chocolate Espresso Bar, made with robust Arabica coffee. With the coffee sector still being a very “hot” category, this bar should do extremely well.
Introduction Date: unknown
Notes: This bar was introduced over a year ago in Europe. I got to taste it then and I’m eagerly anticipating it showing up on store shelves in North America. The milky flavors are quite strong, but the espresso is wonderfully rich and much more forward than the milky and sweet Cappuccino bar they make. We’re sadly lacking in actual coffee chocolate bars in the United States, this will fill that hole very well.

imageName: Red Velvet Cupcake Bites
Brand: Taste of Nature, Inc
Description: A new candy promises the fun of dessert in a bite-sized treat. Red Velvet Cupcake Bites feature a cupcake center, covered in creamy red frosting with a distinctive “red velvety” taste. The bites are a play on Taste of Nature’s Cookie Dough Bites candies.
Introduction Date:
Notes: I really loathe Red Velvet Cake, mostly because it’s just yellow cake with red food coloring in it. (But I do enjoy cream cheese frosting.) This candy has it all wrong, first because the coating (cream cheese frosting) shouldn’t be red, it’s supposed to be white and the center should be red. But whatever, I haven’t actually liked any of the other Cookie Dough Bites innovations anyway (need I remind you of the Cupcake Bites?). So I’ll just leave you with the ingredients to tantalize you .... Ingredients: Confectionery coating (sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, nonfat milk powder, whole milk powder, cocoa powder, FD&C red 40 lake, natural flavor, soy lecithin (an emulsifier) and vanillin (artificial flavoring)) and cupcake bites (wheat flour, sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel, palm, soybean, and cottonseed), corn syrup, fructose, water, palm oil, natural and artificial flavors, soy lecithin, salt and xanthan gum).

images courtesy of the respective manufacturers

Related Candies

  1. Candy Tease: Mars 2011 Announcements
  2. Candy Tease: Sweets & Snacks Expo 2011 Part 2
  3. Candy Tease: Sweets & Snacks Expo 2011 Part 1
  4. Candy Tease: Nostalgia in 2011
  5. Candy Tease- October 2010
  6. Candy Tease: Mars 2010

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:15 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyNew Product AnnouncementHighlightNews

Comments
  1. I’m not sure what kind of red velvet cake you’ve had, but if it was just food-coloured yellow cake, it wasn’t a proper red velvet.  Red velvet cake is traditionally closer to a devil’s food cake—it includes cocoa, vinegar, and buttermilk in its ingredients.

    Comment by Tintin on 10/04/11 at 4:14 pm #
  2. I agree with last blogger, you did not have traditional Red Velvet cake as originally created at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. It is traditionally as Tintin described.

    Comment by Anne on 10/04/11 at 6:31 pm #
  3. Cybele's avatar

    Tintin & Anne - this is true, I haven’t had good Red Velvet cake. If it were good, I would have liked it. But all the RV cake that I have had (and much of it was before the current craze - 12 years ago +) was made from scratch. I’ve mentioned many times that there are food colorings that can create horrible aftertastes and everyone I’ve ever known to make that cake has done it with food coloring. I’ve read that originally beets were used and that’s actually interesting.

    However, that doesn’t change the fact that the candy listed above is made with dubious ingredients. The “cupcake” part has no buttermilk, cocoa or vinegar and the “frosting” has no cream cheese.

    Comment by Cybele on 10/04/11 at 7:12 pm #
  4. Proper Red Velvet cake is quite nice with a distinct flavor all it’s own. It doesn’t even need food coloring.

    Comment by Jen on 10/04/11 at 8:26 pm #
  5. Also, Red Velvet Cake tends to be colored within an inch of its life. A slight red tint is all that’s needed. If you ever find yourself in Massachusetts, Cybele, get the red velvet cake at Firefly BBQ (several locations). Feather-light devil’s food cake with just the right amount of red tint, heavenly cream cheese frosting. Oh, and did I mention it’s served ever-so-slightly warm and drizzled with chocolate sauce?

    Comment by Alix on 10/05/11 at 7:39 am #
  6. I for one completely concur, red velvet cake is gross non-flavor.  It’s NOT chocolate, it’s NOT vanilla, it’s just generic cake flavor, that happens to be red.  With cream cheese frosting.  People are so vehement about their love for it, though.  It’s like a cult.  Those bites look vomit-inducing.

    Comment by Jenna Z on 10/05/11 at 7:51 am #
  7. YES. I don’t get red velvet cake, either. I’ve had many different kinds of red velvet, from cupcakes to whoopie pies. It’s cake and… it’s red. The cult of red velvet has been allowed to flourish unabated for too long.  Cream cheese frosting is great but I prefer it on a delicious carrot or spice cake.

    That said, I’m so stoked about Coconut 3 Musketeers, I could burst.  Mint Dark Chocolate M&Ms; are on my must-have list, too.

    Comment by the candy fan on 10/05/11 at 8:42 am #
  8. Sorry, Jen and candy fan, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. One of the primary ingredients in red velvet cake is cocoa. Period.
    I agree that mass-produced red velvet cake is sorely lacking in flavor, but I’m sure you’re not foolish enough to judge the flavor of pound cake by eating one made by Sara Lee.
    Taste the real thing before you judge. If you don’t care enough to try, stop trolling those who do.

    Comment by Ad on 10/05/11 at 5:35 pm #
  9. Cybele's avatar

    Ad - all opinions expressed by readers are considered valid and honest. Attacks on the veracity of other readers opinions are not tolerated here.

    Bad candy exists. Bad cake exists.

    Whether there is cocoa in Red Velvet is irrelevant if it tastes bad. If it’s poorly made and Jen, Candy Fan or I have a bad experience, then that was our experience and we are free to share it with others and not take it upon ourselves to seek out what some others judge to be the best.

    Ad, you’re spending your time accusing readers here of trolling when the true threat to your beloved Red Velvet is its bastardization by bad candy makers and icky cupcake bakers. Don’t take it out on their victims.

    Comment by Cybele on 10/05/11 at 5:42 pm #
  10. Red velvet cake is yummy. The red food coloring was prob. developed because someone messed up the cake and colored it to make it look good.LOL.

    Comment by Valley Girl 72 on 10/06/11 at 10:46 am #
  11. The Ritter Sport espresso bar is already out in World Market stores. However, it has snowflakes on the wrapper, so I’m guessing it’s a seasonal candy bar for now. I got one last Friday, and it’s easily in my top 5 Ritter Sport bars (out of the 22 flavors I’ve tried).

    And I can’t wait to try those three new Mars products. :D

    Comment by Lauren on 10/06/11 at 1:08 pm #
  12. Disregard what I said in my last post. Ritter Sport just got back to me saying that the Espresso bar is being introduced with the snowflakes on the wrapper but will then be available year round.

    Also, the Espresso bar is replacing the Cappuccino bar.

    Comment by Lauren on 10/06/11 at 2:31 pm #
  13. No, the red color was not an accident, this cake is originally from the Waldorf Astoria, it is a signature dish there.Everyone has been imitating ever since..Yes if the wrong or cheap food color is used in too high a quantity it can taste funny, but everyone tries to make their cheap knock offs

    Comment by Anne on 10/06/11 at 2:55 pm #
  14. I’m excited about some of the candies to come. smile I am especially excited about drak chocolate m and m’s!

    Another note on red velvet - red velvet on it’s own should have a very distinct, moist flavor. Cocoa is actually not a major ingredient - only about 1 teaspoon of cocoa in a 9x13 recipe. Since my brother is allergic to red food coloring, we often leave it out (we sub water to make up for the reduced liquid - we found out the hard way we needed to make up that liquid!). The cake still turns red due to the reaction of the cocoa and the buttermilk - it turns the cake red!

    However, I am NOT excited about those red velvet cupcake bites. So many people try to do red velvet and mass produced, it often falls miserably short. Sad, unfortunately.

    Comment by Alicia on 10/11/11 at 5:26 pm #
  15. In my area, red velvet cake is make with cocoa and it is the frosting that is the heavenly part. We use a cooked frosting—-not butter cream, not cream cheese. It is light and not sickeningly sweet.

    Comment by Mary on 10/20/11 at 11:22 am #
  16. “mostly because it’s just yellow cake with red food coloring in it.”

    Then you’ve never ate Red Velvet cake. Ever. You ate Yellow cake with red food coloring in it. Period. Go eat REAL Red Velvet cake for the rest of us.

    Comment by Ruby on 10/26/11 at 12:45 am #
  17. Anybody spotted the dark chocolate mint m&ms; yet?

    Comment by Adam on 12/07/11 at 9:12 am #
  18. i finally found the coconut 3 musketeers - i’m a fan! would love to know your assessment smile

    Comment by laura on 12/29/11 at 10:49 am #
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