melting middle puddings (Marks & Spencer Melting Middle Puddings)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Marks & Spencer Melting Middle Puddings
Date:	25/02/06 (1382 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very chocolatey!

Disadvantages: slightly expensive, calories, weird little lumps in it!

I recently decided to make a ‘special’ dinner for my boyfriend and me – a sort of belated Valentines. When I was shopping for ingredients, I realised I hadn’t even thought about a pudding, I was so busy concentrating on the main course. I knew my dinner would be quite substantial, but thought I had better get something just in case. As I was already in Marks and Spencer the first thing that sprung to my mind was those ‘melt in the middle chocolate puddings’ from the advert. I hunted all over the shop for them, until I eventually tracked them down in the chiller cabinet. I don’t know why but I’d always expected them to be frozen.

The first thing that I noticed about these was the size of them. They are smaller than I expected, about 8.5cm diameter, 5cm high. They come in a pack of two, which costs £2.49, so I added them to my basket.

As I thought, we didn’t actually get round to eating them that night, as I had made far too much, but my boyfriend ate his the next day and I left it another couple of days before eating mine, as it looked so sickly!

**WHAT IS IT**

These puddings are chocolate puddings which, when you break into them, contain a ‘pocket’ of Belgian chocolate sauce.

**COOKING**

You can heat this either in the oven on 180C/350F for 20 minutes, or, as I did, microwave it for 1 min (750W microwave). Or 1min 30 for both puddings at the same time. My kitchen was filled with the smell of chocolate before this had finished cooking – yum! You must then wait for 3 whole minutes while it cools before eating – you won’t want to wait that long it looks far too good!

**APPEARANCE**

As soon as I took this out of the microwave, my first thought was ‘Oh, sugar, I’ve burnt it.’ It was a very very dark brown colour, to the point I actually thought it was black. My boyfriend had a look and said I was wrong, and once I tapped it with a spoon I realised he was right, it was still lovely and soft

**TASTE (The important bit!)**

Yummmmmmmmmm! VERY chocolatey and rich. As I bit into the cake, I was pleasantly surprised at how moist it was, almost to the point where it melts in your mouth. The ratio of sauce to cake is perfect, and there is a good balance between the sweetness of the sauce and the cake, which is a bit blander.
The sauce reminds me of glace icing, as it’s quite thick, and not at all runny. The one negative thing I can think of about the cake, was that there were tiny little lumps in it, which I think may have been un-sieved cocoa. I asked my boyfriend if his had been like that, and he confirmed it had been.

**OTHER INFO**

The puddings are suitable for home freezing, but need to be eaten within one month of freezing.

Not suitable for people with Nut Allergies

These contain 510 calories and 28.1g (!!!!) of fat per pudding. Not great for a calorie controlled diet!

Suitable for vegetarians

All in all, I would definately recommend trying these for a special occasion, but they’re slightly too expensive for everyday.

Summary: Tastes nice, very morish.