Gü ‘After Dark’ Selection

It seems like they’ve been around forever, but Gü Puds are celebrating their 10th birthday. To celebrate, they’ve launched a new addition to the range – New York Cheesecake – and they also took it upon themselves to send us a goodie bag packed with puds.

Of course, we’re a chocolate blog, and we can only tell you about the chocolate puds. Hard as it was, we had to eat all the non-chocolate puds without writing a single word. That was tough. But here’s what we thought about Gü’s more chocolatey offerings…

Black Forest Gateaux

I enjoyed this a lot. It’s described as “Brandy and kirsch-spiked Morello cherry compote smothered in silky mascarpone cheesecake topped with our sumptuously rich chocolate ganache”, and that about sums it up. It’s light, fruity and chocolatey, and I really wish it came in bigger sizes. There’s a really good balance of flavours… one spoonful you’ll get deliciously tangy cherries, and the next, you’ll get a mouthful of ganache. Like most Gü puds though, it’s gone too quickly. Thankfully, you get two in a pack!

Gü-ey Chocolate Torte

This large torte is designed to be shared between 6-8 people, but taking it out of the packaging, I was uninspired. It looks flat, plain and frankly a little dull. Straight from the fridge, I found the texture dry and a bit stodgy too.

The packaging does suggest serving with cream or fruit, but not having any, I warmed the torte for a couple of minutes and added a dollop of home made banana caramel. This imporoved it tremendously, but I still don’t think the torte is something I would buy. Having said that, my friend Kavey also received one and it was her favourite dessert in the whole range, so either there was something wrong with mine, or we just have very different tastes!

Chocolate Melting Middles

These are individual chocolate fondant style desserts and about the same size as the standard ramekins. Being designed to be heated, they don’t come in glass, but are simply wrapped in paper. There’s a plan dark chocolate version, and a dark chocolate with orange oil. You can either heat them in the oven, or just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Both styles of Melting Middles are very nice, but they’re very, very rich. What they need is a big dollop of fresh cream to cut through that richness – something that transforms them into a very delicious pud indeed.

Hot Chocolate Soufflés

Obviously, this one needs to be heated in the oven too, and I have to say, I rather like it. It can’t be easy to come up with a soufflé recipe that can be mass produced and not only rise in the ramekin, but also taste good. The soufflé is rich in flavour, but very light in texture. I actually prefer that lightness to the Melting Middles desserts, as it leaves you feeling satisfied rather than just full. Very nice.

Chocolate Ganache Mini Puds

Finally, we come to these little pots of ganache. This ultra smooth ganache is probably the kind of thing you’d put in a packed lunch for a quick chocolate hit. It may be small, but it’s rich and very chocolatey. For me though, just one of these little puds was about as much as I could manage after sampling the rest of the range!

Gü also make a range of non-chocolate puds, of course, and these are amongst my favourites. I love the fruity desserts and cheesecakes, despite not having a lot of time to eat non-chocolate puddings.

In fact, my only gripe about the entire range is the ramekins. Back in the old days, Gü puds came in simple ramekins that you would want to keep and serve your own desserts in. Then at some point, they changed the ramekin design and gave them a pronounced lip that not only looks ugly, but also makes it more difficult to scrape those last pieces of gooey pudding out. I’m sure there was a very good reason for doing this, but if I could just change one thing about Gü puds, it would be to bring back these old ramekins. I think I may need to start a petition…

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