Readers will have noted that Cherry Bakewells feature in my morning coffee routine. But readers might find themselves with the dilemma “which cherry bakewell tart should I eat?“
It’s a tough issue, and as I pride myself in tackling the tough issues, I feel I should provide some guidance on the issue. Especially as the well regarded expert on such matters (Nicey at nicecupofteaandasitdown.com) has, so far, not reviewed Cherry Bakewells: An issue I shall be bringing to his attention.
Where we live, we have three options: Co-Op own brand Cherry Bakewells, Asda own brand Cherry Bakewells, and Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewells. Myself and my colleague in the bakewell evaluation, Paul, have considered the merits of each type, and present here our opinion.
In our tests we used Asda Medium Roast ground coffee as our coffee base. It’s important, as a too-strong coffee could cause the cherry element to be drowned out.
Asda
Asda’s bakewell tarts are well presented, and seem to have some mastery of the ‘central cherry’ positioning challenge. Available in packs of six or twelve, they provide good value.
Unfortunately, that’s about it on positives. They fail miserably on the pastry front. It’s too crumbly and tastes rather dry. They’ve misjudged the icing/goo mixture, with too much icing and not enough goo. They’re also marginally (and strangely) larger than the others, with Paul’s applied “five not four bites” measurement causing some surprise. All the cases were identical in size.
Overall, 6/10. The cherry positioning helping it considerably there.
Mr Kipling
Often perceived as the master of all things baked, Mr Kipling does very well on the central cherry positioning issue. Presentation is excellent overall, although on the price/cherry ratio, it’s the steepest of all.
The taste is generally excellent (a hint of raspberry detected in Paul’s sample), but the achilles heel of this contender is the goo/pastry ratio is sadly weighted heavily in favour of pastry, not goo. Goo/Icing is excellent, but these reviewers argue that goo should be central to a good cherry bakewell, not pastry.
Paul is somewhat happier with the number of bites achievable from a Kipling bakewell. Overall, 7.5/10. With some work on the pastry levels, and working to isolate the raspberry textures in favour of almond, this could easily achieve 8 or even 8.5/10.
Co-Op
Last, but by no means least, comes the Co-Op contender. Solid performer this, with some way still to go on the cherry positioning. What it lacks in cherry positioning, it makes up for in an excellent icing/goo ratio. The pastry is a little on the dry and crumbly side, but not to the extent of the disappointing Asda entry.
Perfect number of bites, and compliments coffee excellently well. Surprising, as we would have thought Asda would have an advantage in this regard.
Overall, 8.5/10. The favourite by some distance, unless Kipling + co work to address the imbalance.
The Winner
Without a doubt, Co-Op win the best Cherry Bakewell award. Whilst we don’t have a gold bakewell award to present them with, we will provide a nominated member of staff with a pat on the back should they wish.
Update 12/Apr/05 I get a lot of traffic from people looking for more information on Cherry Bakewells. As a starter, you might want to check out Wikipedia’s entry on Bakewell
Entries (RSS)
December 12th, 2004 at 8:14 pm
Try M&S chocolate yule logs dunked in real roast coffee. Melt-in-your-mouth mocha heaven.
May 13th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
I am from the States with UK distant family, and I must say that I developed a Bakewell addiction as a young child and have never fully recovered. When I returned as an adult, I bought an entire box and ate them. Then, I passed out.
I cannot seem to find a good Bakewell recipe that replicates the cherry-goo-icing that is easily found in the box. Seeing as it is impossible to buy Bakewells where I live (Seattle), or even in Canada (I’ve looked!), I am in prime need of an ongoing source of Bakewell goodness. Any help is much appreciated.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Very interesting survey, i fully agree about asda bakewells, i find that their ice-ing is rather hard too. I must admit that i’ve never tried co-op and i will someday but im rather addicted to Mr Kippling at the moment, there has been a change in their recipies over the years, the pastry is too crumbly they used to be perfect, but now no…im gonna try that coffee and bakewell thing tho. yum.
Ta xx
April 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I MUST ADMIT THAT THE CO OP BAKEWELLS ARE PRETTY GUD THEY ARE MORE OR LESS THE SAME AS MR KIPLINGS AND THEY ARE CHEAPER BUT THERE IS JUST THE ICING ON MR KIPLINGS THAT MAKE ME GO FOR THEM BUT LAURAS RIGHT ABOUT THE PASTERY IT IS VERY CRUMBLY NOW.
January 24th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I totally agree that Co-Op Cherry Bakewells win hands down. However I can confirm that the Waitrose mimi cherry bakewell is a close contender to the Co-Op cherry bakewells.