Chocolate Emoji Maker – Review

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Fiona Martin

Chocolate Emoji Maker from Zimpli Kids is exactly what it says on the box. You get to make two emoji shaped chocolate bars using 100% Belgian chocolate. The set is simple to use and gives kids something to make, then something to enjoy eating after!

In the box you will find:

2 trays to use as moulds
stencil sheet
2 sachets milk chocolate
2 sachets dark chocolate
2 sachets white chocolate

The instructions are clear to follow and there is a really good size sheet with 6 emoji stencils on to follow when drawing with the chocolate. They sit underneath the clear trays so you can follow the design.

It’s then a case of melting the bags of chocolate in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water for a few minutes, cutting a very small corner off of each bag and use them like a piping bag to cover the design.

You can pipe each colour on top of the others so there is no waiting around between the different chocolates. Although bear in mind that you need to work fairy quickly to ensure the chocolate stays runny enough for a good design. Once finished just leave in the fridge for half an hour or so before simply popping out of the plastic mould.

We are really pleased with the results of the Chocolate Emoji Maker, in fact the children were thrilled with the finished piece. The size reminded me of one of those giant chocolate coins you get at Christmas time and was around half a centimetre in depth.

The verdict from the kids upon eating them – utterly delicious – which I guess comes from the set using 100% Belgian chocolate. This would make a great little present over the festive time or even for birthdays. A definite extra to add to Santa’s sack this year!

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Zimpli Kids also have lots of products to add fun to the bath tub or alternatively you could just do them in a bucket or large plastic storage box in the house.

First up is Gelli Baff – a firm favourite of my two who have been using it since 2013! Even though they are getting quite big for bathing together, they insisted on putting on their swimmers and getting into a bath full of Gelli Baff to play together.

It’s so simple to use, you just run a bath as normal and then sprinkle over the contents of the Gelli Baff sachet and stir with your arm to allow the water to turn into a bright coloured jelly like substance.

There are various colours available such as blue, green, purple etc to give you a variety of options, this time we used the blue. As you can see it’s a smooth but textured substance that the children just love.

My children have so much fun with this and after they’ve played with it for a while and it goes cold, we do add some warmer water which does make the Gelli Baff thinner but still fun to play in. In fact my children stayed in this bath for 1 hour and 20 mins this time!!! Which to me says they clearly thought it was fun and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Just to add then when you are done, it’s best to add lots of water to thin it out even more and add the included sachet off salt which helps to break down the particles. We have used this multiple times over the years and never had any issues with it passing through the drain.

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Next up is Crackle Baff Colours which is a simple little sachet of crystals that literally turns the bath a different colour, but also upon sprinkling the crystals on top of the water they crackle away for a minute or so which is quite fun. You don’t know what colour you will get in the packet and we got yellow which is my boy’s favourite colour so he was happy although it wasn’t the best to take pictures with – it was a very vibrant yellow in the bath though.

He’s a short clip so you can listen to the crackles:

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Lastly is the SnoBall Play which again is activated by simply adding water. We like to do this in a bucket and the children love a snow ball fight. With the wet dull weather and dark evenings we haven’t really been able to have any garden play but check out my SnoBall Play post from earlier in the year when they had lots of fun outside.

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All in all my children love Zimpli Kids products and we think they’d make perfect stocking fillers or great for small presents for friends. They certainly get kids smiling and keep them entertained – go check them out now!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Gourmet Chocolate Pizza for Father’s Day

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Fiona Martin

Pizza’s are our families go to Saturday night food, so it goes without saying that a pizza from The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company would be an amazing gift for anyone especially this customised one with a Happy Father’s Day chocolate logo in the centre. What dad wouldn’t want to receive one of these this Father’s Day? (the bonus being he can share it with you too!)

We received a seven inch pizza from The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company complete in a sturdy pizza style box, with cheeky cut outs on one side so you can see the luxury chocolate gift that awaits you.

There is a cellophane layer over the pizza to keep it sealed but once you peel this back the smell of the chocolate just oozes out at you – this is when I knew we were onto a good thing that is clearly made from high quality chocolate. They use smooth Belgian chocolate that just melts in the mouth and this is evident when when we came to the taste test.

For Father’s Day the pizza has an extra chocolate plaque in the centre with a message perfect to give to your dad at this time of year. The pizza is pre cut into eight slices, although they are generous in size so you may want to break them into smaller pieces to make it last longer (should you have the willpower!). The smooth Belgian chocolate base is a good thickness and decorated with milk chocolate curls, red, blue and purple rainbow drop buttons, and milk and white chocolate rice balls

Everyone was wowed at this when I showed them and I certainly think it’s a brilliant gift to hand out for Father’s Day. It tastes utterly delicious and it definitely impressed me more than I thought it would particularly in it’s quality, taste and presentation. The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company is well worth checking out for gift ideas whatever the occasion and they also do a variety of flavours so there really is something for everyone’s tastebuds. Go check them out now!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Aero Heavenly Mousse – Milk Chocolate or Salted Caramel

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Aero Heavenly Mousse is exactly what is says on the pot – heavenly! The new dessert comes in a large style pot, perfect for sharing for around three people or perhaps you’ll keep it all to yourself and spread it over a few days. Available in Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel varieties I was more than keen to give these a try.

Both pots consist of a light, fluffy mousse topped with a generous swirl of caramel sauce and chopped nuts. The Milk Chocolate mousse has caramel sauce with chopped hazelnuts whilst the Salted Caramel mousse has caramel sauce with chopped pecan nuts. As you can see below they both look totally delectable.

Well it was time for the taste test and as I dug my spoon into each mousse I almost knew before I tried them that they were going to be winners. I mean just look at the pics below, I had the whole family dribbling at the sight of these – who was going to get the first mouthful – me of course! What I can confirm is that these didn’t disappoint, they were finished in one sitting between the four of us and everyone was eager for me to buy them again for dessert in the future. Aero are on to a good thing here, luxury mousse desserts that are loved by the whole family – how could you go wrong, I can definitely see these being our Saturday night treat!

Available from most leading supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and online at Ocado, with an RRP of £1.79, I’d suggest you add one or more to your trolley the next time you go shopping!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review. This is a sponsored post for Aero.

Dr Oetker Pud in a Mug

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Dr Oetker Pud in a Mug range are delicious hot desserts cooked in under two minutes in a mug making them super quick, easy and with minimal effort required. Ideal if you are home alone and want a quick treat but equally good for all the family and they can each pick their favourite flavours for dessert.

Available in a variety of tasty flavours:

Sticky Toffee
Rich Chocolate
Chocolate Chip
Milk Chocolate
Dark Chocolate

We couldn’t wait to try a few of them out and the children were keen to get involved measuring out tablespoons of milk into their mugs and then stirring in the mix from the packet.

You then simply pop each one into the microwave for the required time, anything from 50-90 seconds depending on the flavour. As these were new to us we decided to share the mug cakes and put them in the centre of the table so we could tuck in to each on and check them out.

So the results are in for Dr Oetkers Pud in a Mug desserts!

Rich Chocolate was a firm favourite by all of us closely followed by the new addition to the range Sticky Toffee. The Chocolate Chip was ok but didn’t turn out as good as the others, the ones with a gooey sauce were definitely better and ones we’d consider using again.

So all in all the Dr Oetker Pud in a Mug cakes are a success. Considering how quick they take in the microwave, you can’t fault them and all you need to add is a little milk. Also there is minimal mess with just a mug and spoon being used. For a quick treat for one or to give people a choice of flavour they are a great solution for dessert ideas but for me I think they make a perfect store cupboard buy so you can grab one whenever you fancy a gooey hot dessert in an instant!

This is a collaborative post with Dr Oetker.

Soreen Disney Mini Loaves in Toffee and Chocolate

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Soreen a household name in malt loaf products have brought out Disney themed mini loaves in both Toffee and Chocolate flavours. How could they not be a winner with kids? With Pixar images on the chocolate flavour and Frozen images on the toffee flavour I couldn’t wait to share these with my children for a full verdict!

Soreen is a popular snack in our household, the larger loaves with the adults and the mini loaves with the kids as they are absolutely ideal for snacks, especially when out and about. Not only do they come individually wrapped, they aren’t messy, can’t melt and provide a fairly healthy bite to eat.

We kind of knew what the Chocolate flavour would taste like as we’ve had the large Chocolate loaves before and we all love them. The Toffee flavour was new to us but proved to be a hit and was enjoyed by both children. I have to say that the Disney packaging didn’t go unnoticed either and they loved picking out which character they were going to have before eating one.

I love Soreen products, not only do they taste great, they are low in fat. The mini loaves all come in at 100 calories or less, are individually wrapped and loved by both children and adults. Great for days out or snacks on the go – I know I use them for a multitude of occasions such as after school trips to the park, a snack after swimming/sports lessons, family days out, picnics etc Also watch out for special edition Soreen flavours in various sizes such as the Winter Spice edition large loaf that is available over the festive season – with every new flavour that Soreen release, be it chocolate, toffee or Winter Spice, they’ve never failed the taste test with us!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Valentine’s Cupcakes topped with Devon Fudge

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Valentine’s cupcakes topped with Double Chocolate Fudge from The Devon Fudge Company are the perfect indulgence for this time of year. Enjoyed by couples, families and kids alike, it doesn’t matter who you make them for, you know they have a versatile appeal and if you have kids they can be part of your Valentine’s celebrations.

For simplicity I just used the basic sponge recipe my mum taught me many years ago when I first started baking, 2 ounces of butter, sugar and flour to each egg. This is a simple one for kids to follow too and my two love mixing it up in a bowl for me with a wooden spoon (whereas it’d be straight in my stand mixer if I was doing it!).

So here goes to make a batch of 10 generously sized cupcakes:

2 eggs
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz butter
3 oz self raising flour
1 oz cocoa powder

Simply cream the butter and sugar together before slowly adding the beaten eggs, then fold the flour in to make a rich, chocolately batter.

Bake for approx 20mins in a 180c oven (test with a sharp knife to ensure cooked through in centre)

Then for the frosting I used a simple buttercream:

80g unsalted butter
160g icing sugar
a tablespoon of milk
small blob of red gel food colouring

Simply beat all the ingredients together, pipe on top of each cake and then decorate as you like, obviously here we have added small chunks of the utterly delicious Double Chocolate Fudge from The Devon Fudge Company along with some small pink chocolate hearts to add to the feel of upcoming Valentine’s Day.

The Devon Fudge tastes utterly delicious. We did taste test it before adding it to the cakes and didn’t want to lose the flavour in the cakes so put the pieces on top. As you bite down into the cake you really taste the fudge in the icing and it makes a delicous addition to what otherwise would be a standard chocolate cake.

For a quick a simple homemade treat this Valentine’s why not make a batch of these cupcakes and don’t forget to add some Devon Fudge for that extra special touch and flavour!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

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Melt & Make Chocolate House – Review

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Fiona Martin

The Melt & Make Chocolate House by choconchoc is available from what2buy4kids and is a high quality, fun to make activity suitable for children aged 4+. The kit comprises of the house moulds, a garden scene colouring sheet, two bags of good quality chocolate buttons (one white and one milk) and a chef’s paper hat for the child to wear.

My two children, Miss M age 8 and Mister B age 5, didn’t need any encouragement in participating in this activity, in fact their eye’s lit up in delight at the prospect of building a house out of chocolate which they could then eat!

The kit is simple and well thought out to make the job really easy and the first task was to melt the buttons in a bowl. Miss M was in charge of the white ones, and Mister B the milk buttons. I microwaved each of their bowls which they then stirred up to turn the buttons into gooey, runny chocolate. At this point they were both begging to lick their spoons but I told them to fill the moulds first which they eagerly did using a teaspoon to spread the molten chocolate around.

Next came the obligatory spoon licking while the moulds were put in the fridge to set. They also used this time to colour in the garden sheet upon which you can rest the finished house on to create a little 3D scene.

Once the chocolate had set hard, I helped the children to press the shapes carefully out of the moulds to ensure we didn’t break any pieces. I thought the pieceds looked great with a good depth of detail that was really clear and made the house look really effective. We then put them carefully together using a little molten chocolate on our fingers to glue the pieces in place – the kids loved this idea and wanted to put ‘glue’ everywhere!

I have to say I’m quite impressed by the finished house, it looked really good for quite minimal effort. The children were really pleased with their finished piece and looked longingly at it wondering when they could start tasting it. I made them wait until after dinner so that we could admire our handywork for a couple of hours but when we did taste it, it was very good – the bonus of having good quality chocolate in the kit!

This kit was a great activity which both of my children thoroughly enjoyed. The set would make great gifts for children at any time of the year, so well worth looking out for.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

The Snowman™ and The Snowdog Great Festive Bake Off Blog Tour

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Fiona Martin

The animated film of The Snowman first graced our screens back in 1982 when I was just seven years old, although it is one of those films that I remember clearly and have watched many times over during it’s annual viewing each Christmas. The 20th anniversary film released in 2012 shares the snowman’s adventure with another little boy along with a Snowdog, of which has become one of my little boy’s favourite cuddly toys since taking part in last years blog tour. If you haven’t seen the film or want to watch it again then keep your eyes peeled as The Snowman™ and The Snowdog will be shown on Channel 4 again this Christmas!

This year we have received some lovely Snowman & Snowdog gifts to try out as shown below.

The Snowman Indoor Light String with LED bulbs is available from Christmas Trees and Lights priced at £15.99. The set contains 10 moulded snowman which gently illuminate to a soft glow. The set requires 2AA batteries to operate it, which I do like as it means they can be hung anywhere. We chose to hang them from our picture rail between our lounge and dining room. The children really love these lights and can’t wait for me to turn them on each evening.

A product that will always prove popular in this house is chocolate and when it’s a white chocolate snowman from Thornton’s, you know you are onto a winner! The chocolate is creamy and very yummy, a firm favourite with my little ones and also myself, great for a Christmas treat!

The fun twist on this years Snowman & Snowdog blog tour is a bake off along with the other bloggers taking part. We have all been sent this lovely set of Snowman & Snowdog biscuit cutters available from John Lewis and Party Delights to see what we could come up with.

I didn’t have to ask my children twice if they wanted to help, they absolutely adore baking, and as soon as I mentioned we were starting they were in the kitchen doing up each others aprons and sitting at the work top ready to begin. Due to an imminent house move my food processor is all packed up, so luckily the children love getting their hands in the bowl and effortlessy rubbed the butter into the flour for our biscuit mixture. They then rolled out and cut a variety of shapes ready for baking.

I love their results, so sparkly and festive!

And aren’t these snowdogs super cute?

Then it was mummy’s turn with the other half of the mixture. I carefully cut and baked my shapes before attempting to ice them! I’d had a long weekend of DIY at my new house and was feeling pretty shattered, so was a little rushed, but I gave it my best shot!

I really enjoyed this challenge and found it really fun to do. I’ll definitely be trying out some more biscuit designs in the new year when I have a bit more time on my hands.

Mister B’s snowdog came down to the kitchen for a visit and approved of my biscuit creations of him and thought the children would love them!

I have to say the finished biscuits are very tasty and the children couldn’t wait to sample them. I can confirm they do taste absolutely delicious are make the perfect festive treat this Christmas time.

For more Snowman & Snowdog gifts and bake off adventures head over to Madhouse Family Reviews tomorrow for more wonderful festive ideas.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the Snowman & Snowdog goodies in order to write an honest review.

Arla Chocolate Flavoured Milk – Review

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Fiona Martin

There’s nothing my children love more than a drink of chocolate flavoured milk as a delicious treat during the day, so we were pleased to try these cute little individually portioned bottles of Arla Flavoured Milk. Available in chocolate and strawberry flavours I knew chocolate would be a hit with my two!

I love that they come in individual bottles as you can always open a fresh bottle and don’t have to rush to finish a large bottle in a few days. Also children love having their own little bottles and you can ensure they get an equal amount each (yes, my 2 do compare the amounts I pour out for each of them!). These flavoured milks contain 50% less sugar than most other available flavoured milk drinks and also have no artificial sweeteners, flavours or colours.

So what did my two think of these drinks? Well I think you can tell by the pictures above that they were a hit, they couldn’t wait to have another one and eagerly drunk their drinks without any encouragement needed!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the chocolate milk in order to write an honest review.

Cool Create Chocolate Bar Maker – Review

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Cool Create Chocolate Bar Maker is every kids dream, making their own chocolate bars and my two children couldn’t wait to give this a try.

The set contains lots of accessories and moulds to get you started, all you need to add is chocolate and your favourite toppings/fillings.

What you get:

1 x Choco Easy Squeeze
1 x Deco Nozzle
1 x Large Sharing Mould
1 x Large Swirl Top Mould
2 x Fun Size Smooth Mould
3 x Mould Inserts (6 Designs)
8 x Cello Wrappers
1 x Sharing Cavity Blister
1 x Smooth Cavity Blister
1 x Alphabet Blister
1 x Recipe Booklet

To get started you need to need to break up some chocolate into the Choco Easy Squeeze and place it in the microwave to melt. We then picked a mould to use and added mould inserts into the yellow moulds. These have a pretty pattern on which will come out on the top of your chocolate bar and with six to choose from there are lots of variations to make. Once the chocolate has melted, you can remove the lid and squeeze the chocolate into the moulds. The children both loved this part. To save using too much chocolate and to make it more interesting we added some Cheerios and biscuit pieces to add texture and make it crunchy.

Once you have filled your mould, you need to put it in a freezer to set. The moulds soft which made the chocolate bars really easy to turn out once set although I did have to help the children with this. You can then add any additional decorations should you wish and there is a this nozzle included if you want to add further melted chocolate in perhaps another colour across the top.

I think the chocolate bars looks really impressive once finished and the children were so pleased with their results. You even get some wrappers to put them in which is great to keep them in if you aren’t eating them all straightaway or if you give one as a gift.

The children thoroughly enjoyed using this Chocolate Bar maker kit from Cool Create, and the finished products tasted good, although didn’t last long! The set is reusable again and again, as long as you buy more ingredients therefore I think it was great value and something we will bring out and do from time to time. This would make a great gift and is a fun activity that children will love to do!