Thursday, February 4, 2016

Hammond's Cupcake Caramel Marshmallow - Target

Hammond's Cupcake Caramel Marshmallow - Target
I'm a food blogger on a mission. The challenge: to review ALL of the Valentine's Day themed products in my stash BEFORE February 14th. Can I do it? (I sure hope so!)
To make things even more intense, and to (hopefully) put a massive dent in my overwhelming food stash, ALL of my PINK candies and sweets count as "Valentine's Day Candy." Which ups the ante quite a bit since I have a bunch of pink toned sweets from Japan, but I have faith in myself. Serves me right for hoarding stockpiling so much stuff. For today's seasonal sweet, I have two cupcake flavored Hammond's Caramel Marshmallows!

I guess Hammond's and Target struck some kind of deal, because I'm seeing a lot more of their products available in the seasonal aisle than ever before. Back in the fall I grabbed their trio of flavored caramels, reviewed here, but they've gone all out for Valentine's Day. They've released 3 more caramels, this time with flavored marshmallow centers, 3 different flavors of brittle, 3 seasonal chocolate bars, and 2 fancy popcorn cones! That's 11 total seasonal products!

Thankfully, Hammond's changed the packaging this time around. In the fall, the pumpkin spiced caramel marshmallow was wrapped in a waxed paper and sealed with a sticker. This old fashioned wrapping made the product feel more "gourmet," and I liked it well enough, but small gourmet shops can keep a close eye on candies like that. In the convenience store setting, it just doesn't work. By the time these caramels made their way to the clearance rack customers had squished some of them in their hands like Play-dough and put them back in the display, dropped them on the floor, and I even saw one that had been stepped on. This new packaging takes those same waxed paper covered caramel marshmallows and puts them inside a clear plastic container for added stability and protection. Plus, instead of buying the marshmallows individually, you now get two of each flavor per package. I like this because it's the best of both worlds. My candy is less likely to be tampered with, and I still get the retro waxed-paper-wrapped gourmet candy vibe.

Even though the marshmallow is really intensely colored, it doesn't have a strong scent. My photos don't really do the intensity of this pink justice. It's highlighter-pink colored and almost neon. It's pretty neat to look at, and it smells like a sweet but mild caramel with a hint of vanilla cake mix.
I took a bite, and I was able to get through the caramel layer really easily, but the pink fluffy cupcake flavored substance was really dense and almost gummy-like in texture. I was kind of surprised that the marshmallow was so stiff! As you chew everything softens up and the flavors start to come through. The caramel is thin and kind of dry in texture, kind of like those Kraft baking caramels, and it wasn't overly sweet. On the other hand, the marshmallow was very sweet and tasted like I was eating a spoonful of white cake mix. Color me impressed! This is one of those rare cupcake themed candies that actually tastes cake-like!

What can I say? I like it! It's sweet, chewy, and it has some pretty authentic vanilla cake-mix flavoring. If that sounds like something you'd' be into, be sure to give this a try!
© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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