Cadbury Cherry Ripe Dark Ganache

2014 marks 90 years since Cherry Ripe was first released in Australia. It's clearly a favourite with the general public, but Cadbury still likes to mix it up and give us a seasonal release based on old faithful. This year they've fancied it up and offer Cherry Ripe Dark Ganache, a twist on last year's seasonal release Cherry Ripe Burst.

Head after the jump for more!



To recap, last year's release was a thick layer of the Cherry Ripe coconut-and-glace-cherries, topped with a juicy fruity layer that was a bit like a coulis. I rated it highly as I felt the layer helped stop the chew from becoming too dry. This year's release is actually fairly similar.

It begins with an vintage-styled wrapper in red and gold that is similar but different to its brethren, the original Cherry Ripe. The new bar is a hair smaller at 50g (versus 52g), and physically looks rather different too. Like last year's Burst, the chocolate layer is thick and smooth, rather than thin and rippled. The thick Old Gold dark chocolate does a very good job of holding the contents in, though; I had no leaks of breakages. The photo shows the different length; what it doesn't show is that Dark Ganache is also slightly taller than Original, too.

Although there's a lot of dark chocolate at play, the bar still smells strongly of cherry. There's an element of alcohol too, although the bar doesn't contain any. The bar has the standard cherry-flavoured moist coconut centre, but like last year's Burst, Ganache has a layer on top. Less actual ganache (which is thick and firm) and more chocolate sauce (runny), the ganache layer is quite tall at 2-3mm, and quite shiny. It's also a bit sticky, so don't get it on anything! By itself, the ganache is rich and very strong in cocoa flavours. Mixing it in the mouth with the cherry and coconut gives the bar a nice air of decadence. The three textures work well together, and the ganache does an admirable job of keeping the coconut fresh. The thick outer chocolate coating also has a satisfying snap when biting into it.

One thing I did note, and I found this in the Burst bar as well, is that I spotted very few glace cherries in the coconut. The Original has plenty, as you can see, but many seem to be AWOL from the Dark Ganache bar. I'm not sure if this is deliberate on Cadbury's part, or if I just got unlucky.

It's a very rich bar, and you might struggle to get through it all in one sitting, but it is very nice, and it will be a fight between it and Burst for my favourite version of Cherry Ripe.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 jelly beans

Cadbury Cherry Ripe Dark Ganache is made in Australia. It contains milk, suphites, wheat glucose syrup and soy. It may contain traces of wheat, peanuts and tree nuts.