Güey, Früty Güdness: Gü & Frü Puds

I've been güing ganache, as the recent advertising campaign puts it, for several years.

Gü launched back in 2003 and went into Waitrose stores soon after; very handy for us given that we live just around the corner from a branch which is therefore our primary supermarket. I have a strong memory of this new brand appearing on the shelves sometime in 2003 or 2004 and being seduced by the sleek black packaging with it's very indulgent, grown up puds inside!

Although we've become much keener cooks over the years, we make our own desserts only rarely, so we've tried virtually everything in the Gü range over the years, and many of the Frü products too. I still miss some of the products that have come and gone like the ramekins of chocolate on a bed of raspberries. Luckily other favourites, such as the chocolate banoffees are still available!

I was recently offered the chance to try some of the newer products in the range. I thought fellow pud lovers might be interested in what I made of them:-


Naughty Millionaire's Flapjacks
I love millionaire's shortbread. The sticky sweet caramel and chocolate enhance the sweet plain taste and texture of crumbly shortbread. But these millionaire's flapjacks were simply trying too hard. A moist, gooey, richly flavoured flapjack simply doesn't need caramel and chocolate added to it! Both my husband and I found the end result sickly sweet, whereas we find good quality plain flapjacks as well as traditional millionaire's shortbread quite moreish. Not a winner in our household!


Naughty Rocky Road

Caramel, raisins, cherries, marshmallows and biscuit pieces mixed into chocolate. Husband and I really liked these, a nice balance of flavours and textures and not too dense and heavy, like some rocky road bars. A friend, with whom we shared the pot, felt they could do with a little more crispy biscuit but still liked them.


Zesty Lemon Cheesecake

We took this along on a weekend stay with friends, and enjoyed it one night after dinner. All four of us liked the idea of a distinct layer of lemon curd between the cheese layer and biscuit base. Both the curd and the cheese layer provided a nice balance between sweet and tart. Opinion was divided on the base, with some decreeing it just right, and others feeling it was a little too soft, lacking a little crunchy texture. Everyone enjoyed the dessert, but it didn't knock our socks off!


Chocolate Brownie Cake

Not only did this cake look good, it felt good from the moment I first pushed the knife slowly through it's dense body. It felt firm yet giving. When I bit into it, it was reassuringly solid but nicely moist, without being sticky or soggy, and with a hint of fudginess to the texture which made it feel very decadent. There was a surprisingly intense depth of cocoa flavour without the dark or bitter flavour that can sometimes be its companion. The filling and icing were also just right; usually these are the downfall of most chocolate cakes for me - too sickly sweet and cloying. We enjoyed this cake on a weekend when my sister-in-law was staying with us. The three of us all agreed that it was a very fine chocolate cake and, indeed, the proof was in the pudding, as it disappeared faster than you'd believe possible! Whilst I do enjoy baking cakes from time to time I will absolutely buy this one, for those occasions when home baked is not on the cards!


Deeply Decadent Chocolate Mousse (in ramekins)

I like a proper, rich, dense but still properly aerated, smooth chocolate mousse. And these ramekin mousses are just that. Yes, chocolate mousse is not a complicated dish to make at home yourself but, in our house anyway, we're not always in the mood to do it ourselves. This is a good stand in for home made. We've been buying various Gü ramekin puddings for a long time now, including their chocolate mousse so not sure why it's listed as "new" on their website - perhaps the recipe has been tweaked?


Cheeky Little Mango & Passionfruit Cheesecakes
Emphasis on the word "little" - these cheeky puddings were just a step too stingy for me, though I'm sure some will appreciate bite sized goodness. I liked both the curd and cheese layers, in which the fruit flavours were clearly discernible. The biscuit base was very soggy and I found it quite unpleasant.


The current advertising campaign is an interesting one. I quite like the billboards, with their tantalising images of the puddings themselves, though I'm not convinced by the "gü you ganache?" tagline.

But the TV advert (click here to view) completely creeps me out. I can't think of an advert I have found more disturbing, more actively off-putting, more likely to make me stop eating something I already love and have purchased for so long.

I'm curious. Do you Gü? And what do you think of that telly advert?