Who wins in the battle between the Cadbury Creme Eggs? On the left wearing blue and green, we have the contender Cadbury Creme Egg from the USA. On the right, wearing the classic purple, yellow and red combo, we have the original Cadbury Creme Egg from the UK. Be sure to cheer on your favorite because this fight is going to get UGLY.
Before things get rough I just have to send a big thank you to my lovely brother. He sent me a whole bunch of goodies that he bought whilst in New York. I don't see him very often as he doesn't live in the same country as me so his parcel was a very sweet surprise!
On the Left: US - On the Right: UK
Now, it's quite hard to tell from the photos, but the UK Cadbury Creme Egg is actually bigger than the American one. I was quite surprised by this, aren't we always told in the media that American portions are MASSIVE and everything is bigger over there? Well, this one certainly isn't, our American friends are getting less for their Creme Egg; 34g compared to the UK egg at 39g (and less calories too; 150 calories to our 170 calories). Don't be surprised if, by next year, the UK ones are smaller - you have been warned.
Now, this is where the proceedings turn ugly. Cutting a Creme Egg in half and trying to photograph it is not an easy thing to do, believe me. In fact, it was especially hard with the egg from the US which had a much softer fondant center. The yellow "yolk" part of the fondant wasn't very defined and had partly blended into the whiter parts. Of course this could be because it traveled some distance to reach me, but the runnier consistency isn't helping matters here.
The fondant in the UK Cadbury Creme Egg was much firmer, hence I could photograph the two halves as above and the filling stayed put without threatening to ooze out. The colouring within the fondant was also much better, with clearly differentiated "yolk" center and white fondant. The whole thing just seemed thicker and visually more appealing. Round 1 Winner: UK Cadbury Creme Egg.
On the Left: US - On the Right: UK
Side by side you can see the difference in the consistency of the filling. Taste wise these were quite hard to compare. The inner fondant is so sugary sweet in both that I honestly couldn't taste a difference between the inner fondant, in terms of flavor at least. They are both so overly sweet that I really didn't have a preference. The chocolate however, did taste noticeably different. The US one had a slightly chalky melt to the chocolate which the UK one doesn't have, it's much smoother. Also, the American one had a slightly stronger cocoa aftertaste, but considering it is made by Hershey's (confusingly enough the US Cadbury Creme Egg is owned by Hershey's) it was inoffensive enough. I always expect Hershey's chocolate to taste vile. However, it probably goes without saying that I preferred the chocolatey smoothness of the British version. Round 2 Winner: UK Cadbury Creme Egg.Overall, it's a clear victory for the UK Cadbury Creme Egg, but I was still surprised by just how similar these two chocolate eggs were in terms of flavor. They're both just sugary fondant in sugary chocolate after all :)
