Tag: Food gifts

Lola’s Cupcakes Father’s Day Cupcakes

eco friendly, Family Life, Father's Day, Food & Drink, Gifts for Him

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review but all thoughts and opinions are our own.

What Dad wouldn’t be happy with cake on Father’s Day – especially when they look as cool as these Father’s Day Cupcakes from Lola’s Cupcakes. Available in boxes of 12 or 24, each box contains a colourful mix of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes all decorated with stars, mini pearls and sprinkles and the vanilla cakes also have a snazzy ‘Dad’, ‘Super’ or ‘Hero’ decoration too.

Sometimes impressive looking cakes can be a little disappointing when you bite into them but not Lola’s Cupcakes – they are full of flavour and incredibly moreish – especially the chocolate ones! The sponge cakes have a lovely thick layer of vanilla or chocolate buttercream and when you bite into them you discover a light and fluffy sponge that is nice and moist. The brightly coloured cakes are incredibly eye catching and I guarantee they won’t last long on Father’s Day!!!

The cakes can be collected from one of Lola’s Cupcakes London stores or make it easy for yourself by having them delivered, either to your door or even your Dad’s, with Lola’s nationwide delivery service. The cakes are available to preorder from 29th May and will be in stores and ready for delivery from 12th June.

As we don’t live in London, we were able to test the delivery service and I was really impressed with both the service and packaging. The cakes were in a cardboard presentation box with each cake having a cardboard sleeve and lid to protect it in transit. The cakes were incredibly well packaged in a solid cardboard box with a cool block and thermal liner to ensure the cakes arrived in perfect condition. Once opened the cakes should be stored at room temperature in an air-tight container and they are best eaten within 48 hours. They didn’t last that long in our house, but it is good to know that they can be kept in the fridge for another 2 days.

I was also very pleased to discover that the thermal liner and ice pack can be returned to Lola’s Cupcakes using the prepaid label. They then clean them before reusing, what a great idea and much better for the environment too.  

Lola’s Cupcakes make all their cakes fresh by hand each day from scratch, using only high quality ingredients so if you want to treat your Dad I would take a look now! As well as the cupcakes they also have Father’s Day brownies as well as larger cakes to choose from and there is also a vegan and gluten free option so no one needs to miss out on these delicious treats.

I would most definitely recommend Lola’s Cupcakes as a Father’s Day gift, especially if your Dad lives further away and you can’t deliver his gift in person this year.

To order the Father’s Day cupcakes (or any other kind cakes) head on over to their website here

RRP from £22 available until the 16th June



Lottie Shaw’s

Birthday Gifts, Father's Day, Food & Drink, Gifts for Him

Disclaimer: We received this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own

It can be tricky coming up with the perfect Father’s Day gift but if your Dad has a sweet tooth then a delicious tin of biscuits and cakes will go down a treat and if you are lucky he might even share them with you!

Lottie Shaw’s is a Yorkshire family business that began 100 years ago with Lottie’s great aunts, Mary & Edith Harrison. When Lottie’s parents were running the business Lottie spent a lot of time in the bakery enjoying the treasured family recipes and decided to revive one of her favourites – The Yorkshire Parkin cake. This cake was traditionally enjoyed at bonfire night and Lottie, convinced the cake was a winner then created the Lottie Shaw’s brand.

If you look at their website, you will see that Lottie Shaw’s have lots of fantastic gifts and the Cyclist’s Treat Tin will make a perfect gift for anyone who enjoys cycling. The individually wrapped flapjacks are perfect for putting in your pocket when out cycling and will give you a welcome energy boost when you are climbing those hills. The tin has a beautiful decorative card sleeve depicting a couple of cyclists enjoying the countryside which has been drawn by Yorkshire artist Eleanor Tomlinson. I especially like the detail in the picture, look closely and you’ll spot a couple of Lottie Shaw’s biscuit wrappers! Open the tin and you will find a souvenir card along with a selection of Lottie Shaw’s award winning treats and the all important Father’s Day card.  

The cakes and biscuits inside the tin are  

5 x Yorkshire Parkin biscuits 135g

4 x Triple Chocolate Biscuits 140g

2 x Millionaire Shortbread 70g

1 x Traditional Oat Flapjack 100g

1 x Oat Flapjack with Chocolate Chips 100g

All the cakes and biscuits are individually wrapped and have nice long best before dates – although there was no chance of them lasting that long in our house! They all looked delicious, the hardest part was deciding which one to try first! In the end we decided to try the triple chocolate biscuits and settled down with a cup of tea! The biscuit was nice and chocolately and just melted in my mouth and I was unable to stop at just one!!

My favourites had to be the flapjacks which were flavoursome and incredibly moreish – they were moist and satisfyingly crumbly.

I love Parkin but had never tried a Parkin biscuit before and these Yorkshire Parkin biscuits absolutely scrumptious, they have the warming, spicy flavours of ginger, black treacle and syrup along with the flecks of oatmeal that I love in the cake but are in a biscuit form. My husband described them as a cross between a ginger biscuit and a Hobnob which sums them up quite nicely and of course they are great for dunking in a cup of tea!

I was extremely impressed with the Cyclist’s Treat Tin, all the treats were absolutely delicious and I think it is a lovely gift to purchase for someone special. I really like that it came with a Father’s Day card and the beautiful illustration which I have already framed.

At a cost of £19.95 it’s an excellent price for such a fantastic gift and I would definitely recommend it for your loved ones.

Lottie Shaw’s gifts range from £12.95 for Letterbox treats all the way through to £100 for seriously good large baskets and all gifts come with a personalised gift card.

If you subscribe to their newsletter you can also get 10 % off – what are you waiting for!!

Roberts Dorset Gift Boxes

alcoholic drinks, Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Father's Day, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gluten Free, Valentine's Day Gifts, Vegan

Valentine’s Day is on the horizon and whilst there are plenty of gifts available for women it can prove a little more difficult finding the perfect gift for the special man in your life. In my experience alcohol and food always go down a treat and if your husband/boyfriend loves snacking – especially on pork crackling, nuts and cider then Roberts Dorset is the place to go!

With products suitable for those following a Keto or Vegan lifestyle they have a fantastic selection of gift boxes that can be customised to suit the recipient.

Robert’s Dorset began back in 2011 in the family kitchen, initially selling their products at their local Dorset markets.  They quickly discovered that their snacks were incredibly popular and worked hard to create new flavours, now supplying their tasty snacks all over the country.

I have always liked pork crackling but never realised there was a choice of flavour beyond “pork”. I was therefore intrigued to discover that Roberts Dorset produce a variety of flavours – Sea Salt, Salt & Vinegar, Extreme Naga Chilli, BBQ, Salt & Pepper, Sage & Onion and Garlic and have enjoyed sampling them all.

These delicious savoury bites are incredibly moreish and I haven’t been able to stop myself dipping into the pots for my crackling fix. The crackling is crunchy and crisp with the slightly pork fat taste, that I remember so well from Friday nights at the local pub!  

As well as the crackling the Scrumptious Combination gift box also included a couple of tubs of  peanuts (sea salt and sweet chilli) along with a couple of cans of St Austell Brewery “Proper Job” IPA.

I enjoyed all the flavours but be warned the Naga Chilli flavour is incredibly hot and not for the faint hearted. I would say that all the flavours are suitable snacks to have alongside drinks as a change to the more traditional crisps and peanuts. The tubs are recyclable but have a good fitting lid which makes them very useful if kept. Eaten in conjunction with the excellent St Austell Brewery “Proper Job” IPA’s they make a perfect Valentine’s treat.

So soon after the indulgence of Christmas some might wonder about the healthiness of pork crackling but as they are gluten free, high in protein and MSG free, surely they can count as a health food!?

The many different options that Roberts Dorset offer mean that there is something for everyone. They make a superb gift idea – something that little bit different and a nice change from the standard box of chocolate or smellies.

Take a look at the fantastic selection of Gift boxes here, prices start at £17.50

Menkind Three Cheeses Cheese and Cracker Crate Review

Birthday Gifts, Christmas, Father's Day, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for teachers

Disclaimer: We received this product for the purpose of the review but all words and opinions are our own

Menkind are a gift and gadget retailer that’s all about fun, original gifts. I always struggle coming up with interesting ideas for presents but Menkind take the hassle out of buying with their fantastic selection of gifts. I guarantee you will go from having absolutely no idea what to buy to struggling to choose from the amazing selection of gifts available on their website! Cool gadgets, licenced merchandise, food and drink gifts, personalised gifts, novelty gifts, you name it, and you’ll find it on their site.

When I am unsure what to buy someone, I generally plump for a food gift as they are always well received. I am a huge fan of cheese and crackers and was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review The Three Cheeses Cheese and Crackers Crate. This cheese hamper retails at £25.00 and is packed full of tasty treats.

The box was well packaged and once I had opened it, I was delighted to see all the cheese goodies inside. If you are a cheese lover, you will understand just how exciting it is opening a box of cheese, crackers and chutney!

My crate contained three types of flavoured cheddar – Premium Vintage Cheddar, Crunchy Red Onion and Sage and Worcester Sauce & Shallots and to compliment the cheese it also includes a Red onion Marmalade, Cheddar & Red onion biscuits, Three fruit crackers and a pack of dry roasted peanuts.

The cheeses were all really tasty and with a variety of flavours gave plenty of options to try. Of course in the interest of giving a fair review we did have to open all the cheeses and crackers at once! The chutney complemented all three cheeses and the Three Fruit Crackers were so tasty, I will definitely be buying those again!

Thanks to Menkind gift buying is no longer a chore – next time I need a one I will be heading straight to their website.

Delivery is free over £50 and standard delivery is £3.99 (3-5 days) and don’t worry if you are on the last minute as there is also the option of express tracked delivery.