 | About time too, I'm sure many of you are thinking as you spy this weeks biscuit, the Cadbury's Finger. How has such a classic remained un-reviewed for so long? Explain your self Nicey, and make it good.
Well the first thing I would like to trot out by way of defence is that I was brought up to view the Cadbury's Finger as some form of decadent luxury item. There were so many things about it which elevated to the level of oppulent living.
To begin with, it came in a box, with little compartments to hold a couple of bunches of fingers. When all other biscuits in my universe at the time were wrapped in cellophane, possibly with a bit of cardboard in there for support, the Cadbury Finger seemed very grand. I felt Cadbury's Finger moved in the same social circles as the After Eight Mint, even turning up at some the same events such as Boxing Day tea with the turkey sandwiches and mince pies.
Then there was its crowning glory and simulataneous strength and weakness, an entire and seemless coat of Cadbury's chocolate. Of course this made it an object of sweet desire. However, in the wrong hands, typically anybody under the age of ten, it could be used as an object of destruction. In this case the destruction of clean clothes, upholstery, carpets and so on. In a competitive envirnment such as a plate of them at a birthday party, things were actually fairly safe as it was imperative to all taking part that the chocolate fingers were scoffed in record time. This was to ensure your fair quota.
In slightly less pressured environments, such as being a bit spoiled by one of your Aunties, things could get a bit messy. One could experiment with techniques for chocolate removal safely going unoticed in cacophony of gossip. Nibbling, licking and slurping all resulted in some form of unwelcome post biscuit personal cleansing. Frequently taking the form of a damp dish cloth in the face.
So oddly I've never really spent my adult life buying Cadbury's fingers, but not because I don't like them. Probably more to do with not having sufficiently auspicious tea drinking occasions to merit their appearence. Also melted chocolate plays havoc with ones keyboard.
When I bought the review pack I had quite a time tracking them down, due to their spawning of several subspecies. There are now giant fingers, mini fingers, white chocolate fingers, caramel, crunchy fingers and combinations of said. I wanted proper straight forward original ones, which I eventually found.
My suspicions were aroused immediately by the box, which was a long rectangular affair rather than the squarish ones of old. Inside the sheet of shiny dark brown paper over the top of the compartments, is no longer to be found. What we do find is that today's Cadburys finger is a much smaller affair than its forbear, hence the different shaped box. Perhaps the effort of giving birth to giant and mini ones has left it stunted. Now this could simply be the Wagonwheel effect at work but I'm sure that they are genuinely smaller. However, they still seem to taste the same which was a welcome relief. The pale biscuit core quietly goes about its business, providing a crunchy vehicle on which the chocolate can ride. Its always known its place and doesn't attempt to interfere with the flavour of Cadbury's chocolate. However, the role of the biscuit shouldn't be downplayed given the number of people who have told us that they like to use theirs as a drinking straw. It begs the question: Which came first, the Aussie Tim Tam slam or British Cadbury Finger Straw?
Now to its performance as a finger. Really its main rivals in the finger arena are the Rich Tea finger and the Sponge finger. The rich tea finger is actually very poor when it comes to looking like a finger, and therefore makes a woeful finger substitute. The sponge finger, does much better looking like brutish but sugar frosted fingers. As such it can lend its self to structural duties in desserts and the like. It also does a good job of confounding the whole naive biscuits go soft cakes go hard argument. As for the Cadbury finger its very possibly a bit too slender, however, it can often surpass itself as an integral part of birthday cakes, helping to create wooden forts, pirate ships and even spiders legs. For this alone it deserves our utmost respect and deference.
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