For some there is therapy, for others there is chocolate

What has happened to Cadbury Milk Tray?  I was so excited to receive that large purple box on valentine day, I was actually salivating at the thought of getting my teeth into their delicious centres but what a disappointment.

The most obvious change is the coating used to wrap each centre.  I don't know what has been used but it is not Cadbury milk chocolate.  The coating has more in common with the cheapest, waxiest, cooking faux-chocolate covering than it has with a Cadbury chocolate button.  And don't tell me it is my taste buds because I do not have this problem with a flake or a bar of dairy milk.

As for the centres, where do I start?  English chocolate recipes for the English please. If I want to eat American nauseously sugary, bland concoctions, then I will import them for myself.

Let me real off the disappointing contents of the 360g box for you;

1. Hazelnut Swirl - the fact that Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate has NOT been used, makes this lump of wax inedible.  This options is as far away from a UK milk chocolate as it is possible to get.
2. Surprise Parcel- well this was a surprise.  White 'chocolate' covered in 'milk chocolate'.  A better description would be white bland wax covered with brown bland wax.  If you expect to bite into a creamy milky bar centre, forget it.  I have no idea which European country is responsible for this but it is not based on a UK recipe.  How have Cadbury fallen so far from the target?
3. Apple Crunch - where the heck did this come from?  No flavour at all.  I anticipated a tangy English brambly apple but got nothing.  What my mouth received was a crunchy sugar grit, not white chocolate as promised, and no discernible flavour.  Apparently, this one was specially crafted to celebrate 100 years of Milk Tray.  Can I ask crafted by who?  Do Cadbury no longer employ tasters?  Did someone switch an approved recipe with one from the junk box?  There was nothing wrong the Turkish delight it replaced.  
4. Orange Truffle - misleading.  A truffle is traditionally a fresh cream ganache but this Cadbury orange truffle centre is quite a firm, orange flavoured disappointment.  Had the centre harked back to the original orange oil based Terry's Chocolate Orange, the misuse of the word truffle could have been forgiven but unfortunate, this centre comes from the Polish artificial chocolate orange era.
5. Strawberry Temptation.  Okay but not the best.  The centre is less of a strawberry fondant cream and more of pale strawberry flavoured nose-bleed.  The consistency just was not there. 
6. Salted Caramel Charm.  Why?  There is nothing wrong with a traditional English toffee.  If it is not broken, do not fix it.  Salted caramel everything is not a move forward.  Plus, this is a hard toffee and definitely not a caramel as described.
7. Perfect Praline.  The Belgians have nothing to fear from Cadbury.  This one is an uninspiring, gritty let down.  It is neither perfect nor a true praline.  Have Cadbury not heard of the Trade Description Act?
8. Caramel Softy.  This is okay at a pinch but what ever charm the centre may have is destroyed by the cheap chocolate substitute surrounding it.  Heads should roll at Cadbury.  
9. Fudge Duet.  I agree with the vanilla flavoured fudge description given in the guide, but challenge the 'covered with milk chocolate' part.
10. Truffle Heart.  Another trade description foul I am afraid.  Double whammy of wax unfortunately.     

Had my husband not have purchased these from a well know supermarket, I would have sworn this box came from a counterfeit, street market.  Boring box of bad - big valentine thumbs down rip off from Cadbury

Cadbury Milk Tray 360g

I have listened to all of the flapping from confectionery companies regarding a shortage of cocoa. However, there is no excuse for marketing rubbish such as these Milk Tray.  After all, lets face it,  the only reason there is a cocoa shortage is because cocoa farmers are switching to other, more profitable, crops.  Had those in the confectionery business offered farmers a fair price for their product, the farmers would not have been forced into taking such action.  Consumers are being sold shockingly substandard junk in order for incompetent managers to continue to rake in excessive remuneration, and so greedy shareholders get extreme returns, rather than a moderate one.