“What the Fudge?” Zzang! Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Featured Articles, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 0 comments

Composition: Milk Chocolate Fudge, Muscovado Caramel, and Malted Milk Cream Dipped in Dark Chocolate.
Producer: Zingerman’s Bakery.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: $6.00 on Zingerman’s website.

Zingerman’s Bakery is known for its gourmet candy bars, using only the freshest, most flavorful ingredients to elevate traditional combinations. That type of gourmet take is apparent as soon as you bite into the “What the Fudge?” Zzang Bar, which features both big flavors and delicious contrasts in textures. Although you’re really just eating chocolate and caramel, the bar is still masterfully crafted into three layers: a cookie-like, chewy top layer of what seems to be pure sugar (my favorite of the three), then a creamy layer of vanilla and caramel, and finally the heavy, rich fudge. The vanilla is especially notable, as it enhances the caramel with some nuance, tempering the potentially cloying sweetness. All of this is topped off by a nice dark chocolate coating that helps to add a stronger cocoa taste and a bit more balance.

The “What the Fudge?” Bar is, however, much simpler than the Zingerman’s Original Bar I recently reviewed, and it tastes much more like a traditional, overly sweet candy bar. This bar is so sweet, in fact, that the palate is easily overwhelmed. All the ingredients are sweet by themselves—the fudge, the malted milk cream, the caramel—and the problem only gets worse when they are combined. I thoroughly enjoyed the bar’s nuanced texture and flavors, but those are all overshadowed in the end by the extreme sweetness.

As a side note, I also enjoyed the presentation of this bar, which is nearly identical to that of all the Zzang Bars. I’ll spare the details and just refer to my previous review of the Zzang Original Bar.

While the Zzang “What the Fudge?” Bar isn’t perfect, it is one of the most flavorful takes on fudge I’ve ever had. That still might not justify the heavy $6 price tag for something so simple, however.

Presentation: 4.0/5.0
Taste: 3.5/5.0. Great for a candy bar, but not really “gourmet” in any way.
Flavor: 3.0/5.0
Value: 2.5/5.0
Verdict: 3.2/5.0