Candy Kit Review – Pudding

Shoonie got this for me several months ago, as an early birthday present. I’m just getting around to blogging our misadventures surrounding it.

Brand: Kracie

Cost: ask Shoonie

 

Not including the tray, the kit contains the following:

 

Click for RRCherrypie’s tutorial

1. Pudding (not pictured)
2. Caramel Sauce
3. Orange slices
4. Strawberry
5. Whipped cream
6. Candy-coated chocolate decorations
7. Wafer
8. Spoon

 

I appreciate that the packets in this kit contain drawings of their respective items, which made them easier to identify. Maybe the manufacturer is aware that non-Japanese speakers are buying these kits.

 

The pudding mold has a fill line on the inside. According to the instructions, you need to fill the water up to the line. Then, you stir the pudding 60 times.

60 times.

60. Times.

60. TIMES.

Apparently, Shoonie has actually purchased the macaron kit. I left the professional stirring to her, while I took care of the whipped cream.

The orange and strawberry proceeded without incident. The only thing we did differently, was mixing the strawberry directly into the mold. We didn’t see a point in stirring the powder in the well, and then transferring it when it was already big enough.

After 10 minutes, it was time to remove the pudding.

Or so we thought.

Plop.

Hm, wait, this looks familiar…

 

Shoonie was determined, of course. She decided to pop the pudding back in and stir it a bit more. We didn’t count the stirs the first time, so maybe we could to stir it now. We also took some time to question our lives up to this point.

 

Whyyyyyyyy?!

We decided to make do with what we had created: a “western” pudding. (Has a creamy consistency, rather than solid) Shoonie made it into a heart, and Top Hat suggested swirling the caramel sauce on top, like latte art. It actually looked cute!

 

At least the fruits turned out okay.

Here is the final result. Shoonie used the Wafer and whipped cream to make a nice arrow.

 

Overall Verdict

Difficulty: Medium

I wanted to give this kit a “hard” rating, purely for the pudding outcome. But then the pudding turned out cute, so it was forgiven. Once again, this kit had drawings on the packet, so we knew which was which.

 

Taste: 8/10

Despite all our failures, this kit tasted pretty good. Orange-flavoured packets in candy kits tend to have a watered-down, rind taste to them. And sadly, the orange was not exempt.

The pudding tasted like vanilla pudding. I expected egg custard, like my favourite recipe. Whipped cream tasted like whipped cream.

 

Overall verdict: 7/10, how many stirs?!

Looking at RRCherryPie’s tutorial, we were actually supposed to stir the pudding 80 times. Therefore, the kit lost overall points for providing false information.

Thank goodness for creative Shoonies and Top Hats. While browsing the pudding kit, I found one picture in which someone had put the soft pudding into a mini cup, and decorated it like a parfait. Maybe I’ll try that with real custard pudding one day.

Don’t worry, next post is a plushie post. ^_^

How do you like your pudding? Egg, chocolate, yarn? Comment below?

 

Pika, so happy~

Candy Kit Review – Ramen

I bought three candy kits for Shoonie, from Anime North. Here is the first one.

Brand: Kracie

Cost: $8.00 from Vendor’s Alley (Anime North 2017)

 

We were eager to try this kit. After the great hamburger kit of 2014, we couldn’t wait to torture ourselves again, with a kit that tasted like the real thing!

This weekend was Shoonie’s Graduation Weekend. After enjoying home-cooked Japanese-style curry, and Uncle Tetsu’s famous cheesecake for dessert, we settled down to make yet another take on the blooper reel that is our lives.

Click for RRCherrypie’s tutorial

This kit contains:

1. Broth/soup
2. Noodles
3. Filling/garnish
4. Gyoza (dumpling) dough
5. Piping bag
6. Toothpick
7. Tork (Sorry, Shoonie. Maybe next time. 😦 )

 

The plastic tray contains four sections: one section is a stamp/mold for a fish cake (naruto) and boiled egg. (Tamago) Another is a dough press for the gyoza. It looks like the thing we use to make neures. (Sp? They’re like coconut-filled empanadas) The rectangular section is for mixing the noodles, and you can probably tell which one is for serving the ramen. Give up? It’s… the rectangular section.

After cutting all the sections out, we went straight to the gyoza dough. To make the gyoza, you must divide the dough into two sections. Don’t forget to remove some bits to make the egg, and fish cake. How much? Well, however much fits the mold!

Or so we thought… we totally missed the circle guidelines on the piping bag. Luckily we went back with the gyoza and remade them, even if it meant tearing the first one open to dump the fillings.

The gyoza dough was nice and soft, unlike the seaweed from the sushi kit. Perhaps it’s because I bought this one fresh?

It was fun to watch Shoonie pipe the noodles. And the final product didn’t look too bad, either.

 

Overall Verdict

Difficulty: Easy

Aside from the mini-measuring derps, this was an easy kit. The inclusion of pictures on the packets helped, as well.

Taste: 7/10

The broth doesn’t taste like real broth at all. In fact, it tastes like grape…very sweet grape. It wasn’t a great idea to sip on the leftover broth. XP The noodles and gyoza dough taste like Ramune soda, or “candy sprite” as Peck Peck calls it.

The gyoza filling tasted like cola. The only thing I didn’t like was the texture: I expected popping candy, yet this stuff…. melted in your mouth, and left a cold feeling on your tongue. If I recall, that’s usually a sign of artificial sweeteners being used. We discarded the remaining filling.

 

Overall verdict: 7/10 Beware the cola.

I was pleasantly surprised that the soup and noodles tasted like candy, rather than grape noodles in actual broth. It appears only the original kit used real broth. However, the broth is now incredibly sweet, and a bit thick.

Candy ramen isn’t enough to sate cravings, so keep a pack of 40 cent Mr. Noodles handy!

Would you try this kit? Have you tried the original ramen kit? What do you think the other two candy kits are? Comment below!

Pika, so happy~