Is there anything as joyous as getting brownies sent to you in the post? Particularly when they’re being delivered by Royal Mail, as in the current climate it’s an extra special surprise as to whether they’ll arrive on time the next day, or two weeks later, and the guessing keeps you on your toes. Essie Bakes, who specialises in free from and reduced sugar bakes, got in touch and sent me her recently launched ‘The Vegan Box‘. The selection of vegan sweet treats felt like it could be the ideal treat for people trying Veganuary this year, so I wanted to share my verdict!
We ate the mini chocolate fudge cake first as I imagined it had the shortest shelf-life. I say ‘we’, because although this is just one slice of cake, it’s a hefty slice, and easily served myself and my boyfriend. The chocolate was so rich and decadent, I felt like this was exactly how a chocolate fudge cake should be. The moist sponge was topped with chocolate ganache, berry jam and chocolate shavings, in the perfect ratio of toppings to cake. We started on a high note and this was probably my favourite thing in the box.
Sadly I don’t think the little packet of honeycomb had fared as well thanks to the postal delays. It had absorbed some moisture in transit so was a bit chewier rather than the crunchy sweet treat I was expecting. That said, after a couple of bites, it was enough sugar for me anyway, so my boyfriend polished off the rest. It kind of got stuck in your teeth and for me it wasn’t really enjoyable enough for the amount of sugar – although Jamie liked it well enough.
Next up was a packet of eight chocolate chunk cookies. They’re more of a biscuit in terms of size but they definitely had that slightly chewy, cookie-like texture. I love a classic choc chip cookie and these ones didn’t disappoint. The only problem was they really didn’t last very long and Jamie didn’t get much of a look in with these ones!
Lastly we tried the nutty chocolate brownies. As with the cake, the chocolate was really rich. They had survived well in transit but they weren’t too firm, still having the fudginess that I like in a brownie. The two pieces were very generously sized, particularly as they were pretty rich. I actually really liked that they weren’t too sweet though, with the walnuts on top making a surprisingly welcome change from a lot of the more sickly biscoff/salted caramel treats that are fashionable at the moment.
The vegan box is £19.90. The box is nicely presented and everything comes wrapped in biodegradable packaging. It is a little on the expensive side compared to some of the postal baking boxes I’ve ordered, but I liked that you got to try a bit of everything, rather than having to decide whether you wanted just a box of brownies or cookies, which is what most places seem to offer. It would definitely make a cute gift for a loved one during Veganuary and I’m sure it’d be much appreciated! Essie has also kindly offered readers of this blog a discount code – enjoy 10% off the Vegan Box by entering the code VEGANEATSOXFORD10 at checkout. Please do let me know if you try it!
The vegan box was a PR product sent to me by Essie Bakes. All reviews on this blog are an honest account of the product/service.
Vegan Eats Oxford 
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