REVIEW - Gu Zillionaires' Puddings

I can't be the only one who doesn't really understand Valentine's Day, can I? I'm all for showing love and affection to your partner, but I don't think you need a designated day in the middle of February in which to do so. I also don't understand why shops and supermarkets seem to think that all women would LOVE an enormous teddy bear as a gift (sure, they look cute, but they take up a lot of space).

Still, I do appreciate Valentine's Day because it means that there's always lots of nice food on offer in the shops. There's also usually an abundance of half-price chocolate in the days that follow. Tesco have currently got Gu puddings on offer for £1.50 (half price!) and, fancying an indulgent treat, I picked up the Zillionaire puddings the other day, which I haven't tried before. With 2 in a pack, these are an ideal Valentine's dessert for a couple - but, for singletons like myself, it's even better because it means you don't have to share.

Valentine's treat for one

Millionaire's shortbread is one of my absolute favourite sweet treats so I was excited to see how it worked in a dessert. They sounded amazing: "chocolate biscuit crumb, salted caramel made with sea salt from Guerande in western France, treacle-infused cheesecake and our richest ever ganache" and I couldn't wait to get stuck in.

The puddings certainly looked very attractive, served in the classic Gu ramekin with a sprinkling of a golden something on top. The ganache was delicious - thick and rich and it melted beautifully in the mouth. It was complemented really well by the cheesecake which, although I admittedly didn't really detect to be 'treacle-infused', was lovely - very smooth and sweet.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the bottom half of the pudding quite as much as the top... firstly the caramel wasn't really to my taste; I found the flavour slightly strange and a bit unpleasant. However this may well just be my personal preference, as I will openly admit that I never succumbed to the salted caramel hype and have always preferred regular caramel. What was most disappointing for me was the biscuit crumb - I found it slightly bitter and dry (although the caramel did help to moisten it a bit). I know it was technically described as a "crumb", but I think it was just too crumbly and a firmer biscuit base would have been much nicer.

Still, these are minor points and I'm just being picky - I overall really enjoyed the pudding and was left feeling pretty satisfied after finishing it. I'm not sure I would buy them again at full price, but at £1.50 for 2 I definitely would! I think it would be worth it for the ganache alone. Overall I'll give these a 7 out of 10 and I'll definitely be considering trying out a few more of the Gu range in the future.