Cadbury Snack Shortcake Bar: the single 40g bar explained

The most interesting thing in this bar comes last: once the milk chocolate has melted away, the plain shortcake base leaves a faint savoury note behind. Everything else about it, from storage to the drink beside it, follows from how sweet the first few seconds are.

Chocolate first, biscuit second

On a coated bar the chocolate is most of what you taste, and here it is Cadbury milk chocolate: soft-melting, sweet and dairy-led rather than dark or snappy. The coating melts first, so the opening of each bite is sugar and dairy before the crumb has any say. The shortcake underneath is plain and firm, there for structure more than flavour, with no caramel, cream or fruit layer in the way.

That plainness is the reason to choose it. With nothing else going on, the small amount of salt in a short dough shows through at the end of the mouthful and pushes back at the sweetness, so the finish is cleaner than you get from a filled bar. Anyone who finds coated bars cloying may be pleasantly surprised. Per the published allergen statement it contains wheat and milk and may contain nuts.

Why a single bar rather than a multipack

We also stock Snack Shortcake as a multipack of five 20g bars, and the two suit different habits. The multipack is for the lunchbox rota and the working week. The single 40g bar settles the matter in advance: one wrapper, one sitting, and no half-eaten packet left behind to tempt you later. The appeal is the portion, not the quantity, and it slips into a bag without fuss.

It belongs to the same family as the other Cadbury biscuit lines we stock, the Fingers, Mini Fingers, Animals and Timeout wafers, but the Snack is the one with shortcake under the chocolate. If you want a light, airy bite, choose a Timeout. If you want a little biscuit to chew on beneath the chocolate, and a finish that is not pure sugar, this is the bar to reach for.

Keeping it, and what to pour

Room temperature is where this chocolate behaves as intended. A spell in the fridge takes away the soft melt and leaves a waxy snap, while one forgotten in a warm handbag blooms, its surface going grey and chalky. Bloom is cosmetic, but it dulls the texture, so a cool cupboard out of direct sun is the right home. Do not dunk it either: hot tea seizes the coating and it slides off.

Pair it with something strong and unsweetened. The classic partner is a builder's-strength brew, milk in, because its tannin cuts straight through milk chocolate, and a black, dark coffee or an espresso does the same. A mocha, by contrast, only repeats the chocolate back at you. For a little lift instead, an Earl Grey sharpens the finish without adding any sugar.

The packs we stock

• Cadbury Snack Shortcake Milk Chocolate Biscuits Bar, 40g (barcode 7622210808981)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Cadbury Snack Shortcake Milk Chocolate Biscuits Bar, 40g (barcode 7622210808981) says it contains wheat (gluten) and milk, and it may contain nuts. Treat the allergen details here as a snapshot: the UK wrapper on the bar you buy will show any later changes.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The bar's own wrapper is the final word.

What to drink with it

• Clipper Organic Fairtrade Earl Grey Tea, 80 Unbleached Tea Bags 200g: an Earl Grey, taken without sugar, whose bergamot sharpens the salty finish without adding sweetness.
• Twinings the Earl Grey Decaffeinated Plant Based, 40 Tea Bags 100g: the same bergamot contrast in a decaffeinated cup, for a bar eaten in the evening.
• L'Or Nespresso Compatible Espresso Supremo Aluminium Coffee Intensity 10, 10 Capsules: a short, strong espresso in Nespresso-compatible capsules, which cuts through milk chocolate cleanly.

Elsewhere in the Cadbury range

• Cadbury Animals Multipack Mini Chocolate Biscuits, 5 Biscuits 99.5g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Milk Chocolate Biscuits Tray, 189g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Milk Chocolate Covered Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fingers Salted Caramel Flavour Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Fingers White Chocolate Covered Biscuits, 114g
• Cadbury Mini Fingers Multipack Chocolate Biscuits, 5 Biscuits 96.5g

The full range is on the Cadbury brand page.

FAQ

What does the Cadbury Snack Shortcake bar taste of? Mostly sweet, soft Cadbury milk chocolate, with a plain shortcake base that adds structure and a faint salty finish.

Is the 40g bar the same as the multipack bars? It is the Snack Shortcake idea sold as one 40g wrapper, where the multipack holds five 20g bars. Pick the single for a one-off treat and the multipack for a week of lunchboxes.

Should the bar go in the fridge? No. Chilling takes away the soft melt that is the point of this chocolate; keep it at room temperature and out of the sun.

What happens if you dunk it? The coating seizes in hot tea and slides off into the cup, so keep the bar beside the drink rather than in it.

What allergens does it contain? Per the published allergen statement it contains wheat and milk and may contain nuts. Check the wrapper you have, as recipes can change.

Curator's note: Let it come up to room temperature before you open it, then eat it slowly enough to catch the salt at the end. That last note is the whole reason I pick this over a filled bar. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Cadbury Snack Shortcake Bar: the single 40g bar explained

More from the tea wiki

• Tea and Biscuits
• Biscuit Dunking Physics: The Real Science
• Tea Pairing Principles: Reason, Don't Memorise
• Tea With Cake: The Pairing That Never Fails (If You Get It Right)
• Tea and Food Pairing: The Five Principles
• Tea with Chocolate: Pair by Cocoa Percentage
• Tea and Chocolate Pairing

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