Saturday treats (DF, LF, V, GF)

Today I take a step away from tea and towards…milkshake! (And chocolate…and cakes…and biscuits…as always!)

I had the pleasure of visiting ‘The Pudding Palace’, one of the latest dessert restaurants to hit Peterborough, but with a twist.  This is the only one I have discovered so far that has a selection of dairy and gluten free treats.  Fret not if you don’t live in or near Peterborough and have no plans to visit – it has been opened by the owner of ‘Lady chocolate’ who has spent years creating a range of allergen-free chocolates, so there is still an opportunity to purchase them online.

The Pudding Palace has not been open long, and whilst it is currently take-away only, there are plans to open up an area for dining in.

There are a large range of milkshakes – here I am enjoying a gluten- and dairy-free Jaffa Cake one.

I think the biggest bonus with regards to the milkshakes is the variety of milk you can choose from.  Today I chose Lactofree milk, which is cow’s milk that has been treated to remove the lactose (see my About section for more information).  However, you can also choose coconut or soya milk, which is great news for milk allergy sufferers or vegans.  If that wasn’t enough, standard cow’s milk is also available, which is great when you are taking a friend or loved one who is not lactase-challenged.

There are many options for flavouring your milkshake, including gluten-free options for our coeliac friends.  I had the choice of cherry bakewell, chocolate brownie, white chocolate or ginger nut biscuit.  If you are not avoiding gluten, there are flavours such as Oreo, which are fine if you don’t eat lactose.

I was right to choose the Jaffa Cake flavour today and thoroughly enjoyed my milkshake.  It was creamy and tasted very much of orange chocolate – one of my favourites.  The texture was fantastic and blended well.  There was definitely no difference between this and it’s gluten/lactose-filled counterpart.

In addition to the milkshake, I had to treat myself to some delicious chocolates.  Well, it’d be rude not to really!

As you can see, these two pictures clearly contain different chocolate selections.  This is because I had a little treat last weekend as well…!  So I thought this would be a good way to show the lovely presentation of the chocolates and what they look like close-up, as well as giving an idea of the variety available.

The flavours on sale can vary, but there is a fantastic range of these beautiful handmade chocolates on offer.  So far I have sampled the following:

• Dairy-free milk and white chocolate Lego shapes
• Coconut cups
• Chocolate truffles
• Violet, strawberry and mint creams
• Café-au-lait white  chocolates
• Orange creams
• Orange and pistachio

I don’t have a bad word to say about these chocolates.  The flavours are delicious and there is a real variety in the tastes.  In addition, the textures are spot-on, with creamy and fondant-filled centres that wouldn’t be out of place in a box of standard diary chocolates.  It is wonderful to have a selection of chocolates like those you would be able to enjoy if you were able to eat dairy and I feel that this is one product that there is not enough of on the market.  A real treat.

My personal favourites were the chocolate truffles and orange creams.  White chocolate is always tricky to get right when making a dairy-free version, but these are probably the best I have tried so far.  Lots of the chocolates are soya free as well as dairy, gluten and nut free.

As I have mentioned, you may be able to buy the chocolates even if you don’t live in Peterborough.   Check out Lady Chocolate’s twitter here:

https://twitter.com/myladychocolate?lang=en-gb

For more on the Pudding Palace, visit Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ThePuddingPalace%20/