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Id like to start off by saying, I really like baking and more importantly, I REALLY like cakes and all things sweet. Both making them and eating them and so to do both of my children.
I was over the moon when I was picked to be in this group to trial this product and I gave the honor of opening the box full of goodies to my kids. I know you said on your instruction pack that I would have more than I need but not in my house. In my house when it comes to Nestle Carnation Condensed Milk or indeed the Caramel all ya need is a tin opener and a spoon. It’s just so tasty and we wasted no time getting to work.
I use the word "we" loosely throughout my review as although the kids did chip in with the cooking it was mainly during ad breaks or while waiting for Skylanders to load. They act more as spoon/ bowl lickers and tasters generally. First on our list was Banoffee Pie. I actually had some bananas that I needed to use up quickly so smothering them in caramel and cream was a great way to make sure they didn’t go to waste. I found that it was a quick and easy dessert to make and I will make this again. The kids just loved it. Instead of using a big pie dish to make it in, I used old Gu Pud glass dishes I have kept and a few ramekins and made individual portions which is very handy.
Next we made the Smartie Cupcakes. I’d never used condensed milk in cupcakes before so I wanted to give it a go. I was a bit worried about the icing as I’m just no good at any icing that involves butter. In fact, there should be a law against me making any icing with butter in it, it’s just not my strong point. I found the mixture was really easy to prepare and the finished product was scrumptious and much to my amazement, the icing didn’t turn out half bad. I didn’t have any mini smarties but I did have mini Easter Eggs so I put one egg on top of each iced bun and they will be a nice gift when we go to visit Granny at the weekend.
Overall, I’m very happy with the product, I found it easy to work with and the instructions were easy to follow. I’ve had a look at the recipes on the Nestlé’s website and there’s loads I want to try so I will definitely use both of the products again. I’ve made the Key Lime Pie many times before and Ive also made the Millionaires’ Shortbread once. Both just to tasty for words.
Good luck to all the other ladies taking part and thanks again to Mummypages for letting me loose with my mixer.
Happy Easter and Happy Baking :)

tonight I made the quick banoffee recipe. Very simple instructions but felt a bigger biscuit bas would have been nicer. The carnation caramel mix was very easy to use just spooned it onto the base and spread very easily. It is defatelysofter than the homemade filling i make using the regular carnation milk. It didnt taste synthetic as a product and for a quicky dessert very handy. The serving says for 12 and i think that is unrealistic 6 would be far more likely in our house as i had to use a smaller tn as the 9 inch was barely coveredwith the biscuiyt base so we had smaller but deeper portions that looked great.

I dont think this product would trun me from the longer method of making the filling using the reg carnation condensed milk. I am going to use the other caramel tin for the banoffee muffins and will report back. The rets of the family liked it - One of the grown ups felt it was too sweet a dessert.

When I was little my mum used to make a chocolate biscuit cake using condensed milk which we all loved in our house. I myself have used Nestlé Carnation condensed milk myself in the past when baking (usually to make fudge or a caramel sauce) but had never tried the caramel sauce so was delighted to have the opportunity to use both products for this trial.

We stared out on a school afternoon with the smarties cupcakes. The recipe was easy to follow and I was very curious to see how the cupcakes would turn out with the condensed milk as I have never used it in a recipe like this. The kids got stuck in and helped with both the cake batter and the icing and of course the spoon licking, the recipe was easy to follow. The results were delicious. We found that the cupcakes had a slightly toffee taste and had a nice sort of crunch to the top which was unusual and they will definitely be on our baking rota here. The fact that it is an all in one recipe is great. I find creaming butter and sugar so tedious!

The second recipe we tried was the banoffee pie. It really couldn't have been easier. Again the little ones helped me to crush the biscuits and mix. The nestle carnation caramel sauce is delicious. Very easy to open and spoon straight onto the base. This is the kind of dessert that could be made at very short notice for a party or dessert for a special dinner. I will be keeping a jar of this on standby in my cupboard for the next time I need a quick and easy dessert. By the way it got a huge thumbs up. My three year old called it banana-nana pie and suggested we make it with oranges (her fav fruit) next time - I'm not so sure about that!

I am going to try the strawberry cheesecake next as again I have never used condensed milk in a cheesecake before. Also the hazelnut and choc chip cookies from the carnation.co.uk website. Using these products has opened my eyes to new baking possibilities. Yumm-ee.

Love, love, love Carnation Caramel. When I moved to Ireland 12 years ago I could not find the caramel anywhere for love or money and I had to make my own or get mum to post me over a couple of tins. I am delighted that I can now find the much loved Caramel in the shops. It is a very handy item to have in the cupboard as you can whip up some really easy desserts really quick.
The first recipe we tried was the sticky toffee dessert. The recipe was easy to follow. The only problem I encounter was the soaking of the dates. As I have made this dessert before I knew to soak and then blend but it might be helpful to add this on recipe card. I really loved the Caramel sauce over the dessert. It was as easy as 1,2,3 actually just 1,2 as u just need to heat the sauce in a microwave safe bowl. Carnation Caramel will from now on be the sauce for our sticky toffee pudding.
Carnation Condensed Milk is one of the loveliest sweet treats out there. It is great to use in cheese cakes and other desserts. I have always used it to make a gooseberry pie (similar to the strawberry cheesecake) and fudge. There for the second recipe I made was the Strawberry Cheesecake. I have made my biscuit base a slight bit thicker than stated in the recipe but besides that all went well with the recipe. The recipe is so easy that I had my 8 year old son put the filling together. Even my daughter who is not a great fan of strawberries had a bit and really enjoyed it. She will however rather eat the base and the filling all on its own.
Carnation Caramel and Carnation Condensed milk is always in my store cupboard and it is a great product to use. Yes I know it is very sweet and very calorific but everything in moderation is the motto we live by and a sweet treat is always welcome at least once a week.

Hello to everyone, Happy Easter and thank you for picking me to part of this group. Thank you so much for the tin and apron as well as the 4 tins, they were a real added nice touch. I love to bake and so was aware of the Carnation Brand as I had used the Condensed Milk in a real easy recipe I am sure most moms use "Fifteens".

I could not wait until Easter to try out two recipes so I went for it

I went for the Banoffee Pie and the Strawberry Cheesecake. My husband chose the Cheesecake and I chose the Banoffee Pie as I wanted to see if using the Carnation Toffee would make it easier to make. I used the products as required and followed all the instructions with no problems.

I found making the Strawberry Cheesecake very easy to make and thought it tasted much nicer then previous made cheesecakes. The rest of the family thought I had bought if from the local bakery they thought it tasted that good. My two year old refused to taste it as he is not a strawberry fan.

The banoffee pie was the most amazing for me. I made this once before from scratch and never went there again. But this one was super easy to make, even easier for me then the Cheesecake, course I was super excited about it. I love the taste of it, not too sweet and the whole family thought it was creamy and yummy. My 2 year old loves it and wants it again.

I will continue using Nestlé Carnation products in my baking and I am super excited after seeing how many products are on the website I am really looking forward to trying the Light Lemon Tart and the Iced Easter Biscuits with my son. The tin will get used for the Smarties cupcakes after all those Smarties easter eggs have been eaten and I can get my hands on the smarties

Hi there

Thank you for choosing me to test the delicious nestle condensed milk.
To celebrate our lovely weather (freezing) I made the second recipe was a delicious strawberry cheesecake.Its the first time I made cheesecake, and worked perfect!the recipe is not complicated just take a bit longer to get ready, but with condensed milk everything is delicious and pleasant.when mixed condensed milk with soft cheese i would eat already, the taste is wonderful hummmm when I gave a little to my kids they went crazy . My little girl was cleaning the can of condensed milk with the spoon, the harder it was to take from her the spoon and tin.We always use nestle condensed milk in our deserts and continue using more and more.I saw in Dunnes Store in offer this week can of condensed milk for 2 euro and i got a few more just case.
My desert is lovely and delicious!
Nestle carnation condensed milk grew up with me and now my children is growing with it
Thanks for give a opportunity to take part of the lovely Nestle carnation trial.

I have to say I was very excited to be involved in this trial. I bake a lot for my kids, and always enjoy making desserts to go with Sunday lunch, so it was a bonus to be able to cover both areas with the recipe cards included. In the past I used to make fudge using condensed milk, so I am familiar with the product, and I have used Carnation before. I've also previously made Banofee pie using cooked condensed milk turned to caramel. Since then, I've also just made my own caramel sauce from scratch, so I was interested to see what the tinned caramel would taste like compared to more expensive 'dulce to leche' products .

I decided to use the condensed milk for the Smarties cupcakes, mainly because I have never baked with it before and was intrigued how they would turn out. The ingredients went together very smoothly thanks to the milk and buttery spread where there would usually be sugar and butter. The cupcakes were very consistent in texture: more like shop bought ones than my usual efforts. The cakes themselves were sweet enough from the condensed milk, but the cocoa was the dominant taste. The icing (also with condensed milk, and icing sugar, butter and cocoa) was very sweet, which my kids loved. My youngest said they were better than others I have made, the older kids said they were as nice, and my husband thought they were quite dry, but then he got them a few hours later, not straight out of the oven. I'm not sure I would go out of my way to get condensed milk just to make cupcakes, when sugar does the job, but if I happened to have some I might use the recipe again.

I went for the sticky toffee pudding recipe to test the caramel, since I'd been meaning to try a different steamed toffee pudding recipe I got a while ago anyway. This ovenbaked recipe worked well, even made in a round pyrex instead of the specified parchment lined tin. The recipe is full of dates in a batter, but chopped fine the children didn't notice! There is no caramel in the main recipe, just for the sauce, so if you have your own sticky toffee pudding recipe you are happy with, just stick with that. It was great to just empty the caramel into a pan and heat it, so I wasn't stuck at the cooker making a sauce. (I don't have a microwave, or that would be easier still). The caramel is very sickly sweet, but just cooking it for a few minutes took the edge off the sweetness. It doesn't compare to homemade or artisan jars of dulce de leche, but is quick and easy, and cheaper by far. My kids all loved it poured over the pudding. It would go just as well with vanilla icecream for a really easy dessert.

I'm looking forward to digging out an old fudge recipe for the spare tin of condensed milk, and we're saving the caramel for millionaires shortbread (caramel squares). I think it might benefit from being cooked out a bit and cooled for that though or it may be too liquid.

All in all these products are high quality and reliable and worth having in the press, especially for the sweet toothed members of the family.

I made the Banoffee Pie last Sunday for the family. It disappeared within minutes!! I had tasted Banoffee Pie before made from Carnation Caramel and had just been waiting for an excuse to try it myself. The recipe couldn't be easier to follow. My 5 year old had great fun bashing away at the Digestive Biscuits. I had to add slightly more butter onto the biscuit base. Used a smaller amount of cream also and grated plenty of chocolate onto the top of it. I will definitely make this again.
I also tried the Chocolate Cupcakes recipe on Sunday. These did not go down as well. The general view was that there was far too much cocoa powder in the bun mixture. I didn't see the added benefit of using the Condensed milk in the bun mixture. The icing was too sweet using the Condensed milk. It's unlikely I will use it in making buns again.
Thirdly, this evening I decided to try the Millionaires shortbread. I'd never made these before as I feared making the caramel for them. The recipe is so easy and quick. The caramel is delicious and using the condensed milk to make it is so easy. Two things I would change with the recipe would be a larger amount of biscuit base and using milk choolate rather than dark chocolate. Will try them again in the future as using the condensed milk makes it so easy.
Next on my list is the chocolate cheescake which I will make for Easter Sunday dessert!

Mums selected for Nestle Carnation trial
28/03/2013 15:23
I was very excited to try out the two nestle carnation products which I had previously heard of but had only used one product, the condensed milk. I usually bake several times a week and would normally make from scratch. I decided to make the chocolate cupcakes first.I had never heard of condensed milk being used in making cupcakes so I was intrigued to see how they would turn out. The recipe was easy to follow and I had one of my children helping me who is always on hand to lick the utensils when we have finished baking!! We had the cupcakes mixed and in the oven within minutes. The recipe said to use 250g of condensed milk and I was unsure of how to measure it at first as I thought it would be really sticky in the pan of the weighing scales but I poured it out and used a spatula to put it in the mixer with the rest of the ingredients. It wasn't sticky at all! The cupcakes were ready in 15 mins and they were devoured by my 3 children and their friends before I had time to let them cool and make the frosting! They had a beautiful caramel flavour and were very moist. I will definitely use this recipe again. I have also looked at the nestle website for other recipes using the products. I'm planning to make the banoffee pie at the weekend with the caramel so ill let you know how it turns out next week!

I really enjoyed trying out the Nestle Carnation products for the MummyPages mums say trial. I’ve enjoyed baking from a young age and love trying out new recipes and new variations to recipes.
I have heard about the Carnation range before, a friend of mine swears by it for making her famous gooey chocolate cake but I’d never tried it myself, generally I make things from scratch, so I was looking forward to taking a few shortcuts with the banoffee pie!
I chose to make the banoffee pie as I was going for dinner in my mother in laws and I thought shed enjoy the dessert as a thank you for having us over for dinner. I also chose to make the chocolate smarties cupcakes as I make fairy cakes regularly, working as a preschool teacher and having many nieces and nephews(my baby is still on purees, so no cakes for her yet!). I thought it would be interesting to use the condensed milk as I’d never used this ingredient in my usual cupcake recipes. While making the cupcakes and the pie I found the recipes incredibly simple and straightforward, the product was simple to use and served its purpose greatly resulting in two delicious desserts!
I was really interested as to how the condensed milk would play a part in my chocolate cupcakes as I’d never used it before. I found that they gave the cupcakes a moister texture on the inside of the cake and a crispier texture on the outside compared to my usual cupcakes, which was a really nice result. I brought the cakes around to my sister and they were very well received by the children, they loved the frosting and mini smarties.
I loved using the Carnation Caramel for my Banoffee Pie, it was so simple, no mess, no fuss and very minimal cleaning up! It was slightly sweeter than the banoffee pies I usually make however that’s not a problem for me or for anyone else who tried the pie as we all have a sweet tooth!
I will definitely try the Carnation range again asI found it a lot less stressful at clean up time and provided the desserts with a great taste and texture.
Next time I think i’ll try out the recipe for the Hot Chocolate fondant pudding from www.carnation.co.uk , as Ive always found these a bit difficult to master, so fingers crossed the Carnation Condensed milk will make my attempt successful!

What a great and easy product to use. Thank you for picking me.
We had great fun all week cooking with this product. So many receipes to choose from. There wed site is brill. Now i have to say not the most talented of cooks but this product was brill just throw it in and off u go. The cup cakes were fab never dreamed of using this product in them. Never go back to using my old simple recipe which i thought was simple but this much better and nicer.
Made an icecream i found before with this carmel and apple. O god fab. Wouldnt have tried it if i hadnt received this product for testing. Defo on my shopping list from now on. In dunnes guys on offer at the moment.. I have stocked up on it.
Made banoffee pie. So simple and quick. Cant understand why i never tried this product before.
This product so easy to use..i loved it and so did the kids. Had a job to keep there little fingers out of the carmel.
I would advise you all to try this easy and tastey product. Get buying guys and check out there web site. So many receipes to choose from. Thanks again for picking me. Love this product my number one for one thats not brill at cooking but with this im brill according to my kids. Im off to make the carmel short bread..xx

Hi there and happy easter to you all. I am an avid at home baker and was delighted to get the opportunity to be part of this trial as was my 3 year old.

We chose the smarties cupcakes and the banoffee pie.

I have never used condensed milk as part of a cup cake recipe so was intrigued to see and taste the outcome. I was particularly impressed at how easy it was to beat the mixture together and it was a very easy consistency for a clean even distribution into the cases. The cakes had a lovely rise and light and fluffy texture. The buttercream was also easy to mix and gave a lovely consistency. A little sweet for me but a big hit with the little ones. Will definitely be using again for the cake recipe

Onto the banoffee...well how easy and tasty was that. Caramel is a tricky thing to get right from scratch but I can tell you I will never make from scratch again. The carnation was sweet, sticky and perfect. The banoffee was made on Good Friday for Saturdays dessert but guess what? it didn't see Saturday morning so I am about to use the other tin of caramel on the sticky toffee pudding.

All in all a winner in our house and a definite staple of the baking press :-)

Firstly I just want to say thank you so much for picking me to try out your product. I love to bake and try new recipes as much as I can. The first recipe I tried was for the strawberry cheesecake. This was very simple to make and it looked fantastic when it was done. I didn't feel like the condensed milk worked very well in this cheesecake. The flavours didn't go well and it tasted more like a yoghurt than cheesecake. I got all my family to try this cheesecake and unfortunately they thought the same. This recipe just didn't work it was almost missing something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The next recipe I true was the banoffee pie. This recipe was so quick and easy to do as the caramel was already made. Myself and my family absolutely loved this recipe. We couldn't get enough it was definetly yummy and was gone far to quick for my liking. I will definetly be making this again as it was a winner in my eyes. With the extra products I have at home I am going to try to make the cupcakes but instead of the smarties one i will make chocolate cupcakes and using the caramel insert it into te centre of the cake and top wit chocolate buttercream and a rolo yummy. I have also looked at your other recipes on line and will be trying some of those out. This was a great experience and I would definetly recommend using nestle carnation products as they are so easy to use and yummy.

I made the banoffee pie which was so easy to make and it was delicious. I had it made in no time at all. The caramel spread easily from the tin. I had some left over so I used it in a batch of rocky road bars and it gave a lovely caramel flavour to them. It is such a handy product to have in the cupboard as it has so many uses. I had a look at the other recipes on the nestle carnation website and there are plenty to choose from that all use the caramel. I'll definitely be using this product again.

I was delighted to take part in this trial. I made the banoffee pie and the cup cakes. The strawberry cheesecake looks really tempting but I decided to wait until the tasty Irish strawberries are in the shops to make that.
I made the banoffee pie first. It took all of about 20 minutes, and was so easy. It's a dessert I had made once or twice before, but standing over a saucepan of toffee made it a bit of a slow dessert, and one I made only when I had a lot of time on my hands. However, the tin of Caramel made it so simple and so easy. The finished product looked and tasted really gorgeous. We had people over for lunch that day, and they were very impressed ! I have actually made it a second time since then, with the same fantastic result. I would definitely buy this product to use again.
Secondly I made the smarties cup cakes. The cake mixture was very quick and simple to make. I found the icing took a bit more condensed milk than the recipe said, and I actually added a few drops of water just to finish it off. The cakes themselves were really soft, and the icing was beautiful and really tasty. These were a big hit in my house too - my daughters (2 and 4) loved them, naturally, and have asked me to make them again !