GoBake Flavacol product reviews

I was so super excited to try out GoBake flavacols, especially as my daughter is now on a gluten free diet, and GoBake flavacols are gluten free and allergen free. I do a lot of baking, so knew I would be able to use these in pretty much anything I do, from truffles to cakes, cookies to muffins, and of course in the icings themselves.

Since receiving the flavacols, we have made choc strawberry self saucing pudding, muffins, cakes and of course cookies. But I must admit, I am not as impressed with them as I thought I was going to be. In fact I am not a huge fan. I find that they smell funny, and the flavour is really weird. And my kids agree. I do like that the flavour and colour are as one, and so I do not need to fiddle around with flavorings and colours separately. And I also like that when used as an icing, they end result as a nice shiny look to it. But that is about all I like, which is really disappointing.

The instructions on the back of the bottle says, when the colour is right, the flavour is right, but this is not always the case either. Some times the colour you want is not the flavour you want, and because I think the flavours are odd anyway, I do not want to use to much of it. We do still use them, just not as often as I would have thought I would use them. And I do not use them in anything that is of importance: birthday cakes or morning tea shouts. The price is reasonable because you get flavour and colour in one, and there are many to choose from. All in all though not my thing unfortunately

I love this product! I have tried a few of the flavours available now, passionfruit, mango, caramel, and have several more in the cupboard waiting to go.

I was very skeptical at first, I was told my a friend "when the colour is right the flavour is right" and didn't believe her, so she gave me one to try {mango}... it was amazing, it turned my butter cake with plain buttercream icing, into a little slice of paradise, and the colour was amazing... It was for under the fondant of a dora cake, and it perfectly matched the other colours on the cake.

My family {who are partial to cake, but very fussy about what flavour icings I use} all loved it and raved about. So I went and bought more flavours, and am slowly finding reasons to try them out. the caramel one is delish, divine, decadent, amazing!! and the passionfruit it just like eating the fruit itself, minus the seeds.

I can't recommend this product enough, it's perfect for everyone.

My wife got some of these to review a while back and when she explained them to me I thought they were great. When I heard there was a coffee Flavacol I kept my eye out for ages trying to spot it on the shelf.

We finally found it, $5.99 for the bottle, but knowing how much my wife liked the product the price was fine by me, after all it does two jobs - colour and flavour. My first pick was coffee cake *drool* and I loved how the colour turned out and the lovely coffee flavour. Then to make it more interesting my wife added it to her fudge - delish!

I also really like the Butterscotch Flavacol and I tell you this, when my wife uses it to make fudge I simply can't get enough of the fudge. I've also tried the chocolate which has a nice flavour, no nasty after taste.

I really like this product and plan to slowly work my way through the range (with my wife inventing great uses for them.)

Ever since one of my facebook friends was given some flavacol to review I have been hunting everywhere to find some. I finally found it while I was away on holiday so of course I had to buy some. I can safely say I'm in love!

As soon as I got home I just had to try it out so I made a pav roll leaving the vanilla out and adding raspberry flavacol instead. As soon as I opened the bottle the smell of raspberry hit me. Not sure how much to add I went with the saying on the bottle when the colour is right the flavour is right. The flavour ended up perfect. I loved how easy it was use and the scrummy flavour it added. I often find flavourings leave and odd after taste but the flavacol doesn't.

If I had one bad thing to say it would be that it's hard to find. Would love to see it available in more places. I must say though the go bake team has been great when I e-mailed them they sent me a list of places of stockists in my area.

I've been using these for 2 years now and they are yum!

I have various flavours - my most used would be butterscotch. Last night I used this to make icecream and it went perfectly with the hokey pokey pieces I added too. I'm not as keen on the lime, but I do love the chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and a banana.

Apart from making icecream once last night, I've mostly used these as flavour and colour to cake/cupcake frosting and they are super yum. I do find though that when they say "when the colour is right, the flavour is right" is not always correct. Sometimes I want a really deep colour, perhaps for a novelty cake and so I add extra colour from my food colourings so the flavour doesn't get too overwhelming.

I've also used these to make meringues and although they give nice flavour, they don't give enough colour for me - again I add extra colour in this situation. (I like my meringues to be pale, but different colours for the different flavours so I can tell them apart)

Anyway - there are definitely lots of uses for flavorcol and I've yet to try them all... I've heard they add great extra flavour to baking too - I'm looking forward to trying my blueberry in a blueberry muffin.

Overall I love having these in my pantry but they certainly don't replace my other colourings. However I would definitely keep buying these - mango is next on my list!

I was lucky enough to be given some GoBake flavacol by my friend... lucky me, I was given the lime flavour, the raspberry flavour and lastly the blueberry flavour. The first thing I noticed was the smell when I took the lid off, I totally fell in love with the lime flavour, it smelled just like a green lollipop and that is my absolute favourite treat. Instantly my mind raced with all the things I could use these in; firstly I decided to make sugar crystals with the 4 year old children at work, and the children got all excited when I told them to sniff the flavours and straight away they commented that they smelled like lollies and got even more excited!!

I used the raspberry to colour and flavour butter cream icing to use on top of raspberry cupcakes, and I couldn't believe how much it enhanced the flavour of the icing, like nothing I have tasted before. I had so many comments regarding the taste of the icing because I had added the raspberry GoBake flavacol, my friends asked if I had used raspberry juice to get the flavour. The next day I made blueberry cupcakes and used the blueberry to make a blueberry flavoured butter cream icing and again I got a lot of comments on how the flavour really did taste like blueberry.

I like how the mixture is thicker than other colouring agents, the thick consistency makes sure that the user can control the amount poured into whatever they wish to flavour, without accidentally pouring too much in as it slowing drips drop by drop into the mixture. I was disappointed as the advertising description says, 'when the colour is right the flavour is right' but I found the colour wasn't as bright as I expected when I added it to the white butter cream icing but the taste of the flavour came through loud and clear.

But in saying that I didn't have to use as much of the GoBake flavacol to get the right colour like I have done in the past when using other brands of colouring agents, half a bottle later and the colour isn't right, I used a few drops of the flavacol and the colour was okay, I thought if I used any more the flavour would be too strong and sweet so I was happy with the colour.

I can't wait to get my hands on more flavours. I have recommended to all my friends and I will definitely keep using these in my baking.

Raspberry: The raspberry flavor had a lovely zingy smell, it was great in a smoothie just to add an extra depth. I used the raspberry in ice-blocks, it froze well and the kids loved it. We also used it to swirl through some vanilla ice cream, this went down very well with the kids and my husband. Other products we added it to, were butter cream on the cupcakes, and within the cupcake mix itself, it came through in both components successfully, not too sweet and overwhelming, it tasted good.

Banana: The banana flavor was a total success with my children, used mostly in milkshakes and smoothies. We added this to some melted chocolate and dipped fresh banana and strawberries into it, the kids loved this. We also used it to make banana and chocolate cupcakes, the banana was a tad overwhelming in the cupcakes, maybe next time we use a little less.

Coffee: So the coffee was for the grownups to test out, we made some lovely truffles, added some coffee flavour and they were very nice. We used it in frappes, which are me personal favourites and they were lovely very chilled. I used the coffee for cupcakes, I think the flavor did not come through enough, maybe I may to add more next time.

On the whole I really liked the flavors, the fact that they are natural makes me feel good using them. I'm not sure why, but the fact that they are quite syrupy projects a quality about them subconsciously. As a family we loved them and used them plenty.

Today we are reviewing GoBakeFlavaco's. I loved this products. The rich colours of the product and the whole scent of the products were just devine. The products were a bit on the thick side when pouring them out of the 50ml bottles, so one would need to play around with how much they would be needing to get the right consistency of colour and flavor. Flavacol Lemon.

I used this Flavacol Lemon to use as an icing on top of a Banana cake, used with GoBakes Easy Frosting. I used it to enhance the lemon icing I prefer to use on top of a banana cake that I make all the time, but I found that I needed to use quite a lot of the said flavoring to get that right hit of lemon, but the coloring was just right very pale lemon. I found that the consistency was perfect - and the flavour was like real lemon too! Like some others have said having not used such a product before, I'll buy this for sure if it comes out in shops for sure. It was really nice having to only use one product to flavour and colour.

Flavacol Coffee.
I used my coffee cake recipe, but this time used flavacol coffee to replace the coffee flavor to it. I was amazed at how it actually tasted like coffee! The colour was a rich coffee colour and my cake looked just like it had had instant coffee used in it, but it still tasted like it. As with the Lemon flavoring, the consistency was perfect - I didnt have to add instant coffee to it, so didnt affect the consistency of it. 5 Stars for this one as well.

Flavacol Peppermint.
Now, I have tried peppermint flavors before and coloring but never can get the mix just right, But.... this brand is the one for it!! This test was used in Mini Pavlovas for xmas dinner... and I tell you all my test guinea pigs for it LOVED IT!! The amount of Flavacol Peppermint that I put into it was just the right amount to give a pale green but a peppermint flavor! I was amazed again, it didnt effect the consistency of the product I was making - the other flavorings and colourings did and it ruined the outcome, but this peppermint flavour was just right. 5 stars again for this.

I had the pleasure of trying the Flavacol flavours banana, orange and lemon and made a dozen cup cakes with each but I only used the Flavacol as a flavouring as I decided I wanted my cupcakes purple. The cup cakes were a huge hit topped off with GoBake easy frost and GoBake sprinkles. out of the 3 dozen cupcakes I made there were only 3 cupcakes left after my birthday party, I also had all the kids next door asking for some while they were still baking because they smelt so good.

Lemon: was highly complimented as there was no yucky artificial tang or anything to it, it did taste like I had used lemon in the cupcakes, the children were for so keen on this flavour though but that's just because it was lemon.

Orange: this too was highly complimented like the lemon, and the children were a little less hesitant to try this one though as "oranges are yummier than lemons" (a quote from Mr 6 when he was questioned about the cupcakes) I personally didn't manage to taste these ones as they were all gone pretty quickly.

Banana: this was a huge hit with the children, they love anything banana so this went down a treat. A few people who are not keen on "fake banana tastes" had a try of the cupcakes made with this flavouring and enjoyed them, they said it didn't beat using real banana but it wasn't as bad as some flavourings.

I also went through my Edmonds cookbook and was having a look for something quick and easy I could make for pudding one night and decided to try "ice-cream pudding" and replace the vanilla essence with Banana Flavacol... (I had never made or tasted ice-cream pudding so didn't know what to expect) it was really yummy, almost like a banana custard. I have not managed to do a huge amount with these Flavacols yet but I do have some ideas for the near future. I also plan on buying some of the other flavours available at some point as id like to try things like a mango pavlova or adding a little butterscotch into chocolate fudge.

My mum was asking me about the Flavacol's after my birthday so I showed them to her, she was interested to see that they were natural flavouring but artificial colouring which she felt was a bit of a let down as the flavours were really good but the colourings (102 Tartrazine, 110 Sunset yellow) are dangerous and come with many side effects (I myself used to be highly allergic to both of these colourings as a child to the point where id swell up like a balloon and stop breathing) so maybe the company could look into a more natural form of colouring for these items such as colouring 101 which is also a yellow/orange tone but is regarded as safe in food use and also has many beneficial health effects, or even 100 (Curcumin or Turmeric).

I love GoBake Flavacol!!!!! I tried the Banana, Mango and Raspberry flavours. The first thing that struck me when I took the top off was the colour and the smell, especially the raspberry, I can honestly say if I had been able to get a never ending bottle I would have been very happy. The blurb says"when the colour is right, the flavour is right!", well all I can say is ....Ain't that the truth.

I knew the first one I had to try was the raspberry, I decided to test it in a chocolate raspberry cake, with a raspberry icing. I am a person who loves strong flavours and this met my demands in every way. I had a nice choc-raspberry taste, but what blew me away was the icing, normally I would have done a boring chocolate butter icing, but not this time and my goodness it was divine. I tested it on my son and he loved it, especially with the GoBake sprinkles on top.

The next morning I decided I wanted a bit of taste to my milk and added the banana and man it was good, in the end I took it and the raspberry to my friends and made myself a smoothie, it gave it that bit of ooomph that is sometimes missing from fruit smoothies.

My next test was cupcakes, I made 3 batches and put one flavour with each batch. Instead of fully mixing them together, I did it so they were patchy and once I turned them out it was brilliant. I loved them as did my son, but the real test were some complete strangers. My son had invited some girls he met while staying at a backpackers to our place, I decided they were going to be my guinea pigs. So once they were cool I iced the with GoBake Easy Frost and covered them with different GoBake Sprinkles, they went down so well.

My last trial was making sweets, I decided to make Coconut Ice. This was such a brilliant idea. Not only did I get amazing colours, I also got a nice taste from each one. Once again my son was my test subject and he loved them all, and was happy to keep munching.

I will be getting these again as i found them easy and brilliant to use, I will also be telling my friends about them. I cant wait to try different flavours, but I think my personal favourite will be the raspberry, as it met all my requirements.

My husband had a hobby xmas party where they had to take a plate (for some reason he didn't want to take the sprinkle cake we had made or the red velvet cupcakes as said it was too girly) so we got down to making some 'manly' biscuits. We had the flavours Orange and Lemon to try out, also butterscotch but used that with a different meal.

Lemon: I had tried a little bit on my finger and I have to say I was blown away with how strong it was. When it came to making the icing I decided a couple of drops was enough as didn't want it to be to over powering and the flavour was fantastic. I was all prepared to hate it but I have to say Lemon was probably my favourite it was fantastic a beautiful yellow colour and both my girls and my husband loved the biscuits. The colour is so vibrant in the bottle and you can smell the lemon as soon as the lid comes off.

Orange: When you take the lid off and smell it it definitely has a citrus smell to it but I found the flavour was not as rich as the Lemon. The orange colour does not really remind me of a juicy orange but more like some brought colour paint. Everyone still enjoyed the orange coated biscuits and maybe I had made it too subtle and could of used more then a couple of drops. Next time I will experiment a bit more and as the back says when the colour is right the taste is right and my daughter wanted a light orange maybe darker would of been better.

Butterscotch: When I think of Butterscotch I always remember my grandad eating butterscotch lollies which I really did not like so was not eager to try it. I read a couple of reviews on here and most people had tried it with ice cream so I followed suite. Surprisingly everyone loved it. I only had a little flavour on mine and mixed it in well so was very subtle but my husband had rather a lot and he loved it.

I think these bottles are fantastic and am surprised with how much flavour they hold. Will definitely buy in the future and am really keen to try the chocolate and banana.

Flavacol Chocolate.
I used this to enhance chocolate cake that I make all the time. Usually it has a bucket load of cocoa in it to make it dark and tasty. I was able to ommit much of the cocoa and replaced it with a small amount of said flavoring. The consistancy was perfect - it didnt affect how runny the cake mix was, the colour deepened the chocolate colour and the flavour was like real chocolate. Having never used such a product before, I'll buy this for sure if it comes out in supermarkets where I live, or order it online. 5 Stars for this one for sure. It was really nice having to only use one product to flavour and colour. Brown essence is a pain to mix as it is! It made the frosting for the cake taste and look perfect as well.

Flavacol Coffee.
I'm not a huge fan of coffee flavoured things as they usually taste and look so fake. Again I used my classic chocolate cake mix, but this time used flavacol coffee to ad a coffee edge to it. I was amazed at how it actually tasted like coffee! I drink coffee like it's going out of fashion, so it was such a pleasure to use. The colour wasnt fake at all either! I ended up making a frosting and using this flavour in it, added walnuts and my cake looked just like it had come out of a cafe - and tasted like it. As with the chocolate flavoring, the consistancy was perfect - I didnt have to ad a seperate colour or coffee itself to the frosting, so didnt affect the consistancy of it. 5 Stars for this one as well.

Flavacol Peppermint.
Now, I am ADDICTED to all thinks mint and peppermint. I was deeply saddened when Tip Top stopped making mint chocolate chip icecream. I'd fought for ages trying to make my own with standard mint flavour and a green colour, but alas, it never turned out just right. All I can say is thank goodness for GoBake producing this product! However, I didnt make my own vanilla base for my icecream this time, I used Deep South vanilla, left it out to soften, drizzled Flavacol Peppermint into it with chocolate chips and gave it a light swirl. I was amazed. It tasted EXACTLY like the old mint chocolate chip icecream! Again, it didnt effect the consistency of the product I was making - the other flavorings and colourings did and it ruined the outcome, but this peppermint flavour was just right. 5 stars again for this - I will buy this by the bucket load thanks!

I am so impressed with the three Flavacols I got, even though I am not a coffee drinker my friend loved her coffee cake I made for her so she took my Coffee flavour one to make Coffee ice cream. Shame I forgot to get photos of it before I gave it to her.

Banana - was another one I got it reminded me of the banana soft lollies you get in the Pascals mix lollies pack. I had to stop myself form eating my oldest child loved it on his banana muffins we made together, the colour was nice and bright and just what you need to get the attention of a 7yr old child, I can;t wait to try it out with some marzipan icing at some stage be cool to make little banana shaped fruit that not only look like bananas colour wise but taste like it too.

Peppermint - Well lets just say it is the bomb Sadly my patch of Muffins where all gone within 24 hours, though chocolate muffins and peppermint icing are just a perfect match, a match made in heaven more so when you get such a lovely true flavour as this one seems to be. I love Peppermint Ice cream and I mixed some up in a bowl of Vanilla ice cream and I was in heaven, nice cold mint ice cream just divine on these hot summer nights. I am a major peppermint fan. I have a nice list of things I want to make using it but sadly I am not ready to part with the small amount that is left cause i want it for my ice cream, but I am going on the hunt for it may even bribe my local supermarket to get it in for me. Even my best mate wants it too she is like me loves it.

You may use more of it to get the taste just how you like but then again when I have used a separate colour and then flavour you tend to use about the same anyway so it is great having it all in one product one less item on my shelf in my pantry . I wills till need my colours as well but I can see these are going to help expand what I cook, and how I do my kids birthday cakes from now on.

I was very lucky to try the lemon, raspberry and banana flavours, and I have to say that these products are amazing! What I liked about them is that they are gluten free, (which is great since I have a family of coeliacs), smell divine, and are so easy to use. They say it all on the pack...when the colour is right, the flavour is right!

To start with, I tried the banana one. I made banana chocolate chip muffins and they not only made the taste of banana stand out, but the muffins actually looked like they had banana in them. There was no disguising the smell! I also added the Flavacol to the Frosting Mix and the colour was outstanding.

The lemon Flavacol is fantastic in Neenish Tarts, really bought the lemon flavouring out in the tarts. And is much more convenient than having to buy lemons (because I don't have a tree in my back yard!)

Raspberry was my flavour! I used it for my daughter's first birthday cake for the icing, and mixed it in with the royal icing. I couldn't get the colour to go red though which was a bit of a let down (and couldn't add too much as the flavour would be too over-powering), but it did mix into a lovely shade of pink. For fun, I also added some to water and put it in a plastic bottle for my daughter to play with while I baked...it worked a treat!

I would definitely buy the entire range of these as I am sure the other flavours will be just as yummy as these three are.

I was lucky enough to try the new Flavacol's and totally loved them! I cant wait to be able to try out more of the flavours but so far have tried the peppermint, coffee and Raspberry. I tried these out in a few different ways but mostly for baking. The first thing i did was open the Flavacols and noticed that they were a lot thicker of any other flavouring/colouring which i liked as i knew i wasnt going to add way to much accidentally. Then i smelt them ~ i was suprised by how strong they smelled... Yummo i couldnt wait to start!

First up was the coffee flavacol which i mixed into a glass of milk and ice... I mixed in a few drops until the colouring looked about right. First sip and i was even more surprised that it tasted just like an iced coffee!! I will note here that im an instant coffee drinker but cant do anything stronger, so for me i found this perfect. However i assume if you wanted stronger you could just add more flavacol. I can also imagine it tasting extra good if Baileys or your favourite liqueur was added. I also tried out the coffee flavouring in icing ontop of chocolate muffins ~ delish and went with the chocolate perfectly.

Peppermint flavacol - i used this to make icing ontop of chocolate brownies. I loved the taste of these and all my family quickly finished off the batch at our christmas in the park! One thing i did note is that the colour in all of these doesnt come out really strong (so the colours are more a pastel colour than bright)... to me this isnt a biggie but others may find it is. I also tried to make peppermint creams and instead made a huge mess so thats on my try again list once christmas is outa the way!

The raspberry flavacol i tipped a few drops into a glass of lemonade and was instantly a little kid again lucky enough to be out with my parents and treated to a raspberry lemonade at the club! Wow i was most impressed the flavouring really was spot on. Yum i even added some vodka for an adult version lol :) I also used the raspberry flavacol to make some gloop for the children i work with. They totally loved this! Not only was there gloop coloured (which we do all the time) but it smelt delicious and prompted lots of discussion amongst everyone.

All in all i will totally be recommending these to others and cant wait to be able to buy more myself!!

I'm not usually a big fan of artificial flavouring in my baking but was happy to give these a try and I was amazed at how easy it is to get such a great flavour and the right colour using the Flavacols.

I got Chocolate, Peppermint and Orange as my flavours and what a great chance to make some stuff I don't normally make.

First up was the Orange, I had a carton of ready cold custard and pastry in the fridge so immediately thought a custard tart, making a marbled choc orange custard was so simple with these flavacols. 1/2 the custard mixed with only 3drops of choc had the colour and flavour there immediately. The orange was a bit harder to get the colour into the custard so needed a few more drops. once mixed a quick swirl together to add a marbled effect between the choc and orange and then pouring into pastry tarts they were absolutely delicious and a hit with the family, though maybe a slight over powering of the orange so will have to play with quantities next time.

With some ripe bananas in the cupboard a banana cake was on the horizon so making use of the choc flavour was a given. My 6yo loves his choc banana cakes and the best thing I found with using the choc banana cakes over cocoa was the cake was so much more moist than usual. I used about 4drops of choc for this mixture to give it more chocolate flavour to counter the bananas a bit more. Topped off with the Go Bake Frosting this made for one of the best Choc Banana cakes I've made so far.

For the peppermint there were a few things that came to mind and first one was good old mint slice biscuits, never having made these before I turned to google for a recipe and went with a very simple one from the foodlovers.co.nz website.
So simple to make and with only 3 drops of peppermint I was struggling to stop testing the mint cream before putting it with the biscuit base. I was amazed at the flavour of the peppermint flavacol and this by far was my favourite and one I will no doubt buy again. I mean who doesn't love mint biscuits? Another quick whip up with some cream and i had some peppermint creams to go with the biscuits, again so simple to get the perfect flavour I wish i had known about these before.

Overall I found the ease of use to getting the right realistic flavour and colour to be very easy though the orange was a bit harder to get the colour to show through custard, will be trying it in something a bit whiter next time.
I was very pleased with the almost natural taste of these products and the amount of time saving to get both colour and flavour right.

Will it stop me from making more naturally flavoured and coloured food in future? Probably not but I can be certain I will have some of these in my cupboard for when I'm looking for a quick thing to bake up for the family. Will be going out to find the coffee and butterscotch flavours to try them next.

I got Chocolate, Coffee and Orange Flavacol to sample which are probably the three flavours I am least likely to buy as I use cocoa or chocolate when cooking and either instant coffee or strong real coffee. For Orange nothing beats real oranges with perhaps a drop or two of orange oil so I knew these would need to be good to win me over.

Straight to the flavacols then. I used the orange flavacol in cupcakes and in icing. The flavacol is very thick and I used three teaspoons in my cupcake mix but only got a dark yellow colour. When they cooked however the flavour was delicious and the whole batch was demolished by the after school/after work crowd! The after schoolers decorated their cupcakes with GoBake sprinkles (for which I can excuse the artificial colours etc until I can find natural substitutes...) and were confused by the yellow icing which I had also used three teaspoons of flavacol in. They all thought that they tasted like lemon but they must have been good because I have never seen cupcakes eaten so fast! So a real pass on the taste test. Not so great on the colour and a definite fail on the ingredients. The Orange Flavacol has natural orange flavouring (which accounts for such a great taste) but was really let down by having E110 and E210 and E320. These colours and preservatives are controversial to say the least and E320 is not recommended for children. I was really disappointed by this and as a result this Flavacol is no longer in our pantry. I would not buy this as it is but would buy this if it was just "natural orange essence" without all the bad E's!

The Chocolate Flavacol was used as a chocolate substitute in cream to make a quick mousse. My girls didn't like the flavour and refused to eat their dessert, which has got to be a first. I thought it was okay but no comparison to using chocolate or cocoa. I struggled to think how to use this as generally all my chocolate recipes have the cocoa or chocolate for texture and bulk so this just seemed like a pointless product. This also contains colours E102 and E155 which I have read are banned in America and some European countries. I can think of no reason why I would use this product (especially at $4.99 a bottle) containing controversial colours when I could be using good quality chocolate or cocoa so this is a product I definitely wouldn't buy.

And of course the coffee flavacol with four controversial colours isn't going to get a look-in either! I used this in baking and in iced coffee and I wasn't wowed by this flavour compared to the real thing so definitely wouldn't buy this when I can use real coffee for a considerably cheaper price. I am interested that these products claim to be allergen free given the controversial colours that the products contain many of which are reported to cause allergic reactions.

I can't comment on the other Flavacols in the range but these three definitely won't be going in my shopping trolley, especially when there are natural flavourings and colours on the market for a much, much cheaper price.

I was lucky enough to get to review 3 Flavacols flavours/colours. I got Mango, Lemon and Coffee. First off I opened them and had a sniff! The coffee was great, made me feel like going out for a coffee and smelling it now as I'm typing and its hot I'm thinking an iced coffee would be good right now too - sadly we are nearly out of milk so that's not going to happen till I venture out later. The Mango was very strong but smelt like mango, so a good start I thought. The Lemon however I felt smelt like dishwashing liquid and I was quite hesitant to try it even though I love lemon.

The kids and I decided to make some double chocolate cupcakes so I added approx 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Mango Flavacol to see what would happen. The flavour was quite subtle initially but really came through as you finished your mouthful. The kids loved them and were disappointed when I said no to a third helping. Hubby and I were undecided and I can't put my finger on why, they weren't bad but they weren't great either. I wouldn't make them with the mango again unless the kids asked. I think my problem with the Mango was that it didn't quite smell or taste real enough for me. I normally quite like mangoes too.

We also made a basic icing for the cupcakes using the Mango again. It coloured it quite well and the flavour was good. But again the kids loved it the adults not so much. The stronger flavour in the icing worked well with the more subtle flavour in the cupcake, a good balance even though I wasn't a big fan of them overall.

We made up some Hansel's Chocolate Mousse for pudding, I put a portion into bowls for the kids and added some Coffee to the rest for Hubby and I. I added until it smelt right. LOVED it and ended up eating the adult portion all by myself - OOPS! It mixed in well, smelt and tasted 'real' and I will definitely make this again with the only change being 1 pkt for the kids and 1 pkt for the adults lol. Hard to say anything about the colour, I don't think it darkened the chocolate at all - but that didn't matter, in this instance it was about flavour not colour.

The kids wanted pikelets for afternoon tea so I made Lemon pikelets. They like lemon & sugar on their pancakes so I thought why not... I was wary of the smell and flavour so took it easy adding the Lemon. Adding a few drops, mixing, cooking a sample and trying till we got something we were happy with. Colour-wise I didn't really like the yellow tinge it gave the mixture, it looked a bit sickly. We used approx 1/2 teaspoon of Lemon to 1 batch of Edmonds Cookbook Pikelet recipe. But once cooked you didn't notice the colour. Flavour-wise the kids were happy and demolished the batch less a couple hubby and I managed to nab to sample. We all liked them best with just a little butter. Jam and lemon = NO. I would make these again, especially if we are out of jam! I think they'd be good in lunchboxes too.

All in all I like the idea of having the colour and flavour together, the only problem I can see is if you want a specific colour but not that strong a flavour. I really like the consistency, being that bit thicker means it's easier to go drop by drop rather than wanting 1 drop and getting way too much with a colour or flavour that is the consistency of water. I will definitely buy the Coffee again, maybe the Lemon if I couldn't get any real Lemons. I will not get the Mango again. I would definitely consider trying the other flavours, Lime, Butterscotch, Orange and Peppermint in particular.

I was lucky and received three flavours to trial, raspberry, orange and mango. I first opened them and they smelled amazing! Very fruity and 'real' without that artificial smell. The constancy of these is much easier to use than other essences as it doesn't spill out, it pours slowly. The downfall i found was that a lot of the things i tried to colour did not colour as I had hoped. The bottle states that when the colour is right, the flavour is right....but i'm not convinced this is the case (or you would be adding quite a bit in some cases).

Raspberry:
I first made some cupcakes where i added some raspberry essence, the colour didn't come through very well on these ones. I also iced them with the GoBake frosting and it made a lovely fairy floss pink and had a really pleasant raspberry taste. I was really pleased with the flavour of the icing, but not of the cupcake.

Mango:
With the mango, i attempted to add this to jelly but it failed! The flavouring ended up in small balls on the top of the jelly. I wasn't expecting much from the flavour but it did flavour really well and i had a lovely fruit salad jelly flavour going on. I haven't had a chance yet but i am keen to make an ice block with this and add some to a mock tail fruit punch.

Orange:
My first attempt with the orange was in choc chip cookies, i was disappointed that again the colour didn't come through very well, but they did have a hint of orange.

I made a rich chocolate cake and added 1 1/2 teaspoons of Orange flavour (more than the raspberry i added to the cupcakes) and this time i hit the jackpot! A lovely choc/orange cake! I also added the orange to the icing for a double hit. I LOVE this flavour :) Awesome as we don't eat many oranges as they react with my son.

Overall these are a great idea and for certain baking things they are perfect! I really like strong colour so i wouldn't purchase these for their strong colour, but they are perfect for butter icing or frosting whilst adding flavour which gives it that extra special touch. I feel the price is about right, compared to buying food colour gels these are a bit cheaper and flavour the food. For the amount you need to use of one bottle i do feel that it is a little expensive. I guess it depends on what you are looking for and what you are making,

I would love to try out the peppermint and think that will be on the Christmas shopping list!

I got Chocolate, Mango and Peppermint. Whilst I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate and mango, I LOVED the peppermint and that I will buy again, without a doubt. I really liked the fact that both flavour and colour are in one bottle, so when you add up the two on their own, it works out pretty even buying this one bottle.

I used all 3 flavours to make play doh. This was a big test for me, as I don't use food colouring a lot as it stains my hands all the time, so to do something that I would HAVE to use my hands to mix, was an important test (in my mind). And I tell ya, I was thrilled, after mixing it through there was nothing, and I mean nothing, left on my hands! The colour wasn't bright (apart from the chocolate) but they all gave off a nice scent.

The chocolate, I used in a banana muffin. I didn't need to use much at all as it gives such a full flavour, a really really strong bold colour. It mixed through really well and gave a great flavour. I did find it a little gluggy, but that may just be figuring out a good amount when it comes to muffins.

The mango I was hesitant to try as I am not a mango fan unless it is in a bottle of juice with a whole bunch of other fruits. The mango I decided to add to chocolate candy cane hearts as I felt that for myself, this would be the best partnership. The mango mixed through really well, and for this I gauged the amount used by my sense of smell (as if the smell of mango is too strong I get nauseous). This did have the same effect on me as other mango products that I have tried, which is a good thing for everyone else *lol* As for taste, to me it tasted good enough, and I would possibly eat it again. My three year old loved it so much that she earned herself a time out when she took one out of the box and started to chow down on it. So a hit with the kids.

Now, the peppermint, I LOVED it, I used this one the most and I will 100% buy it again. I made some candy cane peppermint chocolate chip biscuits. I had to use normal red food colouring for one half of the mixture (my poor stained hands) which I also added chocolate chips to. The other half I used the peppermint to. The colour mixed through really well, and I didn't need a huge amount. Once cooked it gave off a nice minty smell, not too strong, but enough that you knew what it was. Taste was perfect, a great minty taste that didn't overpower and was perfect in the biscuit.

The one thing that pointed out how much I love the peppermint is that I made not one, but two batches of peppermint creams and polished off both batches on my own.... The colour mixed through perfectly, and to me, they tasted just as good, if not BETTER than store brought peppermint creams. I feel batch three coming on soon.

The peppermint wins it hands down, and I know I will be getting it again. The chocolate, possibly for birthday cakes for my children. The mango I won't be getting again, I am just not a mango person and my family won't ask/won't miss it (for now). I will be trying the rest of the flavours in this range.

I thought a flavor and coloring mixed together is such a great idea. As I have been using a lot of food coloring every time I make a fondant icing and before I will get my desired color, I almost used half of the bottle. Now with GoBake Flavacol I can have a nice color plus the flavor I wanted.

I have been given the chance to try 3 flavours which are Peppermint, Mango and Chocolate. The time it has arrived, I instantly opened each bottle as I am interested to know how it smelled like and how it taste like. As I am only familiar to banana flavor and it has very strong smell. But to my amaze, these 3 flavors doesn't smell strong at all.

The first flavour I used is the peppermint, I made a marshmallow and used peppermint to flavour it, and it really goes well, GoBake Flavacol gave it a nice minty flavour with subtle green color. I also used GoBake Fun Sprinkles on top and it looked exciting and fun to eat.

Then I tried to use the mango flavor when I made an angel food cake to give it a twist, this time, I used the flavor little by little as I don't want to over power the taste of the cake. And to my surprise when the cake finished, GoBake Mango Flavacol gave it a really yummy taste. Although my cake didn't rise as much as it should be, but nevertheless, it's still scrummy!

And just last night, when I crave for something sweet, I made a chocolate peanut butter mug cake, and used the chocolate flavacol on the icing, again I'm not quite sure if the chocolate flavacol will work as a substitute for real cocoa or chocolate taste, but believe me it did! A little drop goes a long way! and it gave my icing a nice color too.

All in all I am happy with these 3 flavacols which now I am intrigue with the rest of the flavors. Now every time I will need some color and flavor I will surely look for GoBake first rather than other brand. There are many potential use of these flavacols which I am very eager to try.

If you're not into baking that much, I guess one bottle will last for year which is very worth the price.

GoBake Flavacol - This is such a brilliant concept - flavours and colours in one, this should have been thought of by someone years ago! The possibilities with this product are endless, so I thought I would give it a real family test! I made a basic shortbread recipe and halved it; one half I added the brown flavacol - yes that would be the chocolate flavour, and the other half I left as shortbread. Once cooked I used the orange flavacol with the GoBake easy frost and I ended up with yummy Jaffa cookies!

Next I iced the shortbread with the butterscotch - delicious, so good in fact that I made some butterscotch flavacol milkshakes, again a huge success! I'm so excited to find a product that is so diverse this is useful in baking, decorating your baking, drinks... These are a fantastic multi-use product that will save money and mess!

Orange flavacol - I was able to get the right orange taste without bright orange frosting, I do wonder if I wanted a bright orange icing how strong the taste would be. The chocolate I found bang on, I simply tipped in the amount that made it look chocolaty, and yes it tasted perfect. The butterscotch taste was fantastic in the milk shake. Yes I would buy this again, and I will definitely recommend this to others who enjoy baking!

For many years I have used colourants in food, arts and crafts. I have also used a range of flavouratives... but never have I come across a single product that does both, ensuring that visual-thinkers like myself can easily gauge the flavour density by using our eyes!

Frankly, I thought it might be a bit of a lame duck, when I first saw it at a food show... but 6 months later when the product hit the shelves and we got a chance to review some, I knew I simply HAD to be one of the reviewers - who wouldn't want a shot at something seemingly this cool?! So, it was out with the basics to start with - a couple of batches of mini-cupcakes. Taking cues from my on-call experimental test subjects - aka my family - I made a batch of banana muffins with butterscotch icing, and a batch of chocolate muffins with coffee icing. With a bit of left-over batter from each, I also did some Banana/choc marbled ones as well, and tried both icings on them too.

To say I was pleasantly surprised by the results is akin to saying Lake Taupo is a little bigger than a swimming pool. I was very surprised at how effective 10 drops of this can be... to flavour 20 mini-cupcakes is around half a drop per cake... that's good value in my book! Using the Easy Frost frosting to make the icing was a breeze too, and the Flavacol did an excellent job with that, although I think I went a little overboard as the flavour was VERY potent in the icings. Next time, I think 1 drop per 10g of frosting mix, not the 2 drops I went with.

The next thing I wanted to try was flavouring ice-cream, and thickshakes... the difference (for me) being 2 tablespoons of milk to soften the ice-cream, vs about 50ml in the thickshake. I started with an orange/mango thickshake - which was amazing, and them I made my all-time fave, double-banana-lime. (I had to go and BUY the lime Flavacol, because alas there wasn't any in our batch of review samples.) As I had come to expect by now, simply amazing results. (The second time around. The first one I made, I added WAY too much of the lime and the end result was quite tart, almost bitter.)

Flavouring the ice-cream was a matter of grabbing the Magic Bullet, filling it about 2/3rds of the way with vanilla ice-cream, pouring 50ml of milk into a cup, adding 10 drops of chocolate and peppermint Flavacol into the milk and stirring well, then adding that to the ice-cream and giving it a good 60 seconds of blending. I found the results to be well mixed, and very tasty, but the ice-cream had softened too much and began to melt... so... a tablespoon of Easy Frost to soak up the liquid and a few minutes in the freezer and I had the most amazing "After Dinner Mint" ice-cream I could ever wish for!

Overall, though I stuck to "food and drink" with these, I have no regrets... these are quite simply the best way someone who's in a rush, or inexperienced, or just crazy-creative, could wish for to get flavour and colour into their food or drinks. Using these to flavour milk for the kids, add a little extra flavour to cocktails (PERFECT for the home-made liqueur makers!), or to shave some time off that bulk baking needed for the school bake-sales. If you are a little bit crafty in the kitchen, or during craft-time with the kids, I am certain you could come up with plenty of other ways to use these... I know I have a few (dozen) ideas brewing in my head still, that I can't wait to try out!

I've not had a lot of time to bake this week, but with an early start this morning I thought I'd whip up a couple of batches of easy muffins to take and share with the workforce! I was given three Flavacol's to try, Banana, Chocolate and Peppermint, so I made two batches combining the Chocolate with each of the other flavours. The Flavacol had a nice consistency; not too thick, not too thin and combined really well into the mix. The colour spread easily through without patching. You could smell the aroma as soon as you opened the bottle, a good sign!

Chocolate.
The chocolate flavouring was lovely and rich, it did have a slight caroby flavour, but I don't mind that. The end result was rich and full tasting and my friend was amazed that I hadn't used any cocoa in the mix as the colour was nice and dark-brown.

Banana.
Again it mixed easily but I didn't get the full benefit of the colour having mixed it with the chocolate. However the flavour did taste slightly artificial; after some discussion we likened it to shop-bought banana ice-cream. Not too unpleasant you couldn't eat it though. I think I may have put a little too much in so I'll try fewer drops next time.

Peppermint.
A nice fresh minty taste, and I love chocolate and mint, so this was a hit too. Again I didn't get the full benefit of the colour and it is slightly too minty to mix in a muffin, but I look forward to trying it in a cheesecake!

All in all a really nice, time-saving product. I like it most as it is gluten free and I do have a lot of coeliac friends. I'll be using these again, and I'd love to try some of the other flavours; I can see a lot of them working in my signature cheesecake. I wouldn't recommend the banana flavour at the moment though, we'll see how the next batch goes!

Ok so i was lucky enough to try the new Flavocol's and i must add i love the name it really does show its a flavour and colour all in one, this has to be one of the best things I have been given. I do alot of baking and these just make it so much easier for me to get the right colour to flavour ratio. I used these to make creams, icing, flavour choc, colour choc. There are so many ideas you can do with these. But i prefer baking over anything else.

I did find tasting it without putting into something can be a little foul so i dont recommend that but tasting it as you are making the icing is a good idea so you get the flavour strength you want. I tried 3 flavours Peppermint, Orange and Butterscotch, this is what i did with them and how it went.

Peppermint flavocol - this was used to make peppermint creams. I love mint treats and wanted to try and make it myself, so I did. It was awesome using the flavocol as the taste and colour was all done for me and i didnt have to add extras things to it. The taste was amazing and much nicer than the store brought ones. My hubby, friend and her mother all tried one as well and thought they were wonderful.

Orange flavocol - i used this to make orange icing. I love how the orange flavocol gives out the orange colour and flavour, you can make it as strong as you like and as you make it to your taste if gives you the colour to match.

Butterscotch flavocol - Ok so i gave colouring and flavouring white choc another go with the butterscotch flavocol. I popped both into the choc slow cooker at the same time so they heated together, but because the flavocol is water-based it still made the choc go hard and sticky, BUT never fear you still get great chocs - you just gotta work REALLY quick so they dont set in the middle of making. So i went with a quick easy egg shape. They still taste great and the flavour is fantastic

Yes i would recommend this product and when they are out in the market to buy i will be stocking up on them...

This is such a great idea to have the flavour and colour all in one bottle which saves you from buying two different products. It makes it cheaper as you only have to buy one bottle rather than two. The one thing I will say is you do use more of the flavouring than you would with normal essences if you are trying to build an intense colour.

I think the product is so versatile in terms of uses, as soon as I was told I would be receiving them I had tons of ideas floating around in my mind of what I could use them for. They are certainly not limited to just baking, as I made some things with them that were outside of the baking box and have other non baking ideas still to try. I received the Butterscotch, Lemon, and Mango flavours which I was really happy with but would like to try the others too so may have to wait until a stockist local to me gets them in.

My favourite of this selection was the Butterscotch which I found was absolutely delicious and the smell was divine. I made chocolate and butterscotch fudge, and then flavoured vanilla icecream with butterscotch and stirred chunks of the fudge through it. It was an amazing creation that is probably the best icecream I have ever tried. The flavour was very natural and didn't have an artificial flavour to it, it was like the icecream was actually made with butterscotch. With the butterscotch I also made a scented candle. It didn't go completely according to plan as the flavacol didn't mix in to the melted wax so it sat at the bottom with the wax sitting on top but all the same the candle smelt amazing. When the candle is lit it fills the room with the fantastic smell of butterscotch. I also made icing for biscuits which was great too and the smell really reminds me of Christmas so they would be great biscuits to make as a Christmas gift for teachers or friends.

With the lemon flavacol I made some lemonade cupcakes with lemon icing. I used a very small amount of the flavacol in the icing so that the flavour wasn't too intense and the colour was pale. It is good how you can judge how intense the flavour will be by the colour of the icing. It gave a nice natural lemony taste like it would if you were using natural lemon juice. I also made lemon scented roll on soap using some liquid bodywash and an old deodorant bottle. It smelt great when my daughter used it in the bath and left just a hint of colour so she could draw pictures on her skin. The great thing about this was that the colour didn't stain her skin or my bathroom walls which I had noticed also when using them for baking they wash easily off the skin unlike other food colourings.

With the mango flavacol I made some mango icecream and some mango frosting for biscuits. The icecream again was a great flavour it was as if it had fresh mango in it and the colour was great too. A real cheap way to make a great tasting icecream if you just buy vanilla icecream and stir the flavacol through. The mango frosting was great on my sugar biscuits and gave a nice fruity taste to the biscuits.

I have managed to save enough of each of the flavacol's to continue making yummy smelling and tasting treats. I want to make some scented playdough's for my niece for Christmas and wouldn't mind buying some glycerine and making a mango scented soap too. I was so impressed with these and couldn't fault them at all. What a fantastic product, I can't wait for these to hit the supermakets in Tauranga and will be telling all my friends and family about them.

I was lucky enough to be allowed 6 flavacols to try in my baking for the week. I was really interested in trying these as I love to bake, and I love experimenting with new things. I use food colouring a lot to make effective looking icings and cakes, but I don't tend to use flavours except vanilla. This, then, was a journey into the unknown for me.

After using these in various projects over the week, I found several things about the product. Firstly, the flavours are great and taste natural. The colours that come through in the baking are also very natural. You can get a better colour by using more of the liquid, but you don't need a lot to get the right flavour. When I opened the bottles I was worried about it all just pouring out in one hit (I'm clumsy) but the liquid is thick and doesn't pour too easy. This made it really easy to use. I did try to make a rainbow cake at one point with four different flavacols but the colours didn't "pop" in the cake and it only looked like two layers. That said, everyone loved the fruity flavour so it wasn't a total loss.

Banana
This is a browny yellow colour. I used it in individual cupcakes as well as icing for the tops of my cupcakes. I would use this if I wanted banana cake but had no bananas in my fruit bowl. It was also really nice mixed with milk and ice cream for a milkshake.

Orange
I loved the orange flavour in this. The colour is a really nice bright orange, but you struggle to get it vibrant when making icings or in cake. Still the flavour itself is delicious and it got many comments. I used it in cake, in icing and also in some chocolates I made. I loved the easy jaffa taste that came from that experiment.

Coffee
I made some sugar cookie dough and then massaged some coffee flavacol into the dough. My hands got very brown, but the marble effect in the dough was really cool. I made cookies and then dipped them in chocolate and GoBake sprinkles too. Later I also tried making a syrup with the coffee flavacol and then used that in my Soda Stream. It didn't quite work (not sweet enough) but the coffee flavour did come through nicely.

Butterscotch
I mixed a little flavacol into some french toast mixture on the weekend. A friend was cooking with me and he said "you'll need way more than that!" Once it was mixed in though, he conceded that I didn't need any more and the smell of the mixture was very very nice. The finished result tasted beautifully butterscotchy. I made sugar cookies with this flavour as well. I mixed the butterscotch into some ginger beer Soda Stream syrup last night and it made a delicious drink.

Mango
The flavour of Mango is delicious in this flavacol. I used it in cupcakes and in icing. I loved the tropical flavour it provided. The colour is a clear kind of yellow, so it makes a very pale yellow cake.

Lemon
The lemon flavacol is a vibrant solid yellow in the bottle, but again it doesn't come out as vibrantly yellow when mixed into things. I used this in a cake mix and as icing. I made a confetti lemon cake the other day. I loved the flavour as did my husband. He is really into lemon icing too, so that cake did not last very long at all.

I have plans to buy the ones I missed out on when I can. I'm especially interested in the raspberry and lime. The price is not bad at all, as you really don't need a lot to get the desired flavour you are after. I will still buy separate food dyes and gels though, as when I colour things I want them to really show. However, I did find the colouring in the flavacol was really useful. You can easily tell when the flavacol was properly combined in your mixture which was very helpful.

When I heard about GoBake Flavacol I thought it was a brilliant idea, an essence and colour in one bottle. Now I didn't have to try and add the right amount of colour to balance the flavour. It is already done for me. I have tried six different Flavacols and I am sold on them. They cost more than an essence or food colouring would but I only have to buy and store one bottle.

Raspberry Flavacol
I used this to make red velvet cupcakes. The recipe called for one teaspoon of vanilla and one tablespoon of red food colouring. I used one tablespoon of Flavacol instead. The result was a lovely rich colour that you expect with red velvet but the taste was unbelievable. The raspberry flavour tasted so natural that even though I made them and knew all the ingredients I kept expecting to find bits of raspberry in it. The children and my husband love them too.

Banana Flavacol
I am not a fan of bananas so I had to rely on my team taste testers for this flavacol. I iced some biscuits with Easy Frost. These didn't last long and although the biscuits were a rock hard disaster they were all eaten very quickly. I also used it to tint and scent home-made bubble mix. This was a real novelty and they loved it.

Orange Flavacol
This was used to make orange confetti cupcakes. The colour wasn't as bright as I expected and the flavour was subtle but I could have easily changed that by adding more Flavacol. It had a lovely citrus scent and the cupcakes were very popular (the sprinkles inside helped with the appeal).

Butterscotch Flavacol
The smell of this makes me drool. This was the favourite with all the kids when I gave them a sniff of them all. I added this to my favourite basic biscuit recipe. I also added it to Easy Frost to sandwich between the biscuits. The children didn't even want to wait until I had added the frosting before they were begging for them.

Mango Flavacol
I added this to lemonade I had made in the Soda Stream. The kids loved it. I wasn't so sure. I'm thinking that it would have worked better without the lemonade flavour, just soda water, Flavacol and liquid sweetener. I also added it to pineapple muffins. It gave them a tropical fruity flavour which was a hit with a whole family.

Chocolate Flavacol
At first I wondered why I would bother with this. I always have cocoa powder in the pantry. I have discovered there are great advantages in using Flavacol instead. Firstly I don't have to worry about getting rid of the lumps and secondly it doesn't dry out the mixture. I have used this in Easy Frost on eclairs and biscuits. It has a great taste. It is thicker that the other Flavacols and more like a milkshake syrup. I actually used it in a milkshake although I had to add extra yogurt and ice cream to sweeten it.

I am now keen to try the other flavours GoBake have made. I hope that more supermarkets will be stocking these. One of the supermarkets on the other side of Hamilton have some GoBake but I am willing to make the drive for such a great product.