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Cup-o-Gold

OFFICIAL SNACK REPORT
Sanctioned By WASAW Snack Committee

Reviewed By: Paddy O'Poppycock Location: Old Time Candy OFFICIAL NAME OF SNACK: Hoffman's Cup-o-Gold (King Size) Price: $0.99 WEIGHT: 3 oz. DESCRIPTION OF SNACK: Four chocolate cups with... well, the packaging does a fine job describing the candy right there on the wrapper. The creamy smooth center is marshmallow-like, much like the Mallo Cup. SOME CUP-O-GOLD HISTORY: Cup-o-Gold has been around since the 1950s.  According to the Adams & Brooks website (the company that, from what I gather, now distributes the product), Cup-o-Gold was once among the top three selling candies in California, but was retired for a while and despite its recent resurgence, now suffers from "generation gap awareness." You know, like Ernest Borgnine. (Who?) SSI RATING (SNACK SATISFACTION INDEX - 1-10):  9

Buy Cup-o-Gold! First 4 Ingredients Milk Chocolate Toasted Coconut Corn Syrup Sugar

UPSIDE:

I had never heard of this candy prior to visiting Old Time Candy online. From the description I read, Cup-o-Gold basically sounded like a Mallo Cup with almonds and coconut in the chocolate cup. Which sounded like a damn fine combination to me.

What makes Cup-o-Gold superior to other "cup" candies? The top-half of each chocolate cup is THICK - probably twice the thickness of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And the extra padding doesn't go to waste. It consists primarily of delicious milk chocolate with a nice mix of coconut and almonds. And then you hit gold - the creamy center.

This is the Stand By Me of chocolate candies. Four best friends who all belong together, although one's a little soft and maybe a bit of an awkward outsider. But that's why we love him the most.

DOWNSIDE:

Good luck finding Cup-o-Gold. The week after I purchased it from OldTimeCandy, I could no longer find it on their site. I later found it on a random Yahoo store site. but not in the King Size version - only individual size. (Which is fine - we must watch our waistlines, now, musn't we? Actually, the hell with that.)

Also - as for the candy, itself, the chocolate bottom is a bit thin. I had to pry each cup off the paper wrapper as a bit of marshmallow had oozed out of the bottom and made like Super Glue.

Update: With the opening of the WASAW Snack Shop, Cup-o-Gold can now be yours anytime you please! Buy Cup-o-Gold here

PACKAGING:

Well, there's an awful lot going on in the King Size package (above). It's pretty much the polar-opposite of the clean, bright-yellow Mallo Cup packaging, a snack that is more readily available in the U.S. Not sure if there's a link between the two, but I think Hoffman's could do with a king-size makeover.

Cup-o-Gold's individual size packaging, though, is much better. Bordering on genius, in fact. (See right.) So it would appear that Hoffman's knows what they're doing, perhaps they just lost focus when going for the King Size score. Kinda' like the New York Yankees in Games 4-7of the 2004 ALCS.
 

DO YOU RECOMMEND THIS SNACK? (YES/NO - EXPLAIN):

No doubt. Given all that goes into each of these chocolate-cup delights, it is amazing such a candy-combo hasn't spread to the mainstream. It's a unique combo not found anywhere else. I'm just worried that someday it may not be found anywhere, period. As I encouraged readers when reviewing Boyer's Mallo Cup, please support the smaller candy makers or we'll be left with only the Hershey's and Reese's of the world.

Damn, when did I become the Jerry Lewis of second-tier candy companies?