Hope and Greenwood: Sweet as Pie

As much as these delights look like regular boiled sweets, rhubarb and custard, maybe, they're far from it. They're actually a jammy, almondy, cherry Bakewell flavour that, while sweeter than the tart that inspired it, are clever little balls of frangipane-tasting pale, cherry flavoured red and a hidden chewy middle. When traditional sweet purveyors, Hope and Greenwood sent me sweets that taste like pie, I wasn't sure that; A. they'd be very convincing, and B. that they'd taste all that great at all. I was wrong on both counts!

The lemon meringue sweets are brilliantly zesty and tangy, a bit like lemon sherbets, but slighlty more mellow. Unlike lemon sherbets, they have a chewy meringue-like centre that is really rather surprisingly good. If only real lemon meringue pie lasted as long on my plate as these sweets do in my mouth (and I'm a crucher)!

Birthday cake, anyone? Who'd have imagined that you could put all the buttercream and raspberry jam goodness of a Victoria sponge into a boiled sweet? I'm glad they did, now it can be you're birthday every day.

If treacle tart is more your thing, then you'll love these buttery, chewy, syrupy sweets. A cut above your run-of-the-mill butter toffees, these chaps are rather decadent and very special. Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood are like real-life Willy Wonkas and you can taste the love and care that goes into their sweets. As well as their stores in Covent Garden and Dulwich, you can buy their confectionary online, or at Selfridges, John Lewis Foodhalls, Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, Whole Foods Kensington, Liberty, House of Fraser, Fenwick, Conran and Ocado.