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A Look Back Over 2024…

2024 was a year that kind of flew by. Nicely settled in our East Cowes depot, and with our youngest child now attending nursery most days, we had more free time for work. We took advantage of this and decided to go hard on the events side of our business, attending more events over the season than ever before! These included all our usual local summer events and markets – The County Show, The Garlic Festival, The Chale Show – plus we tried out several regular local and new markets to see what would work for us. We decided to continue to attend the Hampshire Farmers’ Markets located at various spots around Hampshire throughout the off-season.

Since we were attending more events and markets than ever before, we decided to launch a new product – fudge-dipped Belgian waffles! These went down a storm and would usually sell out. Many an afternoon was spent dipping waffles in our bestselling fudge flavours!

We launched our new Gift Cartons – cut up chunks of fudge in branded cartons – and we supply these to Wightlink Ferries (amongst others) in our most popular flavours.

The wholesale side of our business remained steady, with regular orders coming in from local businesses and through other online platforms like Faire who distribute worldwide. One of our regular stockists is in New York!

Christmas was record-breaking, beginning mid-November and not easing off for a moment until December 21st (last postage date)! We created a “Fudge Hamper” which consisted of 2 Slabs of fudge plus 2 fudge-dipped waffles in a display case and these flew out, along with our Christmas Gift Boxes and Taster Boxes. We were working every day trying to keep up with our backload of orders which were flooding in through the website plus Not on the High Street and Etsy platforms, plus attending Christmas Markets at weekends. We took on an extra staff member to help us through the period – lucky as even with the extra help, we were working most evenings and not managing a day off. But we got all orders delivered in time for Christmas, not a single order lost or late! 🙌

Overall, 2024 has been a year of steady progress, and we have exciting plans for 2025, we can’t wait!

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How To Make Fudge

New Slab Fudge Depot 3

Learning how to make fudge is no easy task. And teaching yourself to make perfect fudge that sets and is smooth, creamy and delicious every time is even harder. It is a scientific process – something as simple as cooking your fudge mixture a degree or two too hot or too cold. Or slightly too much liquid or not enough sugar – all these factors play a role in creating a perfect fudge. If any one element isn’t precise, your fudge will reflect this! No one enjoys fudge with a gritty texture, that is sticky and too soft or too dry with sugar crystallisation. Follow these tips to ensure your fudge is superb, creamy and absolutely perfect, every time!

Top Tips and Troubleshooting

  1. Measure your ingredients
    This probably goes without saying, but you need to be precise with your ingredients. Once you have a perfect recipe, make sure it is the exact same, every time. Any slight variation could have a negative impact on the final result.
  2. Use good ingredients
    It seems obvious, but good ingredients are vital in creating a delicious fudge. When we first began our fudge-making trials, we tried out upwards of 10 different recipes to find one that we loved. Even then, we continued experimenting with quantities to get it just right. Generally a dairy fudge will consist of sugar, fresh cream and butter (we source these from a local farm). For our plant-based fudge, we replaced dairy cream with creamed coconut and experimented with sugar and liquid quantities to get a vegan fudge we loved. Good quality chocolate can also be used to help with the setting process and to add creaminess. And glucose syrup or golden syrup can help with texture. It’s really a case of finding a recipe you love and ensuring the ingredients are of the quality, every time.
  3. Temperature – precision!
    I can’t emphasise enough the importance of your cooking temperature. Literally a degree out and you will have a fudge which is different to the one you made last time. Despite the recipe being exactly the same. The science bit is that whilst your fudge is bubbling away on the stove, as well as getting hotter, the water content of the mixture is gradually reducing whilst moisture evaporates. So the final cooking temperature is not only telling you how hot the mix is – but more vitally, how much water remains in it. Cook your fudge too hot and it will be drier and harder, since more water has evaporated. Don’t cook it hot enough and your fudge will be too soft. Because not enough water was removed. So my top tip is this: purchase a sugar thermometer! Ideally a digital one. Find the cooking temp that works with your recipe and then use your thermometer to ensure you know the exact temperature (and therefore water content) every time.
  4. Atmosphere
    Fudge is a delicate art, and the atmosphere at any given time also plays a part. Be sure to pay attention to the temperature of your environment – if this changes, so will your fudge. A perfect recipe cooked in winter is likely to need a cooking temperature adjustment when cooked in the summer to achieve the same result – a warmer atmosphere would likely require a slightly higher cooking temperature.
  5. Mixing
    Mixing your fudge well is vital to achieve a perfectly smooth texture! This begins in the pan – if you don’t fully mix your sugar with the other ingredients whilst the heat is on the pan, it will likely begin to burn to the bottom. So mix well, and stir regularly to ensure everything is moving and not sticking. Once your mix has reached the desired temperature, your fudge will again need to be mixed as it cools to thicken up evenly. In our kitchens, we use an electric whisk to save our arms – so if you have one, use it! Mix until you see that glossy mix start to thicken up, then pour out and leave to set.

That about wraps it up – good luck with your fudge experiments. And if it all sounds like too much effort, remember you can leave it to our artisans to do the hard work for you and shop our range of dairy and vegan fudge. Just remember, don’t settle for average fudge. Buy from an independently run family business to ensure your fudge is top notch!

Slab Artisan Fudge Depot
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20% Off ALL Vegan Fudge, ALL January, for Veganuary!

Veganuary Sale - 20% Off

Our Veganuary sale is now LIVE, with ALL vegan Slabs £3.40 instead of £4.25.

Have you tried our Veganuary specials?

Choc Heaven – a heavenly blend of dairy-free dark and white chocolate fudge

Snickerdoodle – subtle vanilla and cinnamon fudge with biscuit crumble and topped with a sugar dusting make this fudge taste just like a snickerdoodle cookie!

PB&J – luscious, creamy peanut butter and raspberry fudge laced with a dried raspberry crumb

Or why not try some of our most popular flavours (and staff favourites) – Sea-Salted Caramel, Bis Scoff, Cookies & Cream, Lemon Cheesecake…?

No code required, offer valid until the end of January.

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FREE SHIPPING WEEKEND! 🥳

Valentine’s Taster Boxes now available as pre-orders and Belgian waffles freshly dipped! 🧇🎁

Free Shipping Jan

What better time to order fudge than when you can have it shipped for free?!

Valentine’s Taster boxes have just gone LIVE as pre-orders – order now for delivery before V-day and you won’t pay for shipping!

It’s the last week where we are offering 20% off ALL vegan fudge for Veganuary. You’ve got to try our Limited Editions Snickerdoodle, Choc Heaven and PB&J 🤤

Belgian Waffles have just been freshly dipped so we currently have all our flavours available (Sea-Salted Caramel, Bis Scoff, Death by Choc and Cookies & Cream). This is rare – grab them while they’re hot! 🧇

Just spend £10 or more and enter the code SHIPITFREE and we’ll brighten your January! Valid site-wide on all fudge, confectionery, waffles and gift boxes 🌞

Offer valid until midnight on Mon 27th Jan.

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40% OFF ALL REMAINING STOCK!!! 🎅🏼

Not guaranteed for Christmas, but may arrive in time! 🎄

40% Off ALL remaining Slabs! 🥳

We’ve just dropped ALL remaining Slabs to 40% off – that makes dairy Slabs now £2.35 (usually £3.95) and vegan Slabs £2.55 (usually £4.25)!

And all remaining Gift Cartons are 50% off (now £2.25)!

Why? Because after Monday’s postal collection we will be having a well earned rest. We don’t want stock to be sat here for several weeks while we’re closed, we’d prefer to clear the shelves ready for the new year!

Please note that the guaranteed shipping date to arrive in time for Christmas has now passed, but we DO have a collection Monday. So just order before 3pm Monday and your order will ship! Who knows, it may still arrive in time… ✨

We don’t have lots of stock here, so be quick!

Happy Christmas from the team at Slab 🎄

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Christmas PRE-ORDERS are now LIVE! 🎁

Plus say hello to our NEW Christmas Hamper!

Xmas pre-order image

Christmas Pre-Order FAQ’s

Q: Christmas Pre-Orders – What Are They?

A: You place a pre-order for one of our Christmas Gift Boxes, Taster Boxes, 6 Slab Display Boxes or Christmas Hampers, and mid-December we make up all our pre-orders using the freshest fudge and ship them directly to you/your recipient!

Q: What Christmas pre-order options are there?

A: Our 4 Slab Christmas Gift Boxes consist of 4 freshly made Slabs: our 3 most popular Christmas flavours (Mince Pie, Eggnog and Chocolate Orange) plus our bestseller Sea-Salted Caramel. These are sealed in a red Gift Box with a Happy Christmas sticker and additional festive stickers.

We also have our ever-popular Christmas Taster Boxes – this allows the recipient to enjoy 6 different freshly made fudge flavours, all cut into decadent ready-to-eat bitesize pieces (the same flavours mentioned above, plus The Classic and Pannetone).

Then we have our festive 6 Slab Display Boxes – a branded black Slab box with 6 chunky 150g Slabs (same flavours as above). The big Daddy of Christmas gifts for those who don’t want to mess around!

Finally, we have our brand new Slab Christmas Hamper.
Our fudge-dipped Belgian waffles have been such a hit at events this season and it’s easy to see (taste) why! And so the Christmas Hamper is born – a display case containing Mince Pie and Chocolate Orange fudge Slabs plus Mince Pie and Sea-Salted Caramel dipped Belgian waffles. Fresh, festive and fudging delicious!