Life is sweet... especially with more sweets in it! And here are 11 surprising and delicious ways to get more of them in your mouth

Sponsored by M&S

By Anne Shooter for MailOnline

Published: 18:01 EST, 12 August 2015 | Updated: 04:31 EST, 13 August 2015

Few foods (with the exception of cheese) can illicit as much joy and enthusiasm as sweets.

A sweep of social media will show that a Pic n' Mix stand can cause as much excitement as discovering a great bar or new cat video online.

Whether it is the touch of nostalgia they bring, reminding us of our childhood where trials like Tube strikes and mortgages didn't haunt us, or simply that no matter how old we are we can't resist a sugar hit, we Brits can't get enough of the sweet stuff.

One thing is for sure, we Brits are totally obsessed with our sweets

A sweep of social media will show that a Pic n' Mix stand can cause as much excitement as discovering a great bar or new cat video online

M&S's new range contains such delights as Broken Liquorice Toffee (£1.10) and Fizzy Pop Sweets in glorious flavours such as Ginger Beer and Pink Lemonade (£1.10 for 180g)

This love of confectionery has led to both the invention of fabulous new treats and to a revival in the so-called 'retro' sweets of decades past. Who doesn't love a slab of coconut ice or crumbly bon bon?

It has also caused brands to find ways of incorporating better, more intense, and more unusual flavours into our sweets.

M&S's new sweets range includes such delights as Peaches and Cream Fudge, British Wildflower Honey Honeycomb and British Fruit Jellies infused with the puree of British rhubarb, blackcurrant, strawberry and gooseberry. And don't get us started on the Ginger Beer and Pink Lemonade Fizzy Pops...

For our fellow sugar lovers, we have collated nine amazing ways you can incorporate more sweetie goodness into your lives... 

1. Piñata cupcakes

So you know what a piñata is, right? (Normally you hit them with a stick at kids’ parties until loads of sweets fall out.) And you know what a cupcake is, yes? Well, a piñata cupcake does not need to be hit with a stick until the sweets come out. It needs to be eaten to find the hidden sweets inside.

The combination of two food greats; the piñata cupcake is filled with a delicious sweet surprise 

The sweets only you know are there, because you used a teaspoon to carefully scoop out a hole in the middle of the cake, going in from the top, you then filled the cavity (did someone say cavity?) with sweets, you put the top of the cake back on and you covered the whole thing with butter icing. 

Now you need to get someone else (not you, as that will spoil the surprise, obviously) to eat one. Ta da!

And we didn't think ice cream could be made any more delicious... but we were clearly wrong 

2. Hokey pokey ice cream

Hokey pokey means honeycomb, basically. And we recommend you get hold of a bag of the new M&S British Wildflower Honey Honeycomb (£2 for 75g) and a tub of vanilla ice cream. 

Let the ice cream melt a bit. Smash up the honeycomb. Combine. Put the honeycomb ice cream back in the freezer. Serve with warm melted chocolate. Oh yes. Hokey pokey. That’s what it’s all about.

Make your fudge brownies (even) better with a flavoured fudge like M&S's new Strawberries and Cream Fudge

3. Fudge brownies

Fudge is something you remember from your childhood that is still totally great, agreed? And brownies are probably not something from your childhood but they are also totally great. 

So let us marry the two, the old and the modern and create a new and beautiful thing of wonderment. 

Listen carefully: Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Melt 250g of butter and 200g of dark chocolate together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 

Allow to cool until it is warmish and then add 360g caster sugar and 4 beaten eggs. Mix well. 

Mix together 80g cocoa powder, 65g plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Add to the chocolaty eggy mix. 

Stir well then add 100g fudge, cut into smallish chunks. The new M&S British Clotted Cream and Strawberry Fudge or Peaches and Cream Fudge (£2 per bag) would be AMAZING in these but you can use any fudge you fancy. 

Pour into your tin and bake for 20 minutes or until the top goes pale and starts to crack. Allow to cool in the tray, then cut into squares and eat.

4. Fizzy pop lollies

This is, like, the easiest recipe ever. Get some lolly moulds and sticks. Pop four or five cola bottle sweets into each mould. Fill up with cola – or your favourite fizzy drink. Put a stick in each mould. 

Add sweeties into your homemade lolly molds along with a complimentary juice or fizzy drink for frozen fun 

Freeze. 

Eat.

Fridge cake can be improved by very little... except sweets 

See, told you it was easy. We tried this with the new Fizzy Pop Sweets from M&S (£1.10 for 180g) that come in ginger beer, pink lemonade, cola and cherryade flavours and are gelatine-free so suitable for veggies. 

The ginger beer ones work really well with ginger beer, the cherryade ones with cherry pop, and so on…

5. Best ever fridge cake

Fridge cake – aka chocolate biscuit cake - is, of course, what Prince William requested for his wedding cake. 

So, how do you make a Royal favourite even better? 

By pimping it with loads of sweeties of course!

Here’s what you do… First, grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with parchment. Now put a packet of Rich Tea biscuits in a bag and smash them up with a rolling pin. 

Tip into a bowl. Add 100g of fruit jellies – M&S does British Fruit Jellies (£2 for 158g) in rhubarb, blackcurrant, strawberry and gooseberry flavour and they are perfect – each cut into four. Also add 100g of another sweet you like. Dolly mixtures are good, or jelly beans. 

Now melt together 100g of milk chocolate, 100g dark chocolate, 100g butter and 50g golden syrup. Stir in the biscuits and sweets. Pour into your prepared tin. 

Top with more sweets and baby marshmallows if you like. Cool until solid. Cut into (small) squares to serve.

6. Chocolate bark

Making chocolate bark is really fun and looks super impressive when it is actually super easy. Take a shallow baking tray and line it with cling film. 

Pour melted chocolate onto cling film before sprinkling with anything you want (ie sweets!) to create a slab of goodness. Try M&S’s new Summer Fruits, £3 for 75g (right) 

Then get your favourite chocolate and melt it in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water. You need to try this with M&S’s new Malted Milk Chocolate (£2.50 for 45g) which seriously tastes like melted Maltesers. 

Try making the chocolate bark with M&S’s new Malted Milk Chocolate (£2.50 for 45g)

Pour your melted chocolate onto the cling film and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. While it is still soft, sprinkle over your toppings of choice. 

Crushed honeycomb is fab. So are nuts or seeds for crunch, and so are marshmallows, drizzles of melted white or dark chocolate, or dried cranberries. 

Or if you are really feeling decadent, get some of M&S’s new Summer Fruits (£3 for 75g) - white, milk and dark chocolate coated freeze-dried strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

They have fruit in them so they’re healthy, right? 

Anyway, put your masterpiece in the fridge for two hours. 

Then you can break it into pieces and eat it, or put it in plastic bags with ribbon at the top for really smug gifts for people you like a lot.

7. Sweetie jelly

Make a jelly using a supermarket packet. Let it cool a bit and nearly set. 

When it is literally on the verge of setting, drop in your favourite sweets so they suspend rather than sink to the bottom. 

Chuck some chewy or hard sweets into your jelly when it is cool, but not fully set, for a fun filled treat! 

This is ace with cola bottles (or M&S’s Fizzy Pop Sweets) but can also be done with jelly beans or little boiled sweets like M&S’s British Pudding Sweets (£1.10 for 220g). 

These are lemon meringue, cherry bakewell and Eton mess flavour sweets with cracknel centres, which will definitely make your day better, whether in jelly or not, frankly.

8. Sweeton Mess

If you want to impress people A LOT you need to get M&S Elderflower Raspberries for your Sweeton Mess

These bad boys are whole, freeze-dried raspberries, coated in white chocolate that has been flavoured with elderflower

OK, so you know how to make an Eton Mess, we are sure. 

You get a load of meringue nests, smash them up, add a couple of punnets of raspberries, and a pot of double cream that you’ve whipped with a little icing sugar. 

If you are feeling fancy, you might want to add some raspberry coulis. 

BUT if you are feeling truly decadent and you want to impress people A LOT you need to get down to M&S and buy some Elderflower Raspberries (£3 for 80g).

These bad boys are whole, freeze-dried raspberries, coated in white chocolate that has been flavoured with elderflower. 

And no we are not sharing ours with you. Oh no. 

Go buy your own and drop them into your Eton Mess to make it a Sweeton Mess. You will be much loved by all.

(Also these would be AMAZING with fresh raspberries to decorate a cheesecake. Just saying.)

9. Rice Crispie Coconut Squares

Find me a child (or inner child) that doesn’t love a Rice Crispie cake and I will eat my… er… Rice Crispie cake. 

But for the ultimate in sweet joy, you do not want to faff around with chocolate and syrup. Oh no. Just grab a bag of marshmallows. Or two. Or three. 

M&S Strawberries & Cream Coconut Ice, 172g, £2, makes a simple Rice Crispie Square something really special

Melt them in a saucepan – gently, while stirring. Burnt marshmallows are OK on a bonfire but not in a crispie cake. Now, throw in a load of Rice Crispies. 

Add whatever treats you fancy – raisins are ok if you are boring, chocolate chips are good, OR try some desiccated coconut or, even better, amazing crumbled coconut ice from M&S Strawberries & Cream Coconut Ice (172g, £2).

Now pour the whole lot into a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray and stick it in the fridge to set. Cut into squares. 

Eat. Smile. Repeat.  

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