I first tried Fazer Dumle in a supermarket in Helsinki three years ago. I was there for a long weekend with a friend, we'd wandered into a K-Market to buy water and snacks for the afternoon, and I picked up a bag of something I didn't recognise because the packaging looked interesting and I was in the mood for chocolate.
I ate one on the walk back to the hotel. Then another. By the time we got back I'd eaten about a third of the bag and was already thinking about whether I could fit another bag in my hand luggage.
I bought two more bags before we flew home. I've been ordering them online ever since.
What Makes Dumle Different
Chocolate and toffee is not a new combination. There are plenty of chocolate-covered toffees available in UK shops, and most of them are fine. Dumle is not fine. Dumle is significantly better than fine, and the difference is in the execution of both components.
The milk chocolate coating on a Fazer Dumle is smooth and creamy in a way that British milk chocolate often isn't — Fazer is a Finnish confectionery company with over a century of history, and their chocolate has a quality and a character that reflects that. It melts evenly on the tongue rather than breaking into waxy pieces. The sweetness is balanced rather than cloying.
The toffee centre is soft. Not hard toffee that risks your dental work, not a sticky caramel that pulls at your teeth — soft, chewy, rich toffee that gives you a long, satisfying flavour experience without any of the jaw-ache that harder toffees produce. The combination of the smooth chocolate melting and the soft toffee chewing creates a layered texture experience that's genuinely distinctive.
I've tried to explain this to people who haven't had one and it always sounds like I'm overselling it. Then they try one and they understand.
Why I Started Ordering Them
The two bags I brought back from Helsinki lasted about a week. Then I spent a month trying to find them in UK shops, which was unsuccessful. Fazer products have limited UK retail distribution — you occasionally find them in Scandinavian food shops in larger cities, but not reliably and not always in the Dumle variety specifically.
Finding the Fazer Dumle Original Milk Chocolate with Soft Toffee Candy Bag available to order online was genuinely exciting in a way that I'm slightly embarrassed to admit. The 270g bag is the right size — generous enough to last a reasonable amount of time if you exercise some restraint, which I manage with varying degrees of success.
How I Use Them
I keep a bag in my desk drawer at work. One or two in the mid-afternoon, when the post-lunch energy dip hits and I need something that will actually satisfy rather than just add sugar. The soft toffee centre means each sweet takes a while to eat, which makes the experience more satisfying than something that's gone in two seconds. A couple of Dumle and a cup of tea is a genuinely good mid-afternoon break.
I also use them as a gift. When I'm going to someone's house for dinner and I want to bring something a bit more interesting than a standard box of chocolates, a bag of Fazer Dumle is the answer. They're unfamiliar to most people in the UK, which makes them interesting. They're delicious, which makes them a good gift. And they come in a bag rather than a box, which somehow makes them feel more generous — like you're sharing something rather than presenting something.
The reaction is always the same: one sweet, a pause, then reaching for another one. I've introduced Fazer Dumle to at least fifteen people this way. All of them have subsequently ordered their own bags.
The Fazer Factor
Fazer is worth knowing about if you don't already. Founded in Helsinki in 1891, they're one of the most respected confectionery companies in the Nordic countries — the kind of brand that has genuine heritage and genuine quality standards rather than a heritage story retrofitted onto a mass-market product. Their chocolate is made with care and it tastes like it. Dumle has been one of their classic products for decades, which tells you something about how well it's been received over time.
When you buy Fazer Dumle, you're buying something that has been made the same way, to the same standard, for a very long time. That consistency is part of what makes it trustworthy as a treat — you know exactly what you're getting, and what you're getting is excellent.
My Verdict
If you've never tried Fazer Dumle, the Fazer Dumle Original Milk Chocolate with Soft Toffee Candy Bag is the place to start. The 270g bag gives you enough to share, enough to keep, and enough to understand why this Finnish classic has been a favourite for generations. Smooth milk chocolate, soft toffee centre, genuinely satisfying in a way that most chocolate-covered sweets aren't.
Order a bag. You'll order another one before it's finished.
Find it in our store and browse more sweets and treats here:
Ingrid Solberg is a project manager and enthusiastic food tourist based in Manchester. She has visited Helsinki twice, introduced Fazer Dumle to fifteen people, and keeps a bag in her desk drawer at all times.
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