Lazy Concept or Brilliant Execution?
It's easy for the doubters to roll their eyes at "Birthday Cake" Oreos. One can anticipate the criticism: "Oh, they're just regular Oreos with extra stuff and colored sparkles -- Brilliant!" And, indeed, it doesn't seem like the flavor geniuses at Oreo would have to do much heavy lifting to pull this off. But these two flavors really are different from plain Oreos, and the simplicity is part of their audacity. Read on, after viewing our festive pic.
They Are What We Thought They Were!
So, no, it's no technological marvel to put cake frosting in between two wafers, but that's precisely the reason Birthday Cake Oreos succeed: they give you the actual thing you're supposed to be tasting. Frosting is shelf-stable and sold in cans, so it's quite easy to just pipe the stuff in the center of the cookies. And to be clear, unlike the rather firm and thin creme of the standard Oreo, this really is cake icing that you'll find in between the sheets and lots of it.
You Have to Be Patient
At our first group tasting, the first bite produced a little spontaneous outrage. Was this IT? The yellow cookie, belonging to the weaker of the two entries, really was pretty bland, and its strong crunch defied the idea that we were eating any kind of cake. But if you let the cookie sit in the mouth for a bit, it moistens from your...uh, well, your saliva...and the cookie slowly transforms to something more like cake. Then the icing, no longer blocked by the crunch, reveals itself to be almost precisely like what comes on your average supermarket sheet cake, right down to the strong fake-vanilla flavor that you either love or you don't. Suddenly, it really is like eating cake. J.N. concurs, writing "The filling definitely tastes quite a bit like cake frosting, even though the colorful bits in it seem to offer no additional flavors. This is another one where it makes sense they have extra filling since it carries all the flavor of the particular variety."
It's easy for the doubters to roll their eyes at "Birthday Cake" Oreos. One can anticipate the criticism: "Oh, they're just regular Oreos with extra stuff and colored sparkles -- Brilliant!" And, indeed, it doesn't seem like the flavor geniuses at Oreo would have to do much heavy lifting to pull this off. But these two flavors really are different from plain Oreos, and the simplicity is part of their audacity. Read on, after viewing our festive pic.
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| Happy Birthday to Us! |
So, no, it's no technological marvel to put cake frosting in between two wafers, but that's precisely the reason Birthday Cake Oreos succeed: they give you the actual thing you're supposed to be tasting. Frosting is shelf-stable and sold in cans, so it's quite easy to just pipe the stuff in the center of the cookies. And to be clear, unlike the rather firm and thin creme of the standard Oreo, this really is cake icing that you'll find in between the sheets and lots of it.
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| Pictured L to R: Regular Oreo, Yellow Birthday Cake, Chocolate Birthday Cake. Note how the frosting almost runs over the sides. If you are the kind of person that takes frosting off with your finger, you're in luck |
At our first group tasting, the first bite produced a little spontaneous outrage. Was this IT? The yellow cookie, belonging to the weaker of the two entries, really was pretty bland, and its strong crunch defied the idea that we were eating any kind of cake. But if you let the cookie sit in the mouth for a bit, it moistens from your...uh, well, your saliva...and the cookie slowly transforms to something more like cake. Then the icing, no longer blocked by the crunch, reveals itself to be almost precisely like what comes on your average supermarket sheet cake, right down to the strong fake-vanilla flavor that you either love or you don't. Suddenly, it really is like eating cake. J.N. concurs, writing "The filling definitely tastes quite a bit like cake frosting, even though the colorful bits in it seem to offer no additional flavors. This is another one where it makes sense they have extra filling since it carries all the flavor of the particular variety."
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| No thin sheet of creme, this is finger-licking-good icing! |
All tasters preferred the chocolate version by a wide margin, and not just because everybody loves chocolate. Somehow the chocolate waver dissolves into fine particles more readily, unlike the yellow cookie that renders up breadcrumb-like bits. So the synthesis of cake powder and icing into a cake facsimile happened more readily.
Can it Substitute for Birthday Cake?
I don't know about that. The candles would be a mess. But if you're far from family, have no significant other, and everyone forgets your birthday at the office, a package of these will fit comfortably on your lap as you watch season four of House of Cards, tears streaming gently down your cheek. Real birthday cake taste won't be the thing that's missing.
Conclusions
Birthday Cake Oreos offer a significantly different and surprisingly authentic taste experience.
Overall taste: 4.5 out of 5 (Chocolate) and 3 out of 5 (Yellow)
Match to taste target: 4.5 out of 5 (Chocolate) and 3.5 out of 5 (Yellow)
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