Review: Trader Joe's - A Dozen Sweet Bites

Trader Joe's A Dozen Sweet Bites is an assortment of frozen, bite-size cake rectangles. The selection includes three varieties (four of each): Chocolate & Coffee Opera Cake, Raspberry Macaron Aux Framboises Cake, and Caramel & Chocolate Cake. According to the package, these were made in France.

A 9.16-oz box cost me $5.99.

Opera cake is a French cake featuring layers of almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, ganache, and coffee French buttercream. The name comes from the layers resembling the levels of an opera house.

Trader Joe's Chocolate & Coffee "Opera" Cake sported quite a few layers for a mix of spongy cake, fluffy buttercream, and smooth ganache to go with rich notes of chocolate and coffee. The coffee syrup wet the bottom layer but not the other cake layers.

The Caramel & Chocolate Cake consisted of a bottom layer of chocolate cake, a flaky chocolaty middle layer, and a top layer of fluffy caramel cream finished with a sweet caramel glaze. It was simpler and sweeter than the opera cake but was no less tasty. With "only" three layers, each layer was more prominent in terms of flavor and texture.

The Raspberry "Macaron Aux Framboises" Cake is a raspberry macaron cake. As such, it has a crumbly macaron crust on top flecked with toasted coconut. The name is a bit odd as "framboises" means "raspberry" which means this is a "raspberry macaron raspberry cake."

Besides the macaron crust, there were two layers of sponge cake sandwiching a layer of vanilla cream frosting and raspberry sauce. The cake was airy and fluffy, the cream was light with a mild flavor, and the raspberry sauce was sweet and tart.

Of the three cakes, the Raspberry Macaron Aux Framboises Cake stood out the most to me due to the contrast of flavor versus the other chocolaty cakes. The Chocolate & Coffee Opera Cake, while still enjoyable, was my least favorite of the three as the bottom layer was way too wet which leaves the Caramel & Chocolate Cake somewhere in the middle.

The way these are packaged lets you easily defrost however many you like while keeping the rest in the freezer. I noticed that despite the instructions on the box to defrost the cakes in the fridge, letting them come to temperature on the counter yielded a moister cake.

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Raspberry Macaron Aux Framboises Cake
Serving Size - 1 piece of cake (20g)
Calories - 60
Fat - 3.5g (Saturated Fat - 2g)
Sodium - 10mg
Carbs - 7g (Sugar - 5g)
Protein - 1g

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Opera Cake
Serving Size - 1 piece of cake (25g)
Calories - 90
Fat - 5g (Saturated Fat - 3g)
Sodium - 10mg
Carbs - 9g (Sugar - 6g)
Protein - 1g

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Chocolate & Caramel Cake
Serving Size - 1 piece of cake (21g)
Calories - 70
Fat - 4.5g (Saturated Fat - 2.5g)
Sodium - 15mg
Carbs - 7g (Sugar - 5g)
Protein - less than 1g