Have you noticed all the new strawberry-flavored products dropping at Trader Joe’s lately? Sour strawberry belts, strawberry doodle cookies, teeny tiny strawberry rhubarb pies? Well, the summer showstopper is here: Trader Joe’s Strawberry Mini Sheet Cake.
It’s topped with a cream cheese frosting with strawberry puree and speckled with freeze dried strawberry bits. The ones at my TJ’s varied in the amount of speckles. I picked one that had less, but had a best by date that was further out.
Although I’ve really liked most of the mini sheetcakes, I half way expected this one to taste artificial. But it doesn’t. The cake itself is made with strawberry preserves, buttermilk, and canola oil. And the frosting is a cream cheese buttercream (with actual butter). Where you’re paying for it is in the sugar, with each serving clocking in at 35g of sugar, (34g added sugars).
It’s pleasantly moist (I know everyone hates that word, but don’t you hate dry cake more?) and while it’s not as addictive as the gluten-free yellow sheet cake turned out to be for me, it’s very good. Would I buy it again? Yeah, probably. I think I like it more than the lemon sheet cake now, but it’s also new, so many that’s part of the novelty.
If you’re celebrating something, grab a packet of TJ’s sprinkles and some fresh strawberries and you’re in business. It’s also a good candidate for a Fourth of July mini flag sheetcake with raspberries and blueberries. Or grab a lemon cake and stack the slices and call it a strawberry lemonade cake.
Check out some other We Tried Trader Joe’s summer faves, now back in stores:
Grilled Chimichurri Chicken Thigh Skewers