Oreo Cakesters
Available at: Major grocery retailers
Price: $3.29
Would buy again: Yes
*** 1/2 (out of five)
My, my, Oreos. You’ve put on weight.
After 60 years in Canada, perhaps it’s not surprising the Oreo has gotten a little wider, a little softer. The iconic crème-filled sandwich cookie has been updated with a chubby successor, the Oreo Cakester, in its original flavour and in a Chocolate Crème variety.
It’s generally what you would expect from a snack cake: Soft, moist, introducing itself with a firm chewiness that quickly yields to creaminess. The actual flavour is a surprising departure from an Oreo cookie — it’s not just hard vs. soft — but the taste strays into Jos. Louis territory. Here, Oreo loses bragging rights for originality — Jos. Louis and Hostess cupcakes have already been holding down the dark-cake-light-cream fort for longer than most can remember. Still, it’s a cheerful little variation and the Chocolate Crème variety is a bold chocolate brother — slipping a light cocoa mousse in between those two soft cake pillows.
These cakes, however, lose out on the Oreo legacy: Dipping. Oreos have always been synonymous with an accompanying glass of milk and the novelty of combining the two — there was something truly divine about softening that dark biscuit in milk, about downing the rest of the glass afterwards. As expected, the Cakesters get pretty uselessly soggy after even a quick dip, but the snack cake is moist enough that you’ll only miss the milk for the nostalgia.
And finally — and this has nothing to do with taste — there’s something truly charming about these uneven, occasionally lopsided cakes. You almost picture a gaggle of five-year-olds smooshing them into shape straight off the conveyor belt and into the little baggy, occasionally getting carried away and smooshing them into each other’s faces. And that delightful image sums up the Cakester’s airy sweetness and light consistency.
The rigid Oreo biscuit has a fun, plump cousin.
