Pepperidge Farm Coconut Layer Cake

"Coconut lovers unite!" says this box. Well, I guess I'm just a coconut liker. A coconut enjoyer. But not a lover. This was decent, good texture, but man, the frosting mostly tasted like sugar and coconut, and that wasn't my favorite. I think the cake itself is plain vanilla, and I couldn't tell about the inside frosting, but the main flavor note here is certainly coconut. It is nice to have the option of a safe coconut treat, but I don't know if I love it. It doesn't beat out the OG vanilla, that's for sure. Also, there's also a strange artificial(seeming) aftertaste, which is maybe due to all the fake coconut cofe flavors I've had messing with me? Not sure, but that's a minor demerit!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

School Safe Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffin Bars

I always assumed "school safe" was top 8 free, so I avoided these in my store because top 8 free either means they taste like trash or they have pea protein or something shady in 'em. But these are just nut and dairy free, not gluten-free! So they still resemble a fairly normal cakey. Praise the lord (and Canada, where these are made). They weren't even that pricy -- I think 5$ for a box of 8. Therefore, I was pleased. They taste like a bit of banana bread. My box expired in (1) day from purchase, so I did put it in the freezer as suggested. When frozen, they aren't as good, so you really should let it thaw. But thawed, they taste like a less decadent version of my grandma's banana chocolate chip bars, which I adored. Thanks, School Safe!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Caroline's Cakes 4-Layer Pink Champagne Cake

Aw. My mom ordered this fancy nut-free cake online for our birthdays (Oprah recommended it!) which was super sweet. But alas, I was a little sick, I don't love cake in the best of times, and I don't think this cake was that good. However, it definitely looked the part -- if ever I am sad about not being able to eat wedding cakes, I'm just gonna imagine they taste like this. The frosting is generic sweet, the cake is a little mushy and generic sweet, with a light flavor of either plastic or strawberry, I'm not sure. It's inferior to a pepperidge farm cake for sure (or an ice cream cake, although RIP to the days when I could eat a safe ice cream cake). If you like cakes, though, maybe you'd like this. The company seems cool and legit, but this flavor did not impress me.

Overall
Cost: 3/10 [70$ plus shipping!!!!!!]
Taste: 5/10

Betty Crocker Gingerbread Cake & Cookie Mix

Because I'm an idiot, I used this mix to make a sheet cake instead of cookies. This was a mistake! I don't know what I expected, but the resulting gingerbread cake (aka ginger Bread) was OK -- it tasted like a dense bread with ginger flavor. It needs something more, like cream cheese frosting. I did melt butter on top and add sugar, and that was good but still ultimately just a filling sweet bread. Very easy prep though, just required one egg. Probably would not make again. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Pepperidge Farm Confetti Vanilla Layer Cake

This is my favorite Pepperidge Farm cake! My family often gets it for our birthdays. Anyway, I can never find it at my store, but I think it used to be called "Celebration cake" - anyway, this is the same thing. But it didn't have very many sprinkles on it! And it was a little bit stale/dry, so I'm hoping I just got a bad batch. It's still delicious though, the frosting is just right and I like the two kinds of frosting (hard top and soft middle) and the cake is sweet and flakey and not too sweet, if you can believe it. Plus the layers are fun. It's not very healthy, but it's delish! And nut-free. Yay, confetti cake!



Overall
Cost: 7/10 [3.22$]
Taste: 7/10

Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Fudge Stripe Cake

You know how recipe blogs don't just give a recipe, they give tons of unwanted personal backstory? I feel like that's the way things are heading here. Get ready, food fans. Anyway, I was at my boyf's place for the weekend and I wanted cake because sometimes you want cake, right? So these are at the store and on sale. I really like the vanilla celebration one (woo) but bae likes chocolate things if he likes desserts at all. Luckily I think we both liked this pretty well! It has a sweet vanilla cake stripe in the middle, surrounded by two chocolate cake bits. Lots of chocolate frosting on top, but some more generic lighter frosting on the inside which is refreshing and moist. That's one of the best things about these cakes is that they're so moist! Anyway, it says it serves 8 but it really serves like 2-3 over a few days. Sweet but not too sweet. Lovely cake.

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (3.50$ at Giant)
Taste: 7/10

Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookie Cake

I saw this new product in the frozen aisle and got pretty excited! I love new things, and being in a state of school-sponsored depression, today was the perfect time to sample a new cake. Apparently PepFarm is having their 75th Anniversary, therefore releasing a ton of new products. I think this is a good idea, but ultimately it isn't very different from their existing white cake with chocolate icing. It just has little cookie crumbles on top. Now if the cake itself were made of cookie parts, we'd have something to talk about! It's still a great tasting freezer cake though, the frosting is good and the cake is moist. But for the seriously extreme fat-sugar-calories you're getting with this cake, the flavor isn't justified (in my opinion). If you're a huge milano fan it's worth a try though, since it does taste a lot like a milano in cake form.

Overall
Cost: 7/10 [3.00]
Taste: 6/10

Pepperidge Farm Lemon 3-Layer Cake

I really like these Pepperidge farm cakes in general (especially vanilla!) but this one is one of my least favorites. At first it was pretty good, but I think it's too lemony for me. I realise that if it were in a fancy tart on a nice plate or something I'd probably rave about it, but the taste isn't enough for me to come back to it. It's decent but definitely my least favorite of this cake line.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [2.50]
Taste: 5/10

Laura says: This was ok. I don't like cake that much or lemon-flavored things, but the frosting was nice? 6/10

Pepperidge Farm Golden Cake

This is a delightful little cake, especially compared to traditional cake (although it is not as good as ice cream cake, sorry). However, it is quite nice. The frosting is good, is it moist, and it isn't that overly saccharine flavor which some cakes have. Plus it's square! I've always loved these cakes.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Laura says: I don't like cake, but I like this. I'm confused. Good frosting. 8/10