Costco Strawberries & Cream Bar Cake Review
If you found this cake on a dating app, you wouldn’t be disappointed in person.
I tried Costco’s new Strawberries and Cream Bar Cake, and loved it. This is one of my favorite Costco bakery desserts so far, ranking with the Tuxedo Cake and the Plain Cheesecake.
Now, a fair disclaimer is that I prefer “less sweet” desserts that heavily feature real cream, and that’s what you’re getting here. In fact, sugar is NOT the first ingredient, cream is! So there.
I could smell the strawberries through the sealed box. I smelled them all the way home. It’s like being at a strawberry festival, without the noisy crowds and sweaty armpits.
The filling bears similarities to strawberry jam, but lighter and fresher tasting, with more gel. More natural tasting than jam. It has pureed strawberry in it, but not huge chunks.
Although there’s not a ton of the filling, it’s flavorful and zingy, and I didn’t want more.
The cake really is layered with “cream” and not icing, which I loved. Little blobs of white chocolate nestle between the cream layers, adding cocoa butter aroma and a silky mouth-feel.
The cream is stabilized, but otherwise resembles dense homemade whipped cream. It’s mildly sweet, and delightfully airy. In fact, the airy-ness makes this cake lighter fare. I could eat a whole piece and not need to hibernate like a gorged bear afterwards. Great summer dessert.
Aesthetically, I give it 5 stars. If you found this cake on a dating app, you wouldn’t be disappointed in person. It’s decorated with white chocolate curls and flirty little striped pink chocolate squares.
The exposed sides show the fun red and white strata of of the layers. It’s the kind of dessert I’d put on display before I served it.
I’d describe the actual “cake” as a bit like shortcake. It has a stiffer texture and a rough, open, spongey crumb. But in a nice way, I swear!
The crumb structure holds up well to the gooey layers of the rest of the dessert without getting soggy or sad. Not much flavor.
It’s the kind of cake you don’t really pay attention to, just as long as it stays on your fork and brings the cream and strawberries with it. What it lacks personality, it makes up for in reliability. A stoic cake. This cake knows it exists merely as a vehicle for the other layers, and it has resigned itself to such fate with dignity.
We respect you, cake. Now get in my belly!
Ingredients in Costco Strawberries & Cream Bar Cake
Here are the ingredients, from the label (there are some missing or inconsistent brackets/parenthesis on the original label, so this is my best attempt, anyway):
- Cake (Whipping Cream [Cream, Cellulose Gel, Carrageenan Gum, Cellulose Gum], Water, Sugar, Strawberry Puree, Glucose, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Flavors, Strawberry Juice Concentrate, Citric Acid, Pectin, Fruit and Vegetable Juices [Color], Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Sugar, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Water, Eggs, Canola Oil, White Chocolate [Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dry Whole Milk, Nonfat Dry Milk, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Extract, Milkfat], Sugar, Nonfat Dry Milk, Leavening [Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate], Corn Starch, Calcium Sulphate, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Sodium Alginate, Natural Flavor)
- White Chocolate Curls & Dominos (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla, Beetroot Extract [Color])
- Icing (Sugar, Palm Oil and/or Canola Oil, Shortening [Interesterified Soybean Oil, Fully Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Mono- and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60], Water, Corn Starch, Nonfat Dry Milk, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Preservatives [TBHQ and Citric Acid])
I love that this doesn’t have any artificial colors — there is beetroot juice to dye the pink stripes in the decorations, and natural strawberry puree and concentrate in the filling. I love seeing real cream, especially as the first ingredient! This is fabulous.
However, I hate seeing the hydrogenated oils and artificial flavors and preservatives. There has got to be a better way.
Shelf Life
Unlike other Costco bakery items, this bar cake doesn’t have a long shelf-life; mine started to lose quality after only a couple days. This is mainly because the stabilized whipped cream can only last so long.
It took me about a week to eat it all, and the whipped cream layers had lost volume and changed texture somewhat by then, but they hadn’t spoiled or become inedible.
If you are buying this for an event, I would try to get it the same day you will be serving it — or the day before, max.
Price and Servings
I’d say you’re getting between 8-10 servings, depending on how narrowly you slice it. Maybe 12 servings, if you’re stingy.
The cake weighs around 3 pounds (2 pounds, 14 ounces on the label), and it costs $17.99. That puts it at $1.80-2.25 per serving. Per ounce, this dessert costs about 39 cents.
Compared to other Costco bakery items, it’s on the “spendy” side for the size/number of servings. But worth it.
This is a Kirkland Signature (Costco store brand) item, and the product# is: 1732188.
I do love the sturdy, resealable plastic boxes the Costco bar cakes are packaged in. Great for keeping the cake moist, and easy to transport. The lid seals tightly to keep out fusty refrigerator odors.
Dramatic Conclusion
This is a fabulous summer dessert. I loved the combination of tangy and creamy flavors. While not as much of a bargain as other Costco desserts, the prominent use of real cream makes it a worthwhile purchase. Unfortunately, this cake has a shorter shelf-life, so eat up!
The End.
Author’s note: I wasn’t paid to write this review, and I have no affiliation with Costco, strawberry festivals, or sweaty armpits. No, wait, I probably do with that last one! I bought this cake with my own monies, and reviewed it because I felt like it.
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