Costco Maple Butter Crunch Bar Cake Review
Author’s note: Not a paid review. These are my own absurd opinions. I don’t work for Costco. I wasn’t compensated in any way to write this review. Natch.
It tastes like hopes and dreams and Canada.
There has not been enough enthusiastic raving over this new Costco dessert. In fact, I have not heard a single person from my local Costco utter a peep about it. Usually, when Costco releases a stellar bakery item, there’s a lot of feverish chatter swirling around social media. I saw random store pictures of this Maple Butter Crunch Cake floating around the internet, but that was it.
I’m here to fix that. This is an outstanding dessert. Minus a few caveats, of course.
What does it taste like?
What makes it so good? It’s the flavors, and the layers, and the sly little crunch at the end. This dessert is made with three layers of sponge cake, with three different layers of maple-themed creme filling. Yes, I said three different layers. Each layer is a new surprise.
The layers
The first layer tastes like dense, flavored whipped cream. It’s a strong maple-syrup taste. This is real cream, with a buttery aroma and a luscious, smooth mouth-feel. It tastes like hopes and dreams and Canada.
The second layer has more of a tangy cream-cheese taste, with warm brown-sugar notes. It’s deeper and darker than the first layer, with more richness and complexity.
And the last layer is the most surprising — it has crunchy, delicate cereal flakes and finely chopped pecans embedded in the filling. The syrupy maple-honey flavor — with the distinct crunch — almost reminded me of baklava or honey comb. It’s a delightful punctuation at the end of the creamy-dreamy cake.
Admittedly, I do love maple flavor. And, if you’ve been reading my reviews, you already know I absolutely adore anything with real cream in it. Cream is the first ingredient in this cake. Swoon.
(Looking for another Costco cake made with real cream? Check out my review of the Costco Strawberries & Cream Bar Cake.)
The actual sponge cake is nice, but not something I would rave about on its own. It has a vanilla-ish flavor (there is no actual “vanilla” listed in the cake ingredients — more about that later), and a durable, but soft texture. I appreciate that the cake isn’t overwhelmingly sugary. It has a pleasant, moderate sweetness that lets the flavors do the talking.
Small problem: the bottom layer of my cake was dry. Not “slightly dry,” but more like “Sahara-desert” level dry. Almost crunchy-dry. So dry, it was stiff. Unacceptably dry. I’m giving Costco the benefit of the doubt here, and assuming this was some strange fluke. The other two cake layers were fine.
Aesthetics matter
Costco has garnished this cake with a flourish of sweet white icing (not whipped cream!) and a sprinkle of pecans. The tan-colored top cream layer is swirled in gentle waves. Like sea turtle tracks in the sand.
Visually, the layers of cream filling make an ombre effect as they progressively darken towards the bottom of each slice.
It’s an understated, but elegant presentation.
Ingredients in Costco Maple Butter Pecan Bar Cake
Here are the (slightly confusing and jumbled) ingredients, from the label:
- Cake (Whipping Cream [Cream, Cellulose Gel, Carrageenan, Cellulose Gum], Sugar, Water, Bleached Enriched Flour [Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Eggs, White Chocolate Coating [Sugar, Fractionated Palm Kernel & Palm Oil, Whey Powder, Nonfat Dry Milk, Soy Lecithin, Nat. Flavor], Canola Oil, Brown Sugar, Cream Cheese [Cream, Nonfat Milk, Salt, Guar Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Cheese Culture], Shortening [Palm Oil, Propylene Glycol Mono- & Diesters of Fatty Acids, Mono- & Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin], Pecans, Contains 2% or less of the following: Dextrose, Butter [Cream], Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Modified Corn Starch, Dried Egg Whites, Leavening [Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate], Corn Starch, Fruit Juice [Color], Nat. Flavor, Corn Starch, Gums [Cellulose & Xanthan], Modified Tapioca Starch, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Sodium Alginate, Caramel [Color])
- Icing (Sugar, Oils [Palm, Canola, Interesterified Soybean Oil, Soybean Oil, Fully Hydrogenated Cottonseed], Water, Nonfat Dry Milk, Salt, Mono- & Diglycerides, Nat. & Art. Flavors, Corn Starch, Polysorbate 60, Preservatives [TBHQ & Citric Acid])
- Pecans
I had a tough time figuring out where these ingredient categories start and end — because the opening/closing brackets are not consistent, and commas / spaces are missing throughout — which separate multi-word ingredients. Anyway, the above is my best attempt.
Do I love these ingredients? No! Good gravy. There’s a lot to unpack here. Way too many unpleasantries, like Artificial Flavor, Propylene Glycol, Polysorbate 60, Preservatives, Shortening, Soybean and Cottonseed Oils, etc. I don’t see any actual “maple” or “vanilla” in the ingredients, which is a huge let-down.
Do I still love this cake? Yes. It’s still a very delicious cake. Just not something I’m proud of eating.
(Are you looking for a bakery item with more natural ingredients? Here is my review of Costco’s Banana Nut Loaf.)
Price and Servings in Costco Maple Pecan Cake
This cake cost $19 at my local Costco, which is pretty steep. The label weight is 2 pounds, 7 ounces, but I weighed mine on my kitchen scale at almost 2.75 pounds.
I would hazard there are at least 12 servings in this cake. My bar was about 12 inches long, so at 1-inch per slice, you are still getting a small, but decent, serving. This cake is not as dense or filling as the Costco Tuxedo Cake (you can read my review of it here), so it won’t stretch as far. If you are serving this to big eaters, you might include ice cream to satisfy everyone.
Assuming 12 servings per bar, each slice would cost $1.58. Per ounce (39 ounces label weight), this cake costs about 49 cents.
This is a Kirkland (Costco store-brand) Bakery item, and the product # is: 1869206.
Shelf-Life
It took me more than a week to finish this cake. Happily, this dessert did not change much in taste or texture over that time span. The whipped cream stayed fluffy and smooth, but the crispy bits in the bottom layers were “somewhat” less crisp. The “sell-by” date on my package was dated for about 2 days after purchase.
Like other Costco bar cakes, this one comes in a sturdy plastic box, which seals tightly. I like these boxes, because it’s easy to remove the cake without damaging it, and the tight-fitting bottom lid keeps refrigerator smells out of the cake. This cake is easy to transport home without falling apart.
Dramatic Conclusion
The flavors and textures of this Costco dessert were outstanding. I loved the surprising variety in the layers. I also adore the prominent real cream, although I am not a fan of the ingredients overall. Assuming the dryness was a fluke, I would buy this cake again. It was super-yum.
P.S. I don’t actually know what Canada tastes like.
The End.
More Reviews of Costco Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews of Costco bakery desserts I’ve written. Or don’t. That’s fine, too:
