Costco Carrot Bar Cake Review
Author’s note: As per always, this is not a paid review. I have no affiliation with Costco. These are my own silly little opinions.
A tickle of tropical flair.
I tried the new Costco Carrot Bar Cake. I love the flavor. I’m not totally sure how I feel about the texture. Or the icing.
This three-layer dessert features walnuts, raisins, pineapple… and “spice.” It tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe. Whatever it is, it’s seductively rich. The spices are strong enough to stand out above everything else.
I’m pleased by the walnuts — they’re crisp and crunchy and fresh-tasting. Nary a rancid or flaccid walnut bit in sight (much like Costco’s Banana Nut Loaf; read my full review). While not jam-packed with nuts, there are enough here to be noticed.
I found the carrot shreds thick and chewy, but in a nice way. They almost taste like rehydrated carrot pieces, but maybe they’ve simply donated their juiciness to the cake batter. How generous.
The cake itself confuses me. On the sweetness scale, I rate this one “just right.” It’s lightly sweet, without being obnoxious. It tastes homemade, even. But. It has a rather coarse crumb. To my surprise, there is whole wheat in the cake batter. In fact, “whole wheat” is listed before regular flour. More about the ingredients later. It’s not the velvety-smooth texture I expected — more hearty and slightly rough.
Fortunately, not too crumbly. And not dry. Just coarse. It’s not terrible, but weird. Like me.
(Just kidding. I am terrible.)
The cream cheese icing has a pleasant tangy flavor, and a restrained sweetness that I enjoyed. But I don’t love the texture — it’s not fluffy or buttery like the other cream cheese icing I’ve tried from Costco (such as on this Pumpkin Spice Loaf; here is my review). Instead, it is a bit sticky. But smooth! So smooth. Slippery smooth. I do not hate it. Just not my favorite rendition of cream cheese icing.
Fortunately, you won’t have to wade through tons of this questionable icing. There is just enough to glue the layers together. And a conservative strip on top. It looks like you are getting gobs of icing from the side view of the cake. But, you aren’t. This is actually how I prefer it — less icing, and more…cake!
I was surprised to see the ingredients list pineapple. If you aren’t sure how you feel about pineapple, let me reassure you: there is very little pineapple flavor. And almost no pineapple texture here. It mainly contributes a tickle of tropical flair. If you DO love pineapple, you may be bummed. Maybe I got a particularly unlucky slice. Alas.
The raisins are big and plump and soft. Squishy, even. Raisins are not my favorite item in baked goods, but I don’t hate them here. I would not be sad if they were gone. But, there aren’t enough here to make me mad.
(If you’re looking for a version without raisins, check out my review of the Publix Carrot Torte Cake.)
Aesthetically, there’s a simple garnish of walnuts on top. Not fancy, but reasonably classy. Since the sides of the carrot cake are exposed, you get a dramatic contrast of dark, textural layers next to the pristine, snow-white icing.
Ingredients in Costco Carrot Cake Bar
Here is my best attempt at typing out the ingredients, from the label:
- Carrot Cake (Cream Cheese [Cream, Nonfat Milk, Salt, Guar Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Cheese Culture], Sugar, Powdered Sugar [Sugar, Cornstarch], Buttermilk [Milk, Bacterial Culture], Carrots, Canola Oil, Margarine [Palm and Palm Kernel Oils, Canola Oil, Water, Salt, Whey Powder, Monoglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Natural Beta Carotene {Color}, Vitamin D3], Whole Wheat Flour, Bleached Enriched Flour [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Eggs, Fondant [Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water], Raisins [Raisins, Sunflower Oil], Sweetened Pineapple [Pineapple, Sugar], Walnuts, Corn Syrup, Modified Corn & Tapioca Starch, Spice, Baking Soda, Shortening [Canola Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernal Oil], Salt, Dried Egg Whites, Acacia Gum, Glycerin, Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Water, Xanthan Gum)
- Toasted Walnuts
Well, you already know what I’m going to say: I wish this was made with butter instead of Canola Oil and Margarine.
I’m pleased there aren’t any preservatives in the pineapple or raisins. Whew.
Corn syrup appears more than once. Being the curmudgeon that I am, I must ask: why bother with “healthy” whole wheat, with all that other icky stuff? Hmmph!
Price and Servings
The 12-inch long bar costs $18.99 at my local Costco. Although the label says this cake is 2 pounds, 9 ounces, I weighed mine on my kitchen scale at approximately 3 pounds, 4 ounces. It’s a lot of cake! If you are hosting a gathering, I’d hazard you’ll get at least a dozen narrow servings.
IF you wrangled 12 servings from this bar, each slice would cost just $1.58. Going by the label weight, this cake costs 46 cents per ounce.
This is a “Kirkland Signature” (Costco store-brand) Bakery item, and the product # is: 1390041.
Shelf-Life
The “sell-by” date on my package allowed five days. The label says to store in the refrigerator. I ate mine over 9 days, and although the cake became slightly more crumbly, the icing remained the same.
I tried my carrot cake both chilled and at room temperature — and while both were good, I preferred the chilled taste and texture. The icing is less sticky when fully chilled.
Dramatic Conclusion
I would gladly eat this cake again. I would happily spend someone else’s money on it. I’m not sure I would buy it for myself again. While I adore the spiced flavor, I would relish it more without the whole wheat. And, assuming the cream cheese icing was not a fluke…well, I’ve had better.
The End.
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