In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably point out that I am something of a whoopie pie connoisseur.
Okay, maybe connoisseur isn't quite the right word.
I eat a lot of whoopie pies.
I've purchased them in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Florida, really pretty much anywhere I find them. My wife once ordered a gourmet assortment of whoopie pies from Maine for my birthday.
I like whoopie pies.
That is why I was intrigued by these Oreo Cakesters, Nabisco's 1,465th brand extension of the iconic Oreo cookie, an ongoing effort to prove that, much like socialists, they pretty much ran out of new ideas a century ago. (And barely that even, given Hydrox was first with the concept.)
Nabisco doesn't even deign to give even a courtesy nod towards the whoopie pie. Based on the packaging and marketing materials, Nabisco wants to leave the impression that they pretty much invented the concept of placing vanilla cream between two patties of chocolate cake.
But, come on.
This is an Oreo Cakester.
This is a whoopie pie.
Yes, the Cakester is smaller, but it's not like no one ever thought to make a mini whoopie pie. I've had them, in fact.
So, sorry Nabisco, you cannot escape the comparison.
For those of you unfamiliar with the full confectionary glory of the whoopie pie, a little history first.
Is the history controversial?
You think people get worked up about abortion? Just question their lived experiences with snack cakes.
Did the Whoopie Pie originate in New England or Pennsylvania? New England claims the treat as its own, while Pennsylvania argues Amish farmers first made them in their kitchens.
Not surprisingly, both want to to lay claim to the whoopie pie the better to take advantage of the multi-billion-dollar whoopie pie industry and by multi-billion, I probably mean multi-million.
I know it's not just multi-thousand. Heck, I probably generate that much revenue by myself.
In any case I have roots in both areas, so I win either way. I will note that based on my personal experience, Pennsylvania has the greatest preponderance of whoopie pies in general. You'll find them everywhere, from bakeries to convenience stores to gas stations to farmers markets.
On the other hand, Maine declared the whoopie pie its official state treat and established an annual whoopie pie festival that I somehow have never been to, so points for commitment.
Controversial origins aside, most agree that the whoopie pie has been with us about as long as the Oreo.
Food historians may never find the answer, though they do agree the Whoopie Pie originated sometime around the 1920s.
The classic whoopie pie consists of two chocolate cake patties sandwiching a lightly sweetened cream filling in the middle.
Note: If you are eating a whoopie pie with frosting for the filling instead of cream, you are not eating a whoopie pie.
You are eating a layer cake.
Not that that is a bad thing. I've had whoopie pies made exactly in this manner. I like them, but then I like layer cake, too. I just don't fool myself into thinking I'm eating a whoopie pie.
Oh, and if you ever get one with marshmallow as a filling, you are eating some kind of Moon Pie Frankensnack.
As for the Cakester, it has a bit of history as well, having originally debuted back in 2007 only to be discontinued in 2012. The news of its return this year was greeted enthusiastically by its handful of fans.
If you've never tried Oreo Cakesters, we're a little bit jealous that you get to experience this deliciousness for the first time. Think cake sandwich—each Cakester has sweet filling stuffed between two soft snack cakes. It tastes like a cookie and melts in your mouth like cake—what could be better?
A whoopie pie. That would be better, but more on that in a moment.
I approached the Oreo Cakester with an open mind. In fact, more than an open mind. I'm not a snack cake snob. I eat commercially available snack food including Drake's Devil Dog, which is a close cousin to the whoopie pie. Having another source of a whoopie-pie-like snack cake is something I was prepared to welcome.
If didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be good.
The problem with the Oreo Cakester is that everything they did to make it more Oreo-like made it a mediocre whoopie pie, and everything they did to make it more whoopie pie-like made it a mediocre Oreo.
Let me explain.
The greatness of the Oreo rests in large part on the contrast between the crispy dark-chocolate (even bitter) nature of the wafer and the sweet creaminess of the filling. It is why people are constantly deconstructing them, tearing them apart, putting them back together, eating the cream and cookie separately, then together, then separately again (my preferred method). It's why you can buy Double Stuf, Mega Stuf, or just the wafers alone.
Most Oreo brand extensions I've come across retain that. Oreo ice cream has bits of crunchy wafers in it. Even non-Oreo knock offs, like "cookies and cream" protein bars include those crispy bits.
The Cakester eliminates that contrast.
When you turn the wafer into a piece of cake, you've lost much of the essence of what makes an Oreo an Oreo.
But they didn't go all the way, and that creates the second problem.
They clearly wanted to retain some of that contrast. They apparently recognized that the crispy wafer was a defining characteristic of the Oreo but knew they couldn't go too far otherwise they'd just be making a really big Oreo and so went with a surprisingly dry version of the cake. The result?
Well, dry cake.
Or if you prefer, a soggy Oreo, like you find when someone leaves an open package out at a picnic on a hot, humid summer day.
The cream is fine, with a slightly lighter consistency than an Oreo, but similarly sweet. Not my favorite for a whoopie pie, but I could forgive it if the cake part were better.
There are definitely some Oreo flavor notes in both the cake and the cream. You will think, "Oh, this tastes a bit like an Oreo."
"Sort of."
"Does it, or am I imagining it?"
"Man, this cake is dry."
Then when you finish, you'll never think of it again. In fact, the Cakester is utterly forgettable. That so many people remember it fondly is surprising.
And while many argue that it is a faithful recreation of the original Cakester they remember, others note the same things I did.
I just bought a box of these today, because I was excited for Cakesters go be back. Took a bite, and I can say these are not the Cakesters I remember from my childhood, but I also expected them not to be the same…
To elaborate, the the cake is very very dry and isn't moist like the old recipe. The filling isn't the same. The old filling used to taste like the oreo filling.
The filling in the new ones tastes like a whipped icing, and I personally do not like whipped icing at all. They have the classic oreo aftertaste.
They're okay, still come two to a pack. But don't expect these to taste like the ones from the 2000's. They don't.
It's interesting that it appears Oreo tried to make the cake part a little more Oreo-like, and the cream part less so compared to their original attempt.
And they still missed. It makes you think that this is just not something that was meant to be.
But what do I know? I'm a grumpy old man who is required by law to rail about how everything in the past was better, like bias ply tires and dysentery.
So I had my 12-year-old try it. He likes these kinds of things and so is a good sounding board. His quote:
"It's kind of meh."
He never had another one, leaving me to finish off the box.
They aren't very good whoopie pies and they aren't very good Oreos, nor are they some delightful new treat entirely.
The article about the return of the Cakeser, had this to say about the demise of the original:
There doesn't seem to be a reason the Cakesters were discontinued, though some speculated that the original recipe was simply less popular than people thought.
Good guess.
In theory, you'd think the Oreo Cakester would work. Both have chocolate surrounding vanilla cream. But the two concepts work against each other.
In other news, these exist.
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