Hello again my friends,

We are back at it tonight with a review of something that I have not tried before. Generally, I have had quite a few of the special/limited time Oreo flavors (cinnamon roll, chocolate peanut butter pie, cookie butter, etc), but the birthday cake is a flavor that has eluded me up until now.

But no longer. I saw these on the Target shelf and knew that these would be BIG time. They have to be. With the precedent that Oreo has set in terms of their special flavors, eerily quite accurate to the foods they imitate, the birthday cake will (hopefully) be no exception. I am thrilled, and I hope you are too.

This post calls for a special bit of history. I am an avid fan of “birthday cake” anything, so full disclosure, there is a huge potential for me to like these a lot. With that being said, I am also dedicated toward giving you all unbiased insight, so I will be doing just that. It is time to put my “birthday cake bias” behind me (if only for tonight’s review). I do it for you guys. Let’s hope the birthday cake gods (and my waist measurements) can forgive me. Let’s get right into this.

Overview 

And just like that, we move on to the packaging and overall look of these Oreos. The packaging is cute enough, with the iconic Oreo logo spread across a rather large birthday cake. A little close-up of the cookie for texture and seeing how the frosting looks. Oreo wants these to be a reason to celebrate, and we’re about to find out if they did their job. But how do the cookies themselves look?

I must say, they look quite unassuming. At first glance, they are not far off from how the original cookies look, but upon closer inspection that all changes. You see those trace sprinkles mixed within the white frosting. I could be wrong on this, but this birthday cake variety almost seems like it has more frosting compared to most Oreos. Not quite “Double Stuf” level, but not your run-of-the-mill cookie either. Very exciting stuff. Who knows what Oreo is trying to tell me. By the end of my review I will do my best to affirm or deny my claims.

Take a look at the packaging and cookie for yourself. In addition to the basic close-up, I took the liberty of snapping a picture of an uncovered Oreo for your viewing pleasure. Thank me later. Or never. I really have no way of knowing these things.

Birthday Cake Oreo Review 

On to the fun part. I have rallied the troops, and am going to be as scientific as possible for this review. I have 4 Oreos total on my plate, and my plan is to try 2 without milk and 2 with milk. That is right, folks. I came prepared. I know how these things go. We will start out with the “no-milk” batch first.

Alright. So, after trying one with no milk, I have to say that they taste remarkably similar to regular Oreos for the majority of your bite, but slowly the birthday cake flavor begins to set in. These Oreos are not immediate. It’s a sleeper at first, with the only real difference being that the frosting does “feel” sweeter when you initially put it into your mouth. As if Oreos weren’t sweet enough already, the birthday cake flavor really adds a whole new zip of sugar. Have a sweet tooth? Good news here. An Oreo purist? Maybe not good news. Regardless, other than that vague, overarching sweetness, you don’t get the specific birthday cake flavor until later on.

But what about when the flavor sets in? Solid. I wouldn’t call it a rockstar, but it’s very respectable. It reminds me of an original Oreo mixed with some of those frosted animal crackers that you can find at the store. That’s exactly what it tastes like to me. Those can be sickening after awhile, but its a good flavor in moderation. I dig the flavor of them with no milk, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to get them again, assuming I used the same stipulation. This differs a little bit from something like the cookie butter Oreos, which you could not keep me away from. In a general context–good flavor. By limited edition Oreo standards? Not the best.

That pretty much covers the no-milk situation. But any Oreo connoisseur knows that adding milk can change everything with Oreos. No seriously. It really does. It is almost freaky how different the flavor profiles are when you add milk to the equation, and that goes for almost all Oreos that I have ever tried. We will see if that holds true for the birthday cake variety. I’m going in.

Okay wow. After letting the cookie soak in milk for roughly 6 seconds and trying it, I am blown away. Take everything I said about the birthday cake flavoring and amplify it two or three times. The milk really activates the flavor and locks it in, which makes it so much better. If you are buying these, you need to eat them with milk. The difference is paramount. You get less of that artificial birthday cake flavor (that just tastes like frosting) and more of that hard-hitting “cake and frosting” combination. Much more substantial. Something about the mixture Nabisco used in this really adds a dimension of cake flavoring, which is something that you wouldn’t expect.

With milk, these Oreos really are like a birthday party. You collapse the cookie in your mouth, and almost immediately the frosting just bursts with this enhanced flavoring and runs wild over your taste buds. Clearly, this is exactly what happens at birthday parties, so I should probably stop with the horrible analogies. The slightly mushy texture of the milk-soaked Oreos really go a long way with this flavor too; it makes it feel that much closer to actual birthday cake. It was quite the experience overall, with the milk creating a more full-bodied and nuanced flavor compared to eating these with no milk at all.

The Verdict 

Taking all of this into account, I will give this flavor two separate scores to reflect the no-milk/milk conditions. Without milk, they weren’t bad, but definitely not the strongest flavor that Nabisco has put out, and that’s coming from a big time birthday cake enthusiast. Some of their special flavors require absolutely no milk at all–complete studs. When you add milk? Everything changes. Everything.

Because of this, I would give the (no milk) birthday cake Oreo 3 out of 5 stars for being respectable, but nothing to write home about.

I would give the (milked) birthday cake Oreo 5 out of 5 stars for adding depth and accuracy to the birthday cake name. With milk, this is another slightly unnerving example of Oreo managing to craft a cookie that simulates a flavor extremely well.

And also? What I mentioned earlier about the birthday cake flavor having more frosting? True. It really seems like they laid it on a little thick for us birthday cake lovers.

That concludes the review. I hope you enjoyed, and have a great night!

Maybe I’ll go find a treadmill.

-thechiefeats

P.S: Health conscious? Below is the nutritional info for birthday cake Oreos: