6 Trader Joe's Mini Sheet Cakes, Ranked

If you're a Trader Joe's fan, you might have run across the adorable little sheet cakes in the bakery section. Perhaps you tried a flavor or two, but you've never had a full lineup. Well, to fulfill my civic duty as a food writer, I decided to try all available options. Some are available to purchase year-round, while others are seasonal or limited-time offerings. For this taste test, I wasn't able to try every option Trader Joe's offers each year, since I was working within a specific time window. For example, coconut or the beloved pumpkin spice flavors weren't sold at the time of writing. 

That said, I did try the coconut earlier in the year, and it was pretty good. As it is, I tried six Trader Joe's mini sheet cakes to pit them against each other to find out which has the best, most interesting flavor and texture. I ranked them based on the flavor dimension, the balance between cake and frosting, and the overall texture. Maybe you'll agree, or maybe you'll think my taste buds are messed up — either way, let's see which one wins.

I've purchased this variety a couple of times, and both left me disappointed. First off, it's the driest of all the flavors, so the texture leaves much to be desired. Not only that, but the flavor is thoroughly lacking. With a cookies-and-cream moniker, I expect a chocolatey, cookie-like flavor, if not actual cookie chunks, as well as a creamy texture. But that isn't evident in this Trader Joe's mini sheet cake. Instead, it just tastes like a muddled, bland cake. 

Even though the ingredients include cookie pieces, there are no notes of cookies or cream, and I wish Trader Joe's would get rid of this flavor and invent something else entirely. It's noted as a limited-time product on the website, so we shall see if it comes back next year. This cake suffers from the most problems and easily lands in last place. I would not get it again if not for these types of taste tests. For reference, I tried it for a TJ's Valentine's Day round-up and deemed it a skip then as well. However, this cake comes with mixed reviews; some people say they gobbled the entire thing in one day, and others say it's terrible.

I adore dark chocolate, and I can gulp up ganache like it's water. However, this Trader Joe's sheet cake leans heavily on cloying. The ganache frosting — made with powdered sugar, cream cheese, cocoa, heavy cream, chocolate, and other ingredients — is sickly sweet and far too thick, while the chocolate cake base isn't quite as sugary, but it's still very sweet. Add the two together, and it's like eating a spoonful of sugar (a la Mary Poppins). It's so sweet that it's difficult to make out the cocoa, which is actually pretty prominent in the cake itself.

I quite like TJ's mini sheet cake frostings on their own, but this cake needs perhaps half as much frosting to be more enjoyable. The cake itself is moist and richly chocolatey, so I definitely have hopes for change, but doubt it'll happen. As it stands, I'll just have to scrape off half of the frosting instead. Believe me, I like sugar, but I want there to be some nuance, a sprinkle of intrigue added into the mix. This cake is like a sweetness bomb imploded at the TJ's cake factory. 

Others agree that the frosting and cake are good on their own, but not together. Overall, it has totally mixed reviews. Still, it's a good cake, and I'd eat a bite or two of this (and maybe scrape off a layer of frosting), compared to the blandness of the cookies and cream. This treat is actually the top choice in a Trader Joe's chocolate dessert ranking, so it's worth a try.

I waited well over a month to get my hands on the lemon mini sheet cake. I kept calling to check when it would be in stock, and finally, one day, it was. I sprinted to my Trader Joe's to try it, and ... it was pretty good. The TJ's employee on the phone hyped it up, so perhaps I thought I'd transcend into another dimension upon my first bite, but my feet remained planted on my apartment laminate floor. Don't get me wrong: It's delectable, and I'd be pleased to eat it on any given day, really. 

The lemon cream cheese frosting is excellent, with real lemon zested over top. I could eat it by the spoonful. It brings forth the bulk of the cake's lemoniness, but the cake itself could use a boost. I had to try it without frosting to confirm if the cake even had lemon flavoring; it does, but it's mild. The cake is refreshing, light, and sweet, with authentic lemon essence coming through (thanks to lemon juice). Some customers say it's the best lemon cake they've ever had, so that's quite high praise. It's undoubtedly a tasty option, much better than the previous two, but the next three have even better flavor and texture, in my humble opinion.

The gluten-free yellow sheet cake is fantastic, regardless of its gluten-free status. It came in fourth place when I tested out gluten-free Trader Joe's sweets, and it holds up against glutenous options, like the three mini cake flavors before it. Admittedly, it is not a perfect cake. It's quite crumbly and not as moist as the lemon cake, but not as dry as the cookies-and-cream flavor. However, I am a big fan of the sweetness profile and the overall flavor combination of vanilla and chocolate. 

We have Trader Joe's ultra-sweet chocolate buttercream frosting, but the not-as-sweet gluten-free yellow cake base acts as a balance. The cake's flour blend is made with white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, and tapioca starch, but it merely tastes like cake; I've had gluten-free desserts that really take on the flavor of the base ingredients, but this cake is very neutral. I've eaten a lot of gluten-free items, and this cake is delightful, no matter your dietary requirements. 

The vanilla and chocolate duo make a fantastic pairing. This is the perfect sheet cake to bring to a party when you're not sure of people's food sensitivities but still want to impress. Actually, other foodies say the same thing, or that they can't tell that it's gluten-free. The only thing to note is that this cake is 14 ounces while all the others on this list are 18 ounces — that's the biggest bummer.

The Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean cake is incredible. It gets everything right. The buttercream frosting has actual vanilla bean flecks, so not only does it look like a work of art, but it also seems expensive. It has such a strong foundational flavor that it doesn't need any enhancements. The frosting doesn't need lemon zest for flavor, and the cake base doesn't need cocoa powder to be sensational. Each item is excellent on its own, and together they make a superior cake that's moist and delicious. The buttercream is firm and holds its shape, but it effortlessly spreads if you want to extend it toward the edge of the cake — all of Trader Joe's cakes have quite a noticeable border where the frosting doesn't touch the sides. 

If you're worried about blandness, there's nothing "vanilla" about this cake. I'd recommend this cake to the average Trader Joe's consumer looking to dabble in the mini sheet cakes since it has the most approachable flavor. People say that the cake is heaven-sent, that it's probably the best cake on planet earth, and that they'd even use it as their wedding cake. So, yeah, it's pretty dang tasty, and I'd position it over the chocolatey gluten-free cake because of its well-rounded flavor and moister consistency.

A vegetable cake made it to the No. 1 position? You bet your bottom dollar it did. This carrot cake is incredible and highly deserving of the top spot on my taste test. It's not (currently) marked as a limited-time offering, even though it seems like a spring- or Easter-adjacent cake. I'm glad because this is the top cake that I would repurchase for any occasion, whether that's for a birthday party or just for me to eat with a spoon, hunched over the counter, holding my baby. 

Every element is flavorful, beyond just chocolate or vanilla. I make homemade carrot cake, but sometimes I want a break from the kitchen. You know what I mean? This Trader Joe's find might be your best bet at replicating the homemade stuff. The cream cheese frosting is fantastic, and you can't have carrot cake without it, at least in my opinion, but the cake base is the real treat. 

This has the most dynamic flavor and texture of all six cakes I tried, making it easily the best cake of the batch. Here, we have carrots to add texture, along with walnut meal for nuttiness and cinnamon for a hint of spice. Best of all? There aren't any raisins, which would be way too big for a cake this thin. People love that it doesn't include the tiny dried fruits, but others say the cake needs more cinnamon and carrot to give it the namesake flavor. I know this cake might not be to everyone's liking, but it is to mine, and I get the final say!

I tried five cakes in one day (bites of each, not five whole cakes), but I had to wait several weeks for the lemon flavor to come back in stock for the season. I had several bites of the six cakes and judged them primarily by overall flavor and how well the flavors came through in both the frosting and the cake base. The texture occasionally comes into play since there is a slight range among the cakes. 

If something was especially one-dimensional or overly sweet, it didn't rank as high as something complex or well executed. I included some customer insights from Reddit and Facebook to give you a broader sense of what people think, so you can make a better decision. No matter what, the mini desserts get a lot of praise for both the flavor and price.