Oreo Cakesters are not nostalgic for me. The Cakester, aka Nabisco’s take on a whoopie pie, was originally released in 2007, when I was an adult lady who’d aged out of lunch box snacks. While their 2012 discontinuation rocked the world of middle schoolers everywhere, it barely registered with me. But I get it. People who were kids in the aughts love these shits. They’re like Oreos but instead of being small, hard, and dry they’re big, soft, and less dry (but definitely still dry)—and they’re back. In 2022, after the internet convinced Nabisco that a revival was due, Oreo Cakesters returned to shelves in their original form (cocoa cookie with vanilla creme). Even more recently, Cakesters returned in another flavor from the aughts: peanut butter. I tried them to find out if they’re good even if you don’t have an emotional connection to them.
There’s something pretty satisfying about the squish of Oreo Cakesters. The texture reminds me of cheap packaged brownies (in a good way). But these weren’t a hit with the rest of the Sporked crew.
Pros: If you like soft-batch cookies, you’ll probably like these, although they’re much less sweet than many packaged cookies and snack cakes, which I personally appreciate. I’m also into the fact that they come in a two-pack, which seems like a nice serving size.
Cons: As my colleague Jordan Myrick pointed out, Oreo Cakesters should still taste like Oreos, and the these Peanut Butter Cakesters just don’t really pull that off. In fact, they don’t taste like much of anything. The cookie doesn’t have a lot of cocoa flavor and the grainy peanut butter creme doesn’t taste enough like peanut butter. We all agreed these would be way better if they were filled with peanut butter instead of peanut butter creme. I wouldn’t throw these in the trash if someone handed me a pack, but there are a lot of snack cakes at the grocery store I’d choose over these.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Subscribe
Get all the top food rankings, new product reviews, and other grocery content delivered to your inbox every other week.
Gwynedd Stuart
Jordan Myrick
Jessica Block
Vinz Karl
