Trader Joe’s New Cake Is Fit For Royalty — And Its Customers Love It

Customers can usually rely on TJ’s to knock it out of the park in the cake department. This year, the store’s baked output has had its shoppers very pleased, with its famous mini sheet cakes continuing to win new fans every day and its Chocolate Mousse Pumpkins being so good that people are actively having to avoid buying them, due to an apparent inability to not eat them all in one go. Trader Joe’s, we hate to break it to you, but when the quality of your cakes is costing you money…maybe they’re TOO good. But don’t take that as a reason to downgrade them. We’ve had enough of that this year. 

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Anyway, all this preamble is just a warm-up for the fact that Trader Joe’s has a new cake in town, and it’s one for when the minor royals pop round. Let’s talk. 

Trader Joe’s Swedish Princess Raspberry Cake

This week, Trader Joe’s dropped its new Swedish Princess Raspberry Cake, a limited-time item that comes in at $7.99 per 18-ounce box. This traditional Scandinavian domed layer cake is built with two layers of sponge cake, with pastry cream and raspberry jam between them, which is then topped with a seriously thick layer of whipped cream. Then, the whole cake is enrobed in marzipan and decorated with white stripes. 

It’s certainly fit for royalty – and, indeed, Swedish princess cake was created for royalty. Known in Sweden as prinsesstårta, this cake was invented by Jenny Åkerström, a famous home economics teacher who counted Prince Carl, the Duke of Västergötland’s daughters as her students. The confection was subsequently named after the young princesses. It also arrives at Trader Joe’s at a time when Swedish candy is having a real moment. Too early to call whether Scandi food will be the latest trend, but hey, the signs are there.

The Seal Of Approval

So far, Trader Joe’s customers are, by and large, loving this cake. A Reddit thread posted yesterday (which now has well over 200 comments) had multiple people coming out to bat for it, noting that while it might look a little dry from the pictures, it has a lovely moistness to it – and the whipped cream layer is indeed thick, folks. One person also pointed out that Swedish princess cake was a technical challenge on The Great British Baking Show (known in the UK as The Great British Bake Off), and I’m now duty-bound to inform you that Nigella Lawson is now a judge in the new season, and all is right with the world.