Cookie Dough Bites: Red velvet cupcake bites

Product name: Cookies Dough Bites: Red velvet cupcake bites
Purchase details: £2.39 for an 88g box (americansoda.co.uk)
Calories: 180 per 40g serving (360 per box)
Country of origin: USA

So far, I’ve had mixed experiences with the Cookie Dough Bites brand, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked up these Red velvet cupcake bites from American Soda.

Packaged in the usual 88g box, these ‘cupcake morsels in creamy red frosting’ were a beautiful, glossy shade of crimson with a nicely contrasting light-coloured centre. Whilst aesthetically pleasing, I was slightly concerned by just how unnatural they looked.

The outer red frosting had a sweet and creamy smell which seemed very similar to the Cupcake bites I tried in my pre-blog days. This sweetness was also evident in the taste, but then, it would have been odd if it hadn’t been, bearing in mind a box of these bites contains 40g of sugar! Colour aside, where this frosting differed from the Cupcake bites variety was in its texture – it was far smoother and not at all rubbery. My only criticism of the frosting is that, after a while, I actually found it became a little boring – there just wasn’t enough interest there for me.

As for the cupcake filling, I found this to be quite dry with no apparent flavour of its own. Even when I tried it separately, having bitten off the frosting layer, it just didn’t seem to taste of anything at all. Therefore, I couldn’t really describe it as cake-like.

However, the frosting and the cupcake morsels did work well together in that the outer layer provided moisture for the filling. Whilst the centres were flavourless, they did provide a contrasting texture and so I was greeted with the usual grainy innards having bitten through the softer icing of each bite. When eating the whole box (as I always do!), though, the slightly chewy middles did feel a bit like hard work on the jaw towards the end of the packet.

I don’t feel like I’m qualified to judge whether or not these Red velvet cupcake bites are good imitations of real red velvet cakes, having only ever eaten them twice myself. However, my memory suggested that the frosting of this product wasn’t dissimilar in flavour, particularly when it came to the after-taste.

The word I’d use to sum up these Red velvet cupcake bites is ‘fine’. They are inoffensive and pretty enjoyable, but they just didn’t excite me in the same way that their sister product, Cinnamon bun bites (see here), did. Would I eat them again, though? Sure.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.25/10