One of the joys we occasionally allow ourselves as adults is serving up a decadent dessert at breakfast time. Tiramisu is one type of breakfast dessert, but there are several others. One of the many alternatives to tiramisu is opera cake, which is a French dessert originating in Paris. Today, we’re treating ourselves to the Trader Joe’s Opera Cake to see how well it pairs with our morning cup of Joe.
This cake comes in a plastic container that makes it easy to store, so you can grab a single piece then put the rest back into the fridge without having to dig out your own container.
Preparing this is simple: pull the box out of the freezer, then pop it into the refrigerator for a few hours. If you consider this a breakfast-y item, you’ll probably want to begin thawing it the night before you serve it. The only problem we found with this process was that some moisture gets on top of the cake while it thaws. This is potentially from some frost that formed on top of the cake while it was in the freezer. It doesn’t ruin the cake or anything, but it does make it somewhat less pretty than the image on the box.
Now, where do we even begin with this? This is a layered delight, filled with a blend of sweetness and coffee flavoring. Trader Joe’s included a layer breakdown on the package in case you’re wondering what exactly is in this.
The entire cake is soft except for the chocolate topping, which has a lovely brittle consistency that is a joy to crack open with a fork. Beneath that, you’ve got three layers of soft almond biscuit with coffee syrup, two layers of coffee mousse, and one thick layer of chocolate ganache smack in the middle.
This is an absolutely wonderful combination that brings together the sweetness of chocolate and almonds with the bitterness of coffee. It’s a smashing success, and we can’t get enough of it. It’s quite rich, but you could still sneak a second piece without the flavor becoming overpowering.
One piece of this cake (the cake it cut into eight pieces) contains only 80 calories. That’s not bad considering how rich this is. You could certainly justify eating this occasionally while on a diet. However, you might find it tricky to eat just one piece. This is not a cake for people who have poor impulse control.
The Trader Joe’s Opera Cake is an absolutely delicious dessert, whether you use it to start your day or finish of a tasty meal. While we’d love to keep some of this in our refrigerator at all times, the temptation to overindulge would just be too great. As an occasional treat, this opera cake is a masterpiece.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this Trader Joe’s frozen dessert, check out our package scan below.
