6 Trader Joe's Mini Sheet Cakes, Ranked Worst To Best

When it comes to Trader Joe's sweet treats, shoppers have a vast constellation of stellar choices. Usually, when I'm making my rounds at the store, I head to the freezer section to find Trader Joe's frozen desserts – like tiramisu, macarons, and lemon bars – or to pack my cart with some of my favorite ice creams. It was only recently that I discovered a non-frozen category of dessert gems that give all of those a run for their money: TJ's mini sheet cakes.

Smaller than a standard sheet of paper and only an inch or two high, these little wonders nevertheless pack a big punch of sweetness and flavor into each bite. Six servings is the recommended amount, though in my experience it's tough to keep yourself from indulging in more, especially if you're only sharing the cake with one or two people. Trader Joe's offers several different flavors, some of which are available year-round and others that are seasonal specialties. With the recent introduction of a few new varieties (at the time of writing), I decided to get a hold of every flavor that was available in my area and pit them head-to-head to find the best one. Here are my rankings, from least impressive to most delectable.

The Trader Joe's Cookies 'n Cream Mini Sheet Cake is basically a cake version of Oreo sandwich cookies, and while I admit that I'm not the world's biggest fan of that cookie style, I came into this tasting with an open mind. I love a good cookies and cream-flavored ice cream, because it solves the main issue that I have with Oreos, which is that they're too dry. In my experience with Trader Joe's mini sheet cakes, they are almost always impossibly moist, so I thought this dessert had promise. However, it ended up being my least favorite of the bunch.

Both the cake and the frosting seemed off in texture. The cake was densely bready — like a loaf that was under or over-proofed before being baked — and didn't have much flavor on its own. The crumbled cookies in the cake itself didn't add much in the way of taste or texture. The frosting was much more flavorful, but being cream cheese-based it was also quite heavy and dense, which made each bite seem weighty and leaden compared to all of the other cakes on this list. To make sure I wasn't letting my anti-Oreo bias skew my judgement, I had a few other family members taste this cake too, and they echoed my concerns. I may have just gotten a subpar bake, but either way, I won't likely opt for this flavor again.

While Trader Joe's Toasted Coconut Mini Sheet Cake suffered many of the same issues as the Cookies 'n Cream variety, the problems weren't as pronounced. I found this cake to be on the denser side, too, but it had more moistness, sweetness, and a lovely bright, tropical coconut flavor that made up for the texture. This frosting, also cream cheese-based, was applied in a thinner coat, which made it seem less heavy on the palate. The frosting also contained shreds of toasted coconut that broke up its texture in an unexpectedly pleasant way.

Still, I found the cake to be somewhat sticky, and wished it were softer and airier. It's made with coconut milk as well as buttermilk, which certainly amps up the coconut flavor, but I wonder if that's the cause of its overly dense texture. With a flavor like coconut, I want to be whisked away to a bright paradise on a light tropical breeze, but the weightiness of this cake kept me tied down to this earthly plane. Along with the Cookies 'n Cream, this is one of Trader Joe's latest flavors, so perhaps it'll be tweaked in future batches. In the meantime, it won't be my first choice, but I certainly wouldn't turn down a slice, especially when paired with one of Trader Joe's sweet white wines.

This is the part of the ranking where things get tough. Trader Joe's Yellow Gluten-Free Mini Sheet Cake is a triumph. The yellow cake is light, airy, and moist without feeling the least bit dense, with a fine crumb and a delicately sweet flavor. The chocolate buttercream frosting is silky and rich and has a satiny sheen, with a decadence that rivals ganache, yet has a softer texture. Both of the elements of this sheet cake are executed flawlessly. As someone with several family members who have moderate to severe gluten intolerances, I've dabbled in eating gluten-free foods, and this is up there with the best of them.

You're probably wondering why, then, this cake is in the lower half of the rankings. The one major issue that I found here is a lack of balance. The cake itself? Delightful. The frosting? Heavenly. The richness of that frosting, though, completely overtook the dessert. I found myself scraping frosting off to get more of the batter, and that did help, but then I was left with a bunch of extra chocolate frosting and nothing to put it on. Not the world's worst problem, that's for sure. But as much as I loved each element, they didn't quite mesh together. This is an example where the cake's petite size works against it. It needs more thickness to balance out the frosting. Still, it's very delicious.

It almost seems like sacrilege to put Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Ganache Mini Sheet Cake in third place. Like most people in this world, I love chocolate, and this cake is an uninhibited celebration of cacao, an ancient and beloved ingredient. The cake itself is deeply flavorful, with just enough buttermilk tang to keep it from putting you in a chocolate coma. That's topped with a layer of fudge-like ganache so intensely opulent it tastes like your tongue is touching the pure cosmic source of cacao in some sort of primal mystic ceremony. There's also a sharp little twinkle of salt that pulls it all together.

The only problem with this cake (and I hesitate to categorize it as a problem) is that it's too much. This is the only cake that made me think the labeled recommendation of six servings was actually too many. I appreciate the buttermilk and the salt as ingredients that attempt to balance out the richness, but that chocolate-on-chocolate flicks them to the wayside with a dismissive cackle. Chocolate is the ruler here, king and queen in a united front. You can try to balance their strength, but they'll simply laugh in your face. In short, this cake is awesome, but it's also overwhelming. Know what you're getting into before you unlock this treasure chest.

Trader Joe's Carrot Mini Sheet Cake finally exhibited the balance I had been searching for. Carrot cake and cream cheese frosting are a traditional duo for good reason. These two elements complement each other so well, and Trader Joe's doesn't try to reinvent the wheel here. This is simply a classic example of the style done with confidence and finesse. With each bite, the buttery, tangy cream cheese frosting gave way with pillowy softness, melding with the moist, nutty cake underneath. The ratio of frosting to cake couldn't have been more perfectly balanced. 

Thanks to carrot's natural moisture, this type of cake is rarely dry, but sometimes it can be a little too soggy — that's not the case here at all. I loved the texture of this cake with its fine moist crumb, slivers of sweet carrots, and crunchy bits of walnut. It's also not too sweet, leaving the frosting to bring the richness and sugar. If you do get a bite of cake alone, though, it has a wonderful natural sweetness that's reminiscent of squash or pumpkin. I sometimes find carrot cake to be overly spiced, but Trader Joe's version has just a tinge of subtly warm cinnamon that enhances every flavor without going overboard. The only thing keeping this cake from taking the crown was the fact that it didn't take me by surprise like the winner did. Still, it's only a hair's breadth away from number one.

I will never understand how vanilla became a synonym for boring. Vanilla is one of the most intriguing and versatile flavors that has ever graced this world with its presence, and it deserves to be celebrated as such. Not a bean (as it's commonly called), but the fruit from a group of climbing orchids, vanilla takes on its unique aroma and flavor after a months-long process of curing, resulting in the long brown, dried pods you'll find in spice shops. All this to say, there's no shame in loving vanilla. It's not boring. It's spectacular and wondrous, and Trader Joe's Chantilly Cream Vanilla Mini Sheet Cake takes this ingredient and elevates it in multiple beautiful ways.

Trader Joe's official description even falls into this vanilla trivialization, calling this cake simple and casual. To me, it's anything but. The frosting — buttercream made with cream cheese and visible specks of ground vanilla — is thick without being heavy or sticky, and emits the rich, floral aromas you'd get from real vanilla. The cake underneath the just-thick-enough layer of frosting is no less impressive. It was my favorite bake of the bunch, showcasing a glisteningly moist texture that reminded me of the best Italian olive oil cakes I've had, but with the added richness from cream and a subtle buttermilk tang. The golden-brown edges had a honeyed note to them, and the sweetness of the cake hit the perfect balance with the pillowy, sugary, intoxicating frosting. Viva vanilla.

I shopped at a few of my nearby Trader Joe's stores and purchased every mini sheet cake that they had available on their shelves. I tasted them all within two days of purchase, well before their sell-by dates, in order to assess them while they were as fresh as possible.

I tasted each cake in small bites, first from the center so I got an even balance of cake and frosting. Then I tried a corner piece of each, giving me a sense of how the cake was baked along its edges. Next, I tasted the frosting and cake separately and took note of how each element fared alone. I roped in a few family members to give me their input, as well, and took their impressions into consideration. The criteria I kept in mind for cakes and frostings were texture, moistness, density, sweetness, and flavor. For each cake, I then judged how well both elements worked together in balance and harmony.