Reviewing Aldi Bake Shop Triple Chocolate Creme Cake, Halo Top Brownie Mix, & More

There’s a lot of hype for this cheap Aldi cake; is it worth it? I guess. You can almost certainly find similar miniature cakes at most other stores with around the same quality.

To me, it’s too much cake and too little drizzle. The cake is pretty darn moist and spongey but also dense enough not to feel cheap. The top layer of goo and soft chocolate chips doesn’t add much aside from a soft-crunchier texture (specifically from the little chocolate chips). It all comes across as semi-dark and pleasantly sweet. Overall, frankly, if you blindfolded me and put this and a perfectly made dark chocolate boxed chocolate cake mix in front of me, I probably couldn’t tell much of a difference.

This cake pairs well with whipped cream or ice cream. Also, as a side note, it feels and tastes slightly better chilled. Weirdly, it seems to become more dense, almost resembling a super moist brownie.

I’m unsure of an exact release date, although reviews date back several years.

Two things: I have never tried their previous version, and when I’ve baked with these, I’ve replaced the oil portion with equivalent portions of apple sauce (in general, apple sauce makes brownies more cakey and spongey).

Despite using applesauce, these are some of the densest low-calorie brownies around; to me, they’re top-tier in terms of taste. Nothing tastes artificial or off-putting; in fact, they smell strongly of bold, dark chocolate, and the taste is moderately sweet authentic dark chocolate–a smidge sweeter than regular brownies. They’re great at room temperature, and when chilled or even frozen (my personal preference with these), they remain dense, soft, and tasty to eat! My only complaint is that they are a little more flat than regular brownies.

Released in February 2023 alongside other Halo Top baking desserts, although I’m unsure when the “Now Fudgier” version came around. Found at Amazon, Walmart, and Ocean State Job Lot.

Before I start, I make these by replacing the oil-based ingredients with equivalently measured apple sauce (in general, apple sauce makes brownies more cakey and spongey).

Holy cow, these are so thick, airy, fluffy, soft, crumbly, and perfectly moist! It definitely does not have your average cookie texture; it resembles a fluffy boxed cake, so if you’re into that, go for it. I suggest chilling it for a bit to reduce the crumblyness (or not using apple sauce like I did). In all honestly, bake these in a 9×9 or similar pan, add some chocolate frosting and other toppings, and you’ve got a fantastic peanut butter chocolate cake!

Smell and taste-wise, it’s a bold, sweet peanut, as if you’re eating from a jar of regular sweetened peanut butter. It’s authentic, with no bad aftertaste or weird artificialness. Lastly, despite having a pleasant and noticeable tasty sweet milk chocolate taste accompanying the peanut butter, chocolate frosting elevates it to a whole new level! Not to mention, in terms of the cakey texture, the bits of chocolate chips help assist by adding a super soft “crunch.”

Released in February 2023 alongside other Halo Top baking desserts. Found at Amazon, Walmart, and Ocean State Job Lot.

It resembles cheesy garlic bread but misses the mark. Unfortunately, both the cheese and garlic flavors are too light, unlike actual garlic bread. It also doesn’t help these are thin chips, whereas they would be better suited as ripple or kettle style to emulate toasted crunchy garlic bread. Overall, these aren’t bad; they’re just lackluster.

Reviews date back to around 2021, with some reviews suggesting they’ve gone in and out of stock throughout the years. Found at Aldi.

You can find a similar review I wrote of 7-Eleven’s version here.

Identical to the Valentine’s Mix I had before! See my previous review. These instead represent Saint Patrick’s Day: The only difference here is that the drizzle and coatings are green!

Reviews date back to February 2023. Exclusive for St. Patrick’s Day. Found at Aldi.

Unsurprisingly, this tastes exactly like vanilla Kit Kat with a noticeable birthday cake background. Nothing at all artificial like is often the case with birthday cake-flavored candies. It’s pretty sweet, about the same level as a regular Kit Kat. I also can’t help but notice the embedded sprinkles add an additional light crunch feeling throughout. However, personally, I still prefer the OG Kit Kats.

Initially released in April 2020 for a limited time, they were also rereleased in later years and may have become a permanent edition. Found at Walgreens.

Crunchy, kettle-textured popcorn with a thin layer of smooth, dried-on cocoa coating. This coating has a moderate amount of sweetness with a flavor that interestingly resembles chocolate milk. Combined with how innately sweet kettle popcorn already is, it’s not a bad combo. The texture is just like what you’d find in a tin of kettle corn: smooth and crunchy. Overall, these are sweet, corny chocolate milk!

Released in 2022 alongside many other flavors. Found at Ocean State Job Lot.

Both of these bars are hunks! Being super thick, they do feel harder than most bars: harder to break apart, tougher to bite through, etc.

Milk Chocolate Gingerbread: Reasonably sweet, not as sweet as a Hershey bar, for example, and has a milk chocolate taste with a background of gingerbread-like flavor that is just enough to differentiate it from regular milk chocolate. It doesn’t feel premium or cheap. I guess I expected more of a creamy gingerbread taste, but I guess this suffices.

Dark Chocolate Mint Candy Cane: As advertised, this is quite a dark chocolate bar! Combined with the noticeable minty taste, it seems to come off even darker than it should. While I’m usually a huge fan of mint chocolate, something about this combination tastes wrong; I hate to admit it, but the dark chocolate here leans it toward a mint toothpaste, in my opinion–and I’m someone who can binge a bunch of Yorks! Perhaps it needs more sugary sweetness to give it the “candy” vibe?

While I’m unsure of an exact release date, reviews date back to 2020. Found at Ocean State Job Lot.

The texture of these chips reminds me of a sweet potato chip mixed with a kettle. They’re both crunchy and have a dark, robust background flavor.

Mesquite: Quite salty with a light taste of mesquite BBQ. That’s really it. I do wish the BBQ flavor was more substantiated in these, as the saltiness overpowers it. At the very least, it’s less salty than the other flavor here!

Parmesan & Garlic: A whole lot of salt completely dumped onto parmesan and garlic-flavored chips. Like, the Parmesan and garlic are clearly there, but so is all that salt! In fact, it kind of stings your mouth–it’s so fierce! They really need to dial it back so the parmesan and garlic can come through, and you aren’t left with a sore tongue!

I’m unsure of an exact release date for these. Found at Ocean State Job Lot.

It’s definitely your typical sweet potato chip in terms of texture; however, unlike most, this sports the lightest spicy kick. In addition to this tap of chipotle, there is an equal part brown sugar flavor, which balances it out very well and gives it some appreciable sweetness. Overall, These chips are mostly unoffending, even if you aren’t into spicy stuff. Personally, however, I prefer the regular cinnamon sweet potato-based chips.

I’m unsure of an exact release date, although they’ve likely been out for many years. Found at Ocean State Job Lot.