While I’m unsure of an exact release date for these, at least the Birthday Cake, S’mores, and Cinnamon Swirl flavors were reviewed as early as January 2019. French Toast and Berry flavors were later released in late June 2024.
All of these taste and feel very premium, especially compared to other rice cakes. Unlike their hard-feeling, crunchy cousins, these are lighter, almost having an airy-crunchy texture. Further, each has a thin drizzle that adds a slight, soft addition to the composition and another step up in the sweetness category. Lastly, they’re surprisingly flavorful and relatively sweet.
Birthday Cake
Score: 6.25 / 10
Not many snacks get birthday cake flavoring right, but this does. It’s authentically birthday cake, like a mix of vanilla and cake frosting. It comes in moderately sweet, and the drizzled swirl adds a touch more to the sweetness and texture when biting in. However, despite being pretty sweet for a rice cake, I do wish it was just a little sweeter to really fulfill the birthday cake flavor fantasy. So, overall, it’s good and especially sweet for a rice cake; I just want something more—perhaps I’m nitpicking!
S’mores
Score: 6.5 / 10
I immediately smell milk chocolate, and biting in, I get just that (and, of course, some rice cake flavoring). It’s decently sweet, and the chocolate is slightly on the darker side without being at all bitter. This treat, however, is supposed to be s’mores, not just chocolate, and unfortunately, I’m not sure if I taste much, if any, marshmallow. Also, where is the graham cracker? Overall, they are chocolate-drizzled mini rice cakes, not much else!
For the most part it’s a semi-dark chocolate-drizzled, moderately sweet rice cake. That’s it, really.
Cinnamon Swirl
Score: 6.5 / 10
Opening this up, I get a whiff of sugary sweet cinnamon. And biting in, it’s just that. For a rice cake, this packs a noticeable, bold, sugary cinnamon taste that comes across as moderately sweet and leans towards its cinnamony side. It kind of reminds me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with more of a focus on cinnamon and a smidge less sweet. The swirls of drizzle add a nice touch to the sweetness.
French Toast
Score: 6 / 10
Likely the strongest-smelling one and the least flavorful. Opening this bag up, a very strong scent of French toast is expelled. However, the flavor is light, especially compared to the other flavors on this list.
It contains a light cinnamon and buttery-doughy-like taste, and while it isn’t as sweet to my liking, if you think about it, French toast isn’t too sweet either. So, in a way, I guess it’s true to its advertised flavor, and with that, I’d simply prefer something a little sweeter.