Review
The new Pokémon Pop-Tarts are huge news because this is the first time Pokémon-themed Pop-Tarts have returned in over 25 years! Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pop-Tarts released Pokémon flavors during the peak of Pokémania, including flavors like Wild Cherry and PokéBerry. Now, in 2026, they brought the collaboration back as part of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary celebration, with the new Frosted Vanilla Cupcake flavor launching at Target stores on May 2, 2026, and online the day after. Needless to say, they sold out quickly online and were periodically restocked.
As for the review: Immediately upon opening, I noticed these are quite strong-smelling, especially compared to other Pop-Tarts. There’s a very distinct, clear, and sugary vanilla cake smell. I mention this because it smells so tasty, like you opened up a box of vanilla cupcakes. It doesn’t come across as weird or artificial; it’s a very pleasant, buttery cake with a sweet vanilla aroma.
Looks-wise, it’s your typical poptart, with white, thin frosting thinly layered over a mix of yellow and white colored pastry. On top, scattered sprinkles that resemble Pokémon colors: blue, orange, red, and yellow. These sprinkles are small, round, thin, and stiff—your usual sprinkles basically. Inside, a thin white frosting.
Now, in terms of taste, it’s just like how it smells! It’s a little sweeter than your average poptart—not the sweetest, but definitely a step above. The flavor as a whole is a sweet, buttery vanilla sugar cookie with a mix of vanilla cupcake and vanilla pastry, where the chef added a touch more sugar. For the most part, while the flavor is nuanced and complex, it’s definitely a vanilla cupcake flavor in most imaginations.
That’s not all, most importantly: Is there a frosting taste? Let me tell you this: There were several moments where I thought to myself, “Hmm, am I tasting something that resembles that powdery, cheap, ultra-processed and sweet vanilla frosting on those equally cheap, small cupcakes you find in stores? Yes, I think I am!” It was there, and it worked so well with the other flavors here. Lastly, as a side note, after warming in the microwave, the flavor profile didn’t change.
For those asking, is there a difference between these and Frosted Confetti Cupcake flavored Pop-Tarts? First, those also have green sprinkles. In terms of taste, honestly, it’s been so long, I can’t make a confident comparison. They look nearly identical, from inside to out, so I suspect these are simply a minor reskin, with the difference coming from the Pop-Tarts box itself.
Basically, these do resemble what they’re advertised as. They’re sweet, vanilla cupcake-flavored, and have a pleasant background of powdery-frosting-creaminess. Honestly, if you put a vanilla-frosted cupcake in front of me, the flavor profiles would be nearly identical (though the Pop-Tart itself may lean slightly more toward a pastry taste).
