I love bakeries.
I love the smells that fart out of their ovens. No matter what it is–bread, cake, or pastries–they create an ever so tempting scent, an aromatic come hither, if you will. Following it will always lead me to a carbohydrate and sugar bedspread with a rack of luscious cupcakes and creamy pies.
It’s hard to resist the all the wonderful doughy treats with that aroma pulling me by the nose. Unfortunately, the tickling of my olfaction was something I didn’t experience with Hunt’s new Snack Pack Bakery Shop Pudding Cups.
The Snack Pack Bakery Shop line consists of five flavors: Apple Pie a la Mode, Chocolate Cupcake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Banana Cream Pie, and Sugar Cookie. Because I watch too many baking reality shows, I was disappointed to see red velvet cake wasn’t one of the flavors. Maybe it’ll end up in the second round of flavors…if there is a second round, because the three flavors I tried weren’t that impressive.
Chocolate Cupcake didn’t taste like a chocolate cupcake, but it did taste like regular chocolate pudding, which I guess isn’t a bad thing since chocolate pudding tastes good. Maybe there were little nuances my tongue didn’t catch that made it taste like a cupcake, or maybe all the chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever eaten have been shitty and they’re really supposed to taste like chocolate pudding. I don’t know.
What I do know is the top pudding layer, which I assume represents frosting, comes in the gloomy color of gray. If the picture on the packaging is correct, it looks like it should’ve been white, but it’s not. I don’t know about you, but gray isn’t an appetizing color. But then again, maybe I feel this way because I’ve seen a lot of poi here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The Lemon Meringue Pie flavor didn’t have any issues with gloomy pudding. Its top layer was as white as my mostly indoor-restricted body is. The lemon flavor, which comes from lemon juice concentrate, wasn’t as tangy as I hoped it would be, but I swear I could taste a bit of pie crust. The ingredients list doesn’t specifically say it contains pie crust, so I’m going to assume it falls under the vague “Natural Flavors” part of the list. It’s a nice flavor and it’s not too sweet, even though it has 18 grams of sugar per serving, but I could see someone easily mistaking this for regular lemon pudding.
My favorite of the three was Apple Pie a la Mode, even though it didn’t have any a la mode flavor. The top layer was cinnamon-y, while the bottom was mostly apple-y with a little cinnamon. There were little specks of spice floating throughout the bottom layer, but I’m not sure if that was supposed to represent cinnamon or vanilla bean. Even though the pudding’s hues look like Old Navy cargo short color options and it doesn’t really taste like apple pie, I enjoyed it the most because it had a pleasant apple cinnamon flavor and it didn’t seem like a rehash of another Snack Pack flavor.
All three flavors lack high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, and the packaging also boasts they have “0 Grams of Trans Fat Per Serving,” but that’s not really true since each flavor contains partially hydrogenated oils, which creates trans fat. (Insert science here). Unfortunately, the FDA allows trans fat levels of less than 0.5 grams per serving to be listed as 0 grams trans fat on the food label. So there’s trans fat that I wish wasn’t there.
You know what else I wish wasn’t there? The word “shop” in the name Snack Pack Bakery Shop. Who says, “bakery shop”? Not even old people say bakery shop. If I want cake, I’ll go to a bakery. If I want a car, I’m not going to go to a car dealership shop. And, if I want to buy more of these Snack Pack Bakery Shop Pudding Cups, which I probably won’t, I’m not going to go to a supermarket shop.
(Nutrition Facts – 1 pudding cup – Apple Pie a la Mode – 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 125 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, less than 1 gram of protein, and 30% calcium. Chocolate Cupcake – 110 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 140 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein, and 30% calcium. Lemon Meringue Pie – 120 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 60 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 18 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, and 10% calcium.)
*contains partially hydrogenated oils
Item: Snack Pack Bakery Shop Pudding Cups (Apple Pie a la Mode, Chocolate Cupcake, & Lemon Meringue Pie)
Purchased Price: $1.27 each
Size: 4 pack
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Apple Pie a la Mode)
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Chocolate Cupcake)
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Lemon Meringue Pie)
Pros: Apple Pie a la Mode doesn’t taste like a rehash of another pudding flavor. Some flavors provide 30% daily value of calcium. No HFCS. No preservatives. Chocolate pudding is still good. The crust flavor my tongue swears it tasted in the Lemon Meringue Pie.
Cons: Chocolate Cupcake tastes like any other chocolate pudding. Gray color of top layer of Chocolate Cupcake. Lemon Meringue Pie could easily be mistaken for regular lemon pudding. Contains partially hydrogenated oils. Not really adventurous flavors. Bakery Shop is redundant.
Man, I wanted to snag this one, just because the flavors sounded so appetizing and unique (in a good way, not in a Jelly Belly pudding way).
In Chocolate Cupcake’s defense, I grew up eating Jell-O’s Chocolate Vanilla Swirl pudding, and while the vanilla in their case is in the middle, it’s never really that white. I think the chocolate bleeds into the vanilla, causing the discoloration, and they haven’t yet figured out the pudding technology to stop this from happening.
Or they messed up and got the color wrong. Either way.
Snack Pack needs to bring back the cans — call it ‘Snack Pack Throwback’!
LoL at Supermarket Shop. At less than a buck fifty per 4 pack, I’ll give them a try. If I don’t like them, no worries. I’m sure they won’t go to waste w/ my siblings, lol.
While we were living in Oklahoma City in the first half of 2012, my fiance and I discovered the bakery shop flavors. We distinctly remember having purchased the Lemon meringue pie flavor as well as something else and a flavor we have never found since- blueberry muffin or blueberry muffin top. Where did it go? PLEASE brring it back!