The Trader Joe's No-Bake Cake Hack That Recreates A Great British Bake Off Classic

"The Great British Bake Off" (GBBO) is back for its oh-so-sweet 16th season this fall, and while it'd be nice to whip up something show-stopping to serve at your watch party, not all of us have Mary Berry-level baking skills. Genoise sponges and fondant fancies take skill and equipment many of us just don't have in our home kitchens, but you can still make a masterpiece that would earn a Paul Hollywood handshake by putting together a no-bake cake with some easy-to-find ingredients from Trader Joe's. 

Just like the contestants on GBBO, we're all often stretched for time, be it school pickups, work deadlines, or college assignments. But with a little ingenuity and a quick trip to TJ's, you can make a pre-made cake into something that looks pretty convincingly like it was baked from scratch. For this hack, all you need to do is rearrange some of the components on two Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Ganache Sheet Cakes (which are the best store-bought chocolate cakes in our humble opinion). You'll also need a container of raspberries, some raspberry preserves, and a bit of powdered sugar. With these smart upgrades, and perhaps a mini offset spatula like Winco's for frosting, you can build a weeknight version of Hollywood's iconic Chocolate Fudge Cake.

Despite the stunning appearance of Paul Hollywood's tall and fruit-covered chocolate fudge cake, it's not a particularly complex confection. The hardest part, in fact, is just making the cake itself, which Trader Joe's has already done for you. All you need to do to make a mini, no-bake version is to scrape off the frosting from one layer and set it aside, spread some raspberry jam in its place, and then stack the second (frosted) cake on top. Then, to finish, use the scraped off frosting to cover the cake's sides, top it with a layer of fresh raspberries, and sprinkle some powdered sugar over everything. This little dupe from @eatsbyrachel on YouTube comes together in just a few minutes, and the payoff is huge.

Although it's simple to put together, there are a few places where you could run into trouble with this project. First, make sure that the cakes and the jam are warm enough to work with. The frosting on Trader Joe's sheet cakes is notoriously dense, so let them sit out on a kitchen counter for 30 minutes to an hour before you attempt to scrape off any frosting so that it's soft and pliable. That, too, goes for the raspberry jam. Refrigerated jam will be harder to spread and could potentially rip the cake, so keep it at room temperature until you're ready to assemble the project. And of course, don't forget to leave one raspberry off the top for the GBBO signature look.

Of course, this isn't our first rodeo at Chowhound when it comes to upgrading Trader Joe's mini cakes. We've been known to stack 'em high, stuff all kinds of ingredients between the layers, and even cut them into petit fours, so if chocolate and raspberry isn't to your liking, try using these little cakes to make some other "The Great British Bake Off" classics.

Try your hand at a Black Forest Gateau, for instance, by using two chocolate cakes, some cherry pie filling (you'll have to source this elsewhere as TJ's doesn't sell it), and a container of whipped topping for frosting. You could also make the other quintessential GBBO cake, the Victoria sponge, with two Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean cakes and some raspberry or strawberry jam. Follow a similar method as you would for making the chocolate raspberry cake by scraping away the frosting on one layer and spreading the jam. Then, sandwich the layers together and frost the outside of the cake with the reserved frosting.

And since you're not up for any professional judging when you're making your no-bake dupes, there's no rule that says that you can't add any other ingredients you want. Try some crumbled up Trader Joe's Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins or a sprinkling of Dark Chocolate Pistachios for a little extra texture. We promise not to mention it to Prue!