Review: Little Debbie's New Birthday Snack Cake Tastes Suspiciously Familiar

Unless you've somehow managed to avoid gas stations, school cafeterias, and the snack aisle of every grocery store in your entire life, you've likely seen all kinds of Little Debbie snacks. The brand makes a long list of sweet, packable, handheld treats perfect for eating on-the-go, and between Cosmic Brownies, Frosted Donuts, and Zebra Cakes, it's hard to say which of the brand's snacks is the most iconic. Still, Little Debbie continues to re-imagine what we now know as classics, transforming the cookies and creme pies of our childhood into treats we can newly appreciate today. One such invention is the newly released Single-Serve Birthday Cake, which comes in a larger size and different shape than the rectangular minis of the multi-pack box. The idea, of course, is to resemble an itty-bitty, fun-sized birthday cake; so I tested it myself to see how it fares.

The single-serve Birthday Cake isn't necessarily new for Little Debbie, but that's not really the point — the cake is being released as a new way to snack on a treat we already know and love. While Little Debbie has a few single-serve options like Zebra Cakes, Swiss Rolls, and fudgy, cream-filled Chocolate Cupcakes, it doesn't quite have a snack as perfect for a special occasion as a birthday cake. Moving the Birthday Cake snack to the single-serve lineup is a smart move. But does it really stand apart from the other offerings? And does it need to?

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To write this article, I headed to my nearest gas station to pick up a small stack of the Single-Serve Birthday Cake snacks. They were easy to find, located on the Little Debbie end cap next to familiar snacks like Honey Buns and Swiss Rolls. 

I purchased several cakes, each priced just under $2, a steal for a small, candy-confetti-filled cake. I then taste-tested as I would any non-perishable (or shelf stable) snack, by slicing into the cake and evaluating the texture and flavor of the icing, cake, and inner frosting.

The snack cakes are reasonably priced at around $2 per cake, which are large, 380-calorie portions each roughly the size of your palm. Prices may vary depending on your location. 

According to McKee Foods, the cakes are available nationwide at select convenience stores and retail outlets — what this means is gas stations and grocery stores that stock snack foods you can take on-the-go. If you aren't sure, you can use the snack finder on the Little Debbie website to find exact locations.

Fans of Little Debbie aren't going to be surprised by this launch — not only are the cakes just larger versions of the existing Birthday Cake snacks, but they are also near exact replicas of the Single-Serve Zebra Cakes. This version, though, includes vanilla cream sandwiched between layers of candy confetti cake (not dissimilar to what we know as Funfetti). The vanilla cake is easy to eat without a fork and knife, making it a good handheld snack for taking on-the-go. It tastes fresh, too, for being a packaged, shelf-stable snack: The cake is relatively moist, the inner frosting is creamy, and the icing on top is sweet and far from stale.

Overall, the snack cakes taste like a boxed vanilla Funfetti cake would, but a little more dense and sweet. Shelf-stable snacks are usually built in a way that can last without refrigeration, which results in that specific, artificial flavor and dense texture associated with such snacks. Regardless, this is a snack I'd choose first out of a lineup — I like the moistness of the cake, the sweetness of the inner cream, and the mild flavor of the vanilla used in every layer.

Little Debbie has released dozens of unique snack ideas that each serve a totally different purpose. Like any efficient company, the brand has recycled many of its best ideas into new ones, sometimes overlapping flavors and textures in pursuit of slightly different snacks. The Single-Serve Birthday Cake is a re-imagination of not only the existing Birthday Cake, which comes in a pack of rectangular minis, but also the Zebra Cake, which is the same shape, size, texture, and density. 

The key difference between the two single-serve cakes is the candy confetti interior, which brightens the Birthday Cake into a festive dessert. It's also topped with colorful sprinkles, which differentiate it from the classic black-and-white Zebra Cake decoration. It's a cute idea and a way to celebrate yourself in a small way, or simply enjoy the taste of celebration any day of the year.