Tiramisu is a traditional Italian dessert made from coffee-soaked ladyfingers layered with mascarpone cream. The Tiramisu Torte available at Trader Joe’s is handmade in Italy, though it deviates somewhat from the traditional recipe.
Rather than featuring repeating layers of sponge and cream like many other tiramisu cakes, TJ’s version just has two layers–a base layer of cake sponge and a top layer of thick mascarpone cream. The entire torte is covered in a generous dusting of cocoa powder.
If you’re having trouble finding this tiramisu torte at your local Trader Joe’s, don’t worry. It hasn’t been discontinued as of January 2023, despite some recent rumors. Try asking an employee at your local store when it’s expected to be restocked.
To be honest, tiramisu has never been my favorite dessert. The coffee-soaked sponge layers have always felt overly soggy to me, and the whole thing usually leaves me feeling a little underwhelmed.
Nevertheless, I never turn down an opportunity for dessert, so I was excited to try Trader Joe’s take on this classic Italian treat.
Contents
Pricing
Trader Joe’s Tiramisu Torte can be found in the frozen section near the ice cream and other frozen desserts. It’s a generous size and could easily serve 12-15 people with modestly sized slices.
This torte is currently priced at just $6.99.
Ingredients and Nutrition
First, let’s look at the ingredients. Trader Joe’s Tiramisu is made from fresh cream, sugar, egg yolks, chocolate flakes, water, eggs, mascarpone, wheat flour, coffee, powdered cocoa, and gelatin.
It’s refreshing to see only recognizable ingredients on this straightforward list. Trader Joe’s never puts artificial preservatives in their products, which I love. So that’s no surprise here.
People with allergies or dietary restrictions should note that this tiramisu torte contains both dairy and wheat, so it is neither vegan or gluten free. In fact, this torte technically can’t even be considered vegetarian due to its inclusion of gelatin in the recipe. (Gelatin, oddly enough, is made from animal bones.)
On a similar note, the jury is still out on whether or not this tiramisu is kosher. Technically, a kosher diet does not allow for dairy and other animal products to be consumed in the same dish. However, some rabbis argue that gelatin shouldn’t be considered a food and therefore isn’t subject to kosher laws.
One last thing to note is that this tiramisu does not contain any alcohol, unlike some traditional tiramisu recipes.
As far as nutrition goes, I for one was not expecting it to be anywhere close to healthy. This is a decadent dessert, so I was prepared for it to be packed with both sugar and fat.
According to the nutrition label, each tiramisu torte contains seven servings. However, you’d have to take a pretty big slice in order for this cake to only feed seven people. So, I’m going to cut the nutrition information in half to better fit my idea of one serving.
In one serving by my definition (one slice if you cut the pie into 14 slices), you’ll be consuming 114 calories, 6.5 grams of fat, about 33 grams of cholesterol, 11 mg of sodium, 11.5 grams of carbs, 10 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.
To be honest… this is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. For a rich, delicious dessert, only 114 calories is quite low, and 10 grams of sugar isn’t all that bad either.
How To Prepare The Torte
To prepare this tiramisu torte, I followed the instructions on the box by removing it from the freezer and placing it in the refrigerator about two hours before I planned to eat it.
In retrospect, I would have erred on letting it thaw for a little bit longer, as the mascarpone was still about the temperature of soft ice cream when I first started eating. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you want it to be entirely thawed, I’d wait longer.
Thawing for three hours in the fridge probably would have been the perfect amount of time.
Storing Your Tiramisu
Unless you plan on eating this torte with a group of people, chances are you’ll end up saving at least a few pieces for later. But as the box makes clear, this tiramisu should not be refrozen after it’s been thawed.
Instead, store your leftover tiramisu in the fridge in a sealed container to retain freshness and moisture.
The Taste Test
Now it’s time to put it to the taste test.
The first thing I noticed after taking the tiramisu out of the box is that it’s wrapped in a somewhat odd plastic dish that has to be cracked and peeled off to reveal the cake. The “dish” leaves a round plastic bottom behind, but I ended up removing that as well and just putting it on a plate. Overall, getting it out of the packaging was a little bit tricky and messy. (Be prepared to get cocoa powder all over your hands.)
Cutting into the cake, it became clear that this is a simplified version of traditional tiramisu. The bottom layer of sponge is not made from ladyfingers, and the top layer of mascarpone cream is much thicker than I was expecting. There are also only two layers, rather than a more traditional four.
All that aside, the flavor of this cake is wonderful. It’s just the right amount of sweet, and the mascarpone is super rich and creamy. The cocoa powder on top adds a nice touch of chocolate, and there’s enough of it that it doesn’t all soak into the creaminess of the layer below.
The only real complaint I have about this cake is with the bottom layer of sponge–it’s bone dry.
It’s so dry, in fact, that I doubt it was ever soaked in any actual coffee at all. It seems more like a coffee-flavored sponge, and it ultimately has a fairly sandy consistency.
Of course, I already shared that soggy sponge isn’t my favorite thing either, but I would have preferred something at least a little moist.
Despite the dry sponge, I loved this torte, and I would totally buy it again. Especially at such a low price, it would be perfect for a party or special occasion, or just any time you want to treat yourself to a nice dessert.
