gourmet's gallery: tastykake chocolate kandy kakes

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Chocolate Kandy Kakes Box
Before setting off on my recent roadtrip, I had a request to bring back Tastykakes, a Philadelphia-based snack food brand with a cult following. I brought back Snowballs, (which I reported on a few years ago and required several stops before I found a box that would remain fresh by the time I returned to TO) and today's featured product, Chocolate Kandy Kakes.

Package Notes: Clean-looking blue and yellow background, with child-like font.

What's It Like: Think miniature chocolate cupcake, not much larger than a thick cookie (Amy compared their appearance to Snackwells Devil's Food cookies). One of the main selling points of Tastykakes is their short shelf life, so my fingers were crossed this box had not gone stale early. It hadn't - the cakes were fresh and chocolaty. The layer of white goo tasted less artificial than cheaper cupcakes. Bonus points for looking almost exactly as depicted on the box.

Would You Buy It Again?: Definitely. Friends I shared them with gave their thumbs up. My waistline should be happy I only buy these whenever I head down to Jersey...though recently I have noticed the odd box closer to the Canadian border.

As for the Snowballs? Nadia and Alison tested them out, poking at the springy coconut-marshmallow covering as if the white mounds were an alien creature, a breast form or a meteor about to crack open with goo.

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