Trader Joe's Lemon Mini Sheet Cake

Ah, lemon desserts! Lemon desserts are another one of those categories of food that we're quite passionate about. Lemon, in general, is a magical thing. It's good for the skin, heart, kidneys, and digestive system—not to mention it can be used as a natural household cleaning product—plus, it's absolutely delicious.

We've seen too many lemon-flavored products from Trader Joe's throughout the years to recount every one, so we'll focus on just a few highlights: Trader Joe's When Life Gives You Lemons Make Ice Cream was insanely tart and lemony, and I loved it, personally. Trader Joe's Lemon Zest Madeleine Cookies might have been Sonia's favorite lemon product from TJ's of all time. And we both enjoyed Trader Jacques' Lemon Meringue Tarte, although we haven't seen it around in quite a few years.

How does Trader Joe's Lemon Sheet Cake compare? Sonia's certainly more fond of it than I am, but I can't say too many bad things about it. The cake part is oddly dry to me, and it could use more lemon flavor in my estimation. However, the icing saves the day. The cream cheese-based frosting for all of these Trader Joe's sheet cakes is rich, sweet, and flavorful, and this product is no exception.

There are little bright yellow zest bits on the icing and lemon juice throughout the product, which I did enjoy, although I wouldn't have minded even more of both. The icing seems a tad more lemony than the cake to me, but it's also sweeter, richer, and more flavorful in every way. I do tend to be an icing guy when it comes to cake, though.

Despite my affinity for sweet lemony things, I think I like both the pumpkin and vanilla sheet cakes just a wee bit more than this one, although it's nothing to complain about. I don't know if any product will ever compare to Sonia's love for that pumpkin spice sheet cake, but she definitely enjoyed this one more than the vanilla bean variety. We still have yet to look at the yellow and chocolate ones.

$5.49 for the six serving dessert, found with the baked goods. Sonia will go with eight and a half stars. I'll throw out seven and a half for Trader Joe's Lemon Flavored Mini Sheet Cake.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Cheesy Bagels

Growing up in South Central Pennsylvania, I didn't really eat bagels much. I mean, you could buy them at the grocery store, but my family generally didn't. Furthermore, they weren't an intrinsic part of the food culture out there in cow country.

When I went to college, I was excited to see bagels in the dining commons, where I could eat them every day. I thought they were great. The kids from North Jersey, Connecticut, and New York City were less enthused, frequently proclaiming that "Pennsylvania bagels aren't good." Except the language they used was much more colorful than that and involved words that have no place on a family-friendly blog such as this one.

Subsequent trips to the city would indeed prove that New York knows how to do bagels in the same way that Philly knows how to do cheesesteaks and Chicago knows how to do deep-dish pizza. All that to say, I'm far from an expert, but I love me a good bagel once in a while.

That said, store bought bagels rarely compare with anything fresh from a bakery or deli, but once in a while a decent product comes along. And while these aren't the best bagels I've ever had, they're pretty tasty if you like asiago cheese. That funky asiago essence really starts wafting through the kitchen once you fire up the toaster, and there's no turning back from there.

They are indeed soft and doughy on the inside and chewy on the outside. The asiago flavor is fairly dominant but not overpowering. There's a subtle wheat and barley taste as well. I enjoyed them with cream cheese the most, but they were fine with just butter in my opinion. Sonia liked them quite a bit, too, trying them with cream cheese, butter, and some seasoned chicken cold cuts for protein.

$3.49 for four pre-sliced bagels. Kosher. Would buy again. We'll go with eight out of ten stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Cheesy Bagels.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.