Dessert is always the best part of any meal, right? It’s our chance to indulge in a little something sweet and rich, and a great way to end a meal. There are lots of popular desserts to serve after a meal, and tiramisu is a great choice as it pairs well with any after dinner drink such as coffee, tea, wine, or even stout beer.
Does the Costco Tiramisu Score Well in Our Books?
While making this cake from scratch can be quite labor-intensive, thanks to Costco you don’t have to put all the time in, wait hours for it to chill, just so all the flavors can meld together. Costco really has put together an amazing dessert which is perfect for when you need a big dessert in a pinch, and you can even pick it up while doing your next grocery shopping trip because it keeps so well in the freezer.
The Price
The price point is hands-down the best reason to consider this dessert. The regular price for the Costco tiramisu cake is $16, but we’ve actually seen them marked down to $13 on some occasions. Your best bet is to check frequently as both availability and pricing can fluctuate.
The Number of Servings
At more than 2½ pounds of goodness, it can serve about 20 people when serving in 2 ounce portions (approximately 170 calories). For a $13-16 cake that serves 20 people, it certainly qualifies as a value-packed group dessert, as that means it will cost between $0.65-0.80 per person.
There isn’t any Alcohol in it
A tiramisu is historically made with lady fingers soaked in espresso and Marsala wine or rum. While some people swear they taste liquor in this one, the Costco version seems to have just the espresso – and no alcohol in it!
And while some people may miss the alcohol in this, having a cake with no alcohol means that more people can have it!
It Sticks with the Traditional Tiramisu Flavors
While a tiramisu is normally made with soaked lady fingers, this cake mostly uses coffee-soaked sponge cake with creamy mascarpone filling. It is then topped off with a sprinkle of chocolate powder, chocolate shavings or espresso beans.
Swapping out the lady fingers and removing the alcohol, is most likely how they are able to mass-produce this heavenly dessert.
It Tastes Great
What does it taste like? A good tiramisu strikes a nice balance of being a bit sweet with a touch of bitterness as well. The sweetness comes from mildly sweetened mascarpone and the bitter flavor is from the espresso-soaked lady fingers. People often wonder whether a big box store can make a great tasting and beautiful looking dessert like tiramisu. One of the most surprising things about this dessert is how pretty the layers look when it’s cut. In my opinion, this layered dessert couldn’t be any prettier or tastier.
A purely decadent dessert, this is a splurge for the diet since it does not scrimp on calories. Thankfully, we usually consider celebrations a perfect time to cheat on our diets, so we can all give this a try. The utter creaminess of the mascarpone and cream cheese mouse if you will, is absolutely divine. It’s really the essence of what I think makes this cake so popular. Then, every once in a while you get a bite that has that strong espresso flavor, which balances it all out. But the espresso is why this dessert may not be for kids as the taste is fairly noticeable. It’s one of the main ingredients in this tiramisu and coffee certainly has a strong flavor.
It’s Really Moist
I know people worry about serving cake for dessert since some cakes are a bit dry. Not to fear, this is not the case with this lovely, sweet treat! The mascarpone, which is an Italian style cream cheese with a bit of a bite, is paired here with American cream cheese to make a divinely rich, flavorful mousse that prevents this cake from being too dry.
It Holds Up Well when Traveling or Placed in the Freezer
This version definitely travels well without losing its shape, staying intact due to a generous amount of mascarpone and cream filling. When sliced into, you can distinctly see all of the layers of espresso-dipped cake and the mascarpone and cream cheese filling.
This cake actually also holds up pretty well in the freezer. I had mine in the freezer for about 3 weeks and it was still delicious, but I probably wouldn’t recommend keeping it in the freezer for more than a month. Just make sure you let it fully defrost before serving it (I normally let it sit out overnight the night before.)
Overall – 8/10
All in all, this seems to be the perfect adult dessert as it has all the elements you’d be looking for to serve a larger group a sweet end to a dinner. This tiramisu is filled with creamy sweetness, a bit of a biting bitterness and a cool cocoa finish, all for an amazing price. Where can you find a better combination? And it gets even better when you know there won’t be any clean up! Let us know if you give this layered yummy goodness a try!
If you like this post, then we definitely recommend checking out our Gelato Cake Recipe post.