Quick show of hands. Who knows what a blackout cake is?
Okay. Now how many NON-New Yorkers know what a blackout cake is? As a tried and true Midwesterner, I’d heard the name, but that was about it. Before researching, I assumed that it derived its moniker from being extremely chocolatey; and while it is, in fact, quite chocolatey indeed, the “Brooklyn” Blackout Cake, as it is also known, received its name during WW2 when, per a Politico article, “blackout drills were performed in homes around the borough to avoid silhouetting battleships leaving from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.” Ebinger’s, a beloved Brooklyn bakery chain, applied the name to a popular cake of its design, a multi-layer chocolate affair with pudding between the layers and chocolate cake crumbs on its exterior.
Although Ebinger’s closed shop decades ago, the cake is still made by cake makers worldwide. But if you’re not near a bakery — or you don’t want to buy a whole cake, or your preferred bakery doesn’t MAKE a blackout cake — you’re in luck. Because, like most other desserts and dessert-adjacent products, it’s an Oreo now.
But, okay — how does “pudding” translate into an Oreo creme filling? Well, quite honestly, it doesn’t. Pudding is much more of a texture thing, right? And Oreo creme is Oreo creme. Oh sure, sometimes it has little crunchy bits, but the creme can’t go more gelatinous or pudding-esque. So instead of anything evoking an essence of pudding, you’ve got two fairly indiscernible chocolate cremes — one a bit dark (the devil’s food component? They call it “dark chocolate” on the website) — and the other a bit light. They both taste like run-of-the-mill chocolate Oreo filling, and I really couldn’t even tell one was “dark” chocolate.
There’s nothing interesting or new about the crunchy outer exterior, either; it is, unapologetically, a standard chocolate Oreo cookie.
So then, you may be wondering, what’s the point of this Oreo? And to you, I say, I really don’t know. This is a chocolate Oreo with chocolate creme filling. Someone I was sharing them with suggested that they thought one of the cremes was similar to the brownie component of Oreo’s Brookie-O cookie, but that seemed like wishful thinking to me.
In the end, this is a fine product because it’s a chocolate creme Oreo. And those are tasty. But unless you’re a diehard Oreo completist, it’s not the end of the world if you miss out on this release. And if you’re in the market to waste some calories on Oreo cookies, there are plenty of better options. Or if you’re feeling REALLY wild, maybe seek out a blackout cake itself.
Purchased Price: $4.58
Size: 12.2 oz
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 cookies) – 140 calories, 6 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 105 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.
To me the filling tastes more like chocolate frosting..but that’s all I can get of the ‘cake’ flavor.
All of us who’ve been chasing the dream of finding Ebinger’s lost recipe, we just clutched our hearts like Fred Sanford while reading it.
And not everyone is so old that they know who Fred Sandford is either 😛
Blackout cake is obviously an East coast thing. How could everyone know what it is? That’s pretty pompous.
Blackout cake actually became “all the rage” in the MidWest so it is popular nationwide, not that I have a dog in this fight.
I’m from the West coast and I’ve never heard of it. East coast and Midwest are much closer to each other. I’m not sure I see your point
How is being popular in the Midwest, mean it’s popular nationwide? Your logic is really flawed.
The comment was in response to the person saying that they were only known on the East Coast. The point is that blackout cake “is popular nationwide “.
Midwesterner here, and never heard of it until just now. So… no.
They taste alcoholy, not chocolately. The dark chocolate oreos, those were chocolaty…but if one has never heard of or had blackout cake (me) then clearly I’m at a disadvantage – that being said – if this hits the nail on the head, I will pass on blackout cake and stick to my flourless torte with ganache, or, depression cake.