Oreo Birthday Cake Cookies

Well it's birthday time here in the Grocery Gems household (yep it's my birthday today) and what better way to celebrate than this review for Oreo Birthday Cake. Don't be deceived into thinking that the large package contains an actual cake! Instead, you will find 21 Oreo Cookies neatly lined up in rows inside the package. These are Limited Edition cookies specially made to celebrate Oreo's 100th Birthday (have they really been around since 1912? Yikes, I bet they were made from real sugar and butter in those days!).

Unfortunately these are a US only release (note to Nabisco: can we please get some Limited Edition Oreo flavours here in the UK!). Luckily the wonderful shop Cybercandy comes to the rescue yet again, offering these for the princely sum of £5.45 a pack.

So what makes these cookies special enough to be a Limited Edition? Well, the "Birthday Cake" part comes from the colourful sprinkles added to the cream filling and from the "Oreo 100" imprinted on each cookie. The overall effect might not seem that special but I found them to be charming and fun. My kids were also very excited at the sight of these Oreos, it's amazing what a few candy sprinkles can do!

When I opened the package for the first time I was surprised by the strong smell of vanilla cake frosting. I love the smell of vanilla so I was immediately hooked.  The cream filling looks different to that of a regular Oreo and not just because of the sprinkles. It has a thicker and softer layer of cream, more like those of the Double Stuff variety. The vanilla cake frosting flavour is very strong in the cream layer, it's like a mini cake party in your mouth! The biscuit parts have exactly the same flavour as a regular Oreo, very sweet and crunchy. Overall they are very sugary so I wouldn't want to eat too many at one sitting.

Unlike UK Oreos, which contain whey powder, US Oreos are suitable for vegans. These Oreos are what I like to call "Vegan By Accident". I'm sure Nabisco didn't set out to create a vegan cookie but they are vegan simply because there is a paragraph (!) of alien sounding ingredients, rather than the more homely butter, eggs and milk that you might expect to find in a real cookie. In these cookies you get ingredients such as Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Yum, just like Mama used to make...

For anyone else born on 5th July, have a very Happy Birthday. Just for you, here's a list of some famous/infamous people who share our birthday:

Born 5th July 1675 - Mary Walcott, American accuser at the Salem witch trials

Born 5th July 1717 - Pedro III of Portugal, consort of Maria I of Portugal

Born 5th July 1874 - Eugen Fischer, Bade Germany, Nazi physician

Born 5th July 1929 - Mary Maxwell Gates, philanthropist/mother of Bill Gates

Born 5th July 1931 - James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, criminal

Born 5th July 1946 - Paul Smith, British fashion designer

Born 5th July 1950 - Huey Lewis, rocker

Born 5th July 1958 - Bill Watterson, American cartoonist

Born 5th July 1976 - Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer (and me!)

Born 5th July 1979 - Shane Filan, Irish musician (Westlife)

Born 05th July 1980 - Eva Green, French actress (Bond Girl in Casino Royale)

Born 5th July 1996 - Dolly the sheep, first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell born in Scotland