Latest news with #sweetsandwich
The Independent
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
We just tried Tesco's viral 'birthday cake' sandwich – and we have mixed thoughts
M&S no doubt started the latest food trend when it launched its viral strawberry and creme sando earlier this summer. Now, Tesco have unveiled its own version of the hybrid sweet treat: the birthday cake sandwich. Celebrating 30 years of the Tesco Clubcard, the limited-edition sandwich is available in more than 1,000 stores nationwide - but only until 31 August. M&S's sandwich became so popular it daily sold out in most stores across the UK, and there's similar hype mounting for Tesco's take. The idea of a sweet sandwich is derived from the Japanese fruit sando, a popular snack that includes fresh fruit, sliced white bread, and fresh whipped cream. This isn't the first time Tesco has nodded to the signature treat –14 years ago, the supermarket chain launched a strawberries and cream sandwich to mark Wimbledon. But its latest offering has a playful spin thanks to its strawberry jam and cream cheese filling with a colourful sprinkling of rainbow confetti. Better yet, it costs £3 and is included in Tesco's office-favourite meal deal (a main, side and drink for just £3.60). But is it a nostalgic homage to childhood birthday parties or a sickly addition to the meal deal line-up? Four of our team testers at IndyBest swapped their usual sarnie for the new birthday sando – here are our (mixed) thoughts.
Telegraph
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘An abomination': Tesco's birthday cake sandwich, tried and tested
It is shaping up to be the summer of the sweet sandwich. First M&S launched its strawberries and cream 'dessert' sarnie, and now Tesco has followed up with a birthday cake sandwich. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Clubcard, the sandwich apparently took Tesco's development staff nine months to create. The supermarket is showing its confidence in the product by making it available in 1,000 stores for four weeks. Inspired by the Victoria sponge, the £3 sandwich contains cream cheese icing, strawberry jam, rainbow sprinkles and vanilla frosting slapped in a 'brioche-style' bread. Not everyone is impressed when our sandwich arrives. 'The WI are the ultimate arbiters of the Victoria sponge and they'd throw that out in an instant,' scoffs Andrew Baker, a Telegraph editor and author of Cake: A Slice Of British Life. 'A Victoria sponge is a plain sponge, jam and a bit of cream. Cream cheese? Vanilla frosting? Disgusting.' Thankfully, as The Telegraph 's unofficial meal deal correspondent and resident sweet tooth, I am quite used to having my lunch labelled 'disgusting'. I'd never hold an expert opinion against anything I eat, especially when Tesco promises 'an all-time favourite treat, in an all-time favourite deal!' What could possibly go wrong? Unlike the thick wodge M&S presented a few months ago, Tesco's sweet treat is the same size and shape as a regular supermarket sarnie. The brioche-style bread is slightly yellow and springy to the touch, a bit like the bouncy castle at the children's party where this sandwich might feasibly be served. The whole thing looks like an inverted Simpsons' doughnut. The first bite is simultaneously the driest and wettest thing I've ever eaten. That brioche bread has been cunningly formulated to be so dry and tasteless that one can't help but be reminded of every disappointing birthday they've experienced in their adult life. The cream cheese, on the other hand, is of the claggy variety, and the jam far too sweet. The concoction fills your mouth and clogs your senses. I felt like a character in one of those horror movie prequels who ingests some mysterious black goo and finds it consuming from them the inside out. The best part? Surprisingly, the sprinkles, which at least added an interestingly gritty texture. Suffice to say it's nutritionally questionable, and by the time I reached the end I felt I'd been blasted back in time to my sixth birthday party, where I ate so much cake I spent the whole evening throwing up. I wanted water, both to remove the taste and to wash the shame of eating it away. Truly, an abomination. If you find yourself wondering how it could possibly have taken the boffins in Tesco's food labs nine months to create this sandwich, I'd point you to the ingredients list, which contains a lengthy list of ingredients ranging from spirit vinegar to spirulina extract. Yum. Having attended plenty of 30th birthdays recently, I feel hugely qualified when I tell you this is an invite you should turn down with maximum prejudice.
