Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Osem & Elite's Kosher for Pesach Cakes

Both Osem and Elite have a few Kosher for Pesach cakes available.

Osem Ha'Bayit has Marble, Chocolate Chip, Brownies, Brownies with Coconut and finally Date-Silan Walnut Cake.
Elite has Rich Chocolate Brownies, Coconut Brownies and Vanilla Cake with a touch of Chocolate Cream cakes.
I tasted the Date-Silan & Walnut cake from Osem and the Rich Chocolate Brownies from Elite.

Osem's Date Silan & Walnut Cake was very moist and fluffy, but the cake was too sweet. I was disappointed that it was a "sugar" sweetness rather than "date silan" flavor. I should not have been surprised, considering the first ingredient is sugar. Sadly the date-silan flavor got totally lost.
I thought there was a perfect amount of walnuts in the cake and they did help balance the sweetness a bit, but not enough.
One of the biggest issues I have with Kosher for Pesach cakes is; I do NOT enjoy the taste of potato starch. Any product that has an overwhelming potato starch taste will not get rave reviews from me. This Osem Date Silan & Walnut cake actually kind of passed the "potato starch test". Yes there is a potato starch aftertaste but it really is not as bad as most other commercial Kosher for Pesach potato starch cakes.
This cake is NOT gluten free. It has matzo meal in it but, it does not have Kitnoyot and it is Kosher Parve Mehadren. Kosher for Passover
400 gram cake 16.99 NIS
Elite's Rich Chocolate Brownie is a whole different story. It was very dry and had way too much of a coco taste as opposed to a chocolate taste. It seemed like I was eating a spoonful of coco and potato starch, no it did NOT pass my "potato starch test" at all!!
This brownie was more of a cake than a brownie. That's never a good thing in my book. I really enjoy a good flowerless Pesach brownie but this Elite rich chocolate brownie is NOT a winner.
Its Kosher Parve Rabbanut, Nazareth-Illit Kosher for Passover
 It seems to be gluten free but it's not clearly written as such. It does have "Laptit" which I understand is what canola oil is made of.
380 gram cake- 12.99 NIS
Bottom Line: Osem's Date Silan & Walnut Cake is alright. It's not the best or the worst Kosher for Pesach commercial cake I've tasted throughout the years, whereas Elite's Rich Chocolate Brownie was one of the worst in my opinion.

If I need to buy "store bought" baked goods for Pesach I think I would rather try my favorite bakery and stay away from any Osem or Elite commercial cakes.

I wanted to let my USA readers know that Mara over at Kosher on a Budget blog is running a contest-the prize is a package of goodies from Osem USA , so if you want to possibly win some of the items I'll be reviewing between now and Pesach, go over to Kosher on a Budget and enter. Sadly its only for USA readers, and you gotta hurry because the contest ends tomorrow April 7, but her blog is worth reading all the time. Not only for her USA coupons but also for her great money saving tips no matter where you live     

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the heads up. I would have tried the Date Silan and walnut cake but now I will keep away. I would like to add that we usually eat the Osem Brownies and enjoy them. They aren't homemade but pretty good.

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  2. "we usually eat the Osem Brownies and enjoy them. They aren't homemade but pretty good."

    So it seems I picked the wrong brownies to try, thanks for letting me know the Osem one is enjoyable:)

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