Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Welcome, Starbucks Valencia Orange Cake!






















Today was the day that the Starbucks Valencia Orange Cake made its official debut. (Kudos to the many employees who resisted my pleas for advance tastings!) Tonight I purchased two at an East Side location and might've emptied the place of its stock, as one of the two cakes was the display case sample, already taken out of its plastic wrapper. I gave that sample to a friend who isn't on a gluten-free diet.

As reported elsewhere, the Valencia Orange Cake is fruity and moist—unusually so for a gluten-free baked good. The cost is reasonable at $1.95. The ingredients are whole eggs, valencia orange pulp, almonds, sugar, orange peel, gluten-free baking powder, rice flour, and orange oil. Together they add up to
290 calories
16 grams of fat (25% daily value including 2 grams of saturated fat and no trans fat)
40mg sodium (2% daily value)
125 mg cholesterol (42% dailly value)
40mg sodium (2% daily value)
32 grams of carbohydrates (11% daily value)
4 grams of dietary fiber (16% daily value)
23 grams of sugar
9 grams of protein
4% the daily value of Vitamin A
30% the daily value of Vitamin C
10% the daily value of calcium
8% the daily value of iron
So it's sort of like a meal in itself?

It's great to have this option at Starbucks. My main suggestion would be to create plastic facsimiles of the cake so they could be used in the display cases while the actual cakes stay protected in their bags. In the long run, I would still like to see Starbucks certify salads and other foods as safe for those of us on medical gluten-free diets, so perhaps this will turn out to be a good step in that direction.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am very pleased to have a GF option at Starbucks! And it is nation wide. There are few options in Eugene Oregon.

Anonymous said...

I was at the Starbucks at 41st & Madison last week and was disappointed to see that the cakes were NOT individually wrapped, but sitting in the case with every other gluten-filled option.

David Marc Fischer said...

It's shocking to see any of those cakes unwrapped in a display case. Anyone on a gluten-free diet should avoid those cakes and try to communicate with the Starbucks staff about the problem. Lately they've been working on customer service, so there's a good chance the manager will care about what you have to say. One can also contact Starbucks customer service to hammer home the point.