We Love Cake Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart

Posted: July 1, 2023 Updated: June 21, 2024

I cannot resist a good deal, so when I saw Coles offering the We Love Cake Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart half price it was an easy decision. These tarts came to Australia only quite recently, either early 2023 or late 2022.

The company We Love Cake has had products in Australia a little while longer. You may have seen their slices in the bakery section at your local Coles. All their products are gluten free, wheat free and milk free, produced in a dedicated facility.

They are a UK brand and have been a common sight in UK supermarkets for quite a few years now. It’s great to get more brands over to Australia as it seems we are somewhat limited for dedicated gluten-free producers!

First impressions

I like that that these chocolate tarts come individually wrapped. This is really important if there’s just one gluten free person in the house. I am not the biggest sweet tooth, so I wouldn’t be so keen to eat these two days in a row before they go stale!

But given the individual packaging and the long shelf life I could eat one now and have the other one in a few weeks time.

When I bought this it had just over three weeks until it’s use-by date. It also only needs to be stored at room temperature, not the fridge.

The taste

There’s a strong cocoa smell when you open the packet. Which is nice, as often GF products or long shelf life products smell pretty average or weird when you open them!

The pastry case is super dark thanks to the addition of cocoa powder. It’s really crumbly too but thankfully very very soft. It’s a dry sort of pastry but not bad, the texture reminds me of a crumbly shortbread, except its slightly sticky when you eat it. This is likely due to the tapioca starch.

Inside the tart are two layers, salted caramel underneath and chocolate ganache on top. The caramel is pretty disappointing to be honest. It’s grainy. I’m sure it isn’t meant to be this way, after all who would want grainy caramel? Is it that dairy free caramel is grainy? I’m not sure.

It could also be that there’s something in the storage or shipping that crystallised the caramel. Let me know if you’ve had a different experience in the comments – maybe mine was a bad batch!

The ganache however is spot on, it’s nicely dark and silky smooth. I attempted to try some on it’s own. There’s some grainy spots but I think it is actually from the salted caramel.

The salted caramel didn’t go all the way through on the bottom later. Instead the centre of the tart was all ganache. Not a bad thing, but doesn’t quite match the photo on the box.

With all these combined it’s not disgustingly sweet, but is definitely sweet. I mean, you’d expect that anyway given it’s a dessert! But there are certainly gluten-free brands out there that are too sweet for me to eat, like much of the Kez’s Kitchen range.

The upgrade

I didn’t do any upgrades on the tart for my review sadly, however I think this would go very well with thickened or clotted cream.

I would also be curious to see how the tart would taste if it were heated slightly. Not much, maybe 20 seconds in the microwave, just to get the filling a little gooey.

Of course you’d have to remove the foil case first! A hot tart would no doubt require a scoop or two of ice cream. You can check out the gluten free ice creams available in Australia to put on top.

The verdict

It’s quite a nice little tart and certainly worth trying out when it’s on special.

I think given my close proximity to a number of gluten free bakeries in Melbourne it’s unlikely to be my go to treat. I’m also not the biggest fan of salted caramel, however, my gluten-eating, caramel loving husband very much approved!

I think it is a well-made gluten free treat and given that I’ll be looking forward to trying out the lemon tart in the future.

Where to buy we love cake chocolate and caramel tart

In Australia the We Love Cake chocolate and caramel tart is an exclusive to Coles. In fact, I am pretty sure the entire We Love Cake range is exclusive to Coles here. I’m certain I haven’t seen it at my local Woolies.

Depending on the store you’ll either find these on the shelf in the baked cakes and slices section or you’ll find it in the refrigerated cakes section. The tarts do not need to be refrigerated but some Coles stores have put them there for whatever reason.

The packet of two tarts currently retails for $7, however I have seen it on sale for $3.75 for a few weeks now. Odd for it to have such an extended sale price but given the cost of living crisis any good deal is very much welcome.

Here’s hoping their lemon tart goes on sale next!

PRODUCT DETAILS

Gluten free: Legit, not detected.
Vegetarian / vegan: Vegan.
Allergens: Almond, hazelnut. May contain: Pistachio, egg, peanut.
Serving size: Two tarts.

Haven’t got a Coles nearby? No worries, check out the gluten free lamingtons sold exclusively at Woolworths!