Trader Joe's Plum Torte, however, comes to us from Canada. Unlike traditional tortes, this one uses a wheat flour base instead of ground nuts. This is, in fact, the very first torte that Sonia and I have ever had, so we really can't vouch for its authenticity.
But we can vouch for its scrumptiousness. Absolutely divine. From frozen, bake for 20 minutes at 350°F and you've got a stellar dessert for six people.
The crust gets a little firm and almost crunchy on the outside, yet it's soft and moist on the inside. It's sweet and oh-so-buttery. It's just fine by itself...but the plum filling is even better. The beautiful wifey and I were both skeptical that the texture of the plums—particularly their skins—would be melt-in-the-mouth delicious. We feared something leathery, chewy, and/or stringy that could ruin the mouthfeel of the dessert. One bite and we realized our fears were totally unfounded.
The plum filling is at least as good as the breading. It's like a sweet jelly with real plums baked right in. Please watch the video review embedded in this post to see tons of close up shots of the torte in action. Certain bites feature what appear to be entire plums. Delicious.
Our biggest complaint? Not every bite contains plums. Once you've had a bite or two with huge amounts of the plums and the filling, you suddenly want every bite to be bursting with the fruit, but they're just not distributed very evenly. They're tart and sweet and almost reminiscent of a berry medley in terms of flavor.
This toothsome treat does not need any help in our humble opinions, but if you were so inclined, we're quite certain whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make this dish even more delectable. We'll try it that way next time. It's nearly plum perfect as is.
Eight bucks for this big 1 lb 2.7 oz box. Product of Canada. Kosher. Would buy again. This is a Thanksgiving Dinner caliber dessert by our reckoning. I wouldn't be ashamed of bringing this as my contribution to the dessert table alongside Turkey Day legends like apple pie and pumpkin pie. The beautiful wifey and I both gave this product eight and a half stars out of ten during the recording of our video review. Having reheated and re-tasted it, in retrospect, I'd give it a nine.
Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.
