Junk Food Nation, I think it’s time to discuss a recent obsession of mine: Storage Wars on A & E. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, watch this:

And that’s basically it. It’s half hour sets of people dumpster diving in abandoned storage units, and finding cool shit worth thousands of dollars.  Most of these people own and run second hand stores, so most of the junk, even the non-super-valuable stuff, all has a value to them and can be worth $$$.  They’ve been having a recent marathon of it on A & E, and I can’t stop watching. CAN’T STOP WATCHING.

There’s buzz around the internet that it’s fake, that it’s staged, that it’s totally real, but I could care less: it’s really effing entertaining. My only annoyance with the show is the part when the buyers themselves are assessing the non-super-prize items in the storage locker that can be sold in their stores. It mixes my mind up, because I think, “There’s no WAY someone would pay that amount for this junk.”  I’m often wrong, however.  In this one episode, one buyer pointed to these remote control gas powered cars and said those are $100, and the remote is $400. I guffawed and thought, “$100 for a toy car??? My ass.” Turns out these gar-powered toy cars can go for over $200 themselves, the remotes selling for $500!  Damn.

For anyone out there who dreams of finding a Van Gogh in their attic randomly or finding collectible toys at a yard sale – this show is for you.

Today’s junk food: Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake!

The Money Shot

Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake was found at a local Asian grocery store, and I’m sure its being sold nationwide at Asian grocery stores.  I’ve discussed Orion products on this blog before; I really didn’t like their Strawberry Cream Pie, and I was so-so on their Choco Pie. When I saw Tiramisu Cake, I was like, “Oh, Orion…what have you done?”

IS IT!?

LOL, this exclamation STILL cracks me up…

Anyways, to recap, Orion, the makers of the Fresh Pie and Choco Pie, is a Korean confection company founded in 1974.

Two studious bakers...

You know what I love about this image on the front of the Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake box? THIS ISN’T TIRAMISU!  This is clearly coffee with chocolate shaved on top with little rolled cookies sticking out of it.  NOW Tiramisu. AT ALL.

Dissection of a Cross section

Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake is made of Soft Coffee Cake, and Cheese Cream (yikes). And neither of these things make up Tiramisu.  I can’t wait to see what this debacle tastes like.

Where's lady and the tramp?

They got all festive on the back of this Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake box! The imagery of an Italian cafe street, the Italy flag colors in the banner.  And MAAAAAAAAAAAAAYBE that parfait in that glass is some form of tiramisu, but I’m gonna say it’s not.

Yeah, that's not it

Isomaltooligosaccharide.  That….that can’t be good.

Air puffed pouch

Orion Tiramisu Italian Cakes were packed individually in the box in pouches like the one shown above. Easy and single serving, Orion does make these convenient to eat on the go.

Spongey!

Once opened, the Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake actually DID smell a little bit like coffee. The outer texture of the cake felt spongey, like sponge cake.

Creamy

Ripped open, the Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake was full of a decent amount of light colored cream.  The texture was very much like butter cream frosting – thick and unyielding. Lord knows how they piped this goo into the cake.

Buttercreamy

I took a bite, and I must say – this Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake was ok. Not GREAT, but definitely not bad – I put it on the same level as the Choco Pie.  Here’s the thing though: it did NOT (unsurprisingly) really taste like Tiramisu. But it tried!

The cake portion WAS sponge cake, hands down. Light and fluffy, with the same amount of give to the tooth. Flavor wise, it was slightly sweet, and had plenty of air in it. Could you imagine these to be similar to Ladyfinger cookies?  Eh, sort of, but not really.

The cream inside tasted just like butter cream frosting – it was sort of slick and greasy feeling on the tongue, like how butter cream usually feels to me.  It was sweet and creamy, and had a hint of initial coffee flavor. Eating the cake and cream together, I did get the SENSATION of eating Tiramisu – I got the creaminess mixed with cakiness that Tiramisu has. But there wasn’t enough chocolate or coffee flavor.

Afterwards, in the aftertaste stage, I could smack my tongue and there was a HINT of coffee – but not enough.  And that’s where it fell short.  Maybe if it was chocolate or coca sponge cake, it would’ve worked better. But with a definite lack of cocoa and coffee flavor, this cake didn’t quite make it.

Thoughts? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy