Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cake Sprinkles, reviewed

Sprinkles are a great way to add some color to cakes or cookies, but they’re not typically used to add flavor to anything. Sprinkles rarely have much flavor at all, though they sometimes add a little extra sweetness or a little extra texture to a baked good. Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cake Sprinkles, on the other hand, are intended to add both flavor and color, which makes them pretty unusual, as far as sprinkles go. They’re made with actual red velvet cake that has been transformed into a sweet cake topping.

The sprinkles smell like red velvet cake, with a distinct hint of chocolate, when you open the package. The sprinkles are craggy, with a rough shape that resembles coarsely crumbled cake, and are similar in texture to jimmies. The first ingredient on the bottle is “red velvet cake pieces,” but it also includes cornflakes, which are used to give the cake a little bit more texture so that the sprinkles don’t get lost on top of frosting when you use them.

These little sprinkles really exceeded my expectations, because I didn’t expect them to taste like much at all and they had a pretty good red velvet cake flavor to them. They would make a nice finishing touch for a batch of red velvet cupcakes or some other red velvet baked good. They would also be good on top of just about any chocolate baked good. That said, even though they’re made with actual red velvet cake, they’re still also made with plenty of extra sugar, so they’re not quite as tasty if you just try to eat a handful as a stand in for real red velvet cake when you get a craving.