MRE Monday - Carrot Pound Cake

It seems that I've ordered a lot of desserts and fewer entrees. So, today's MRE is carrot pound cake from Emergency Essentials for $1.50

Nutritional Information:
Calories 270
Calories from Fat: 120
Total Fat: 13g or 20% Daily Value ( DV )
Trans Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 45mg or 15% DV
Sodium: 210mg or 9% DV
Total Carbohydrates: 36g or 12% DV
Dietary Fiber: 1g or 6% DV
Sugars: 19g
Protein: 3g
Vitamin A: 10% DV
Vitamin C: 0% DV
Calcium:  2% DV
Iron: 4%

Expectations:
Since I started doing the reviews, I think that I have a better handle on what to expect. I am familiar with the MRE pound cakes, which have been pretty good, and expect a compact carrot cake.

Reality:
We had the added bonus of my Mother-in-Law for dinner on MRE sample night, so we also got her opinion on the dessert. She did ask if I was worried about December 21, 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar. I told her "No, the MRE testing is for my blog. I do reviews for backpacking and other scenarios." She knows that we have a lot of food, but she hasn't pressed the subject.

Row, our oldest, took a very small bite, and told us he liked it. I offered another bite and got a "No thank you." I told him it was alright if he didn't like it, and then he said he didn't. Oh, as soon as he saw it he did say "I don't wanna try the carrot". He saw a bit in the cake, and with him being six, that kinda sealed the deal on him not liking it.

Red Ant with Pincers, or Ant, the three year old, had a very similar response. He took a small bite and refused another.

Sweetheart noticed the strong spice that was quickly identified as clove,and thought it had a "good pop of flavor". She later compared the clove taste to her homemade Ginger Snaps (I think this is a huge compliment). Soon after taking her first bite, she said " We will order these again".

Nurse Susie Q also liked the clove taste, but would have preferred a moister texture. Thumbs up.

I thought that it was very good. One of my first thoughts was that it would be great around a campfire with a strong cup of black coffee on a cold winter's evening. The nuts provided a nice change in texture, and it had the same compact cake texture of all the MRE pound cakes.

Final Thoughts:
We played a mini trivia game of trying to detect the flavors in the cake. Nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon were guessed. The fine print of the ingredients revealed that ( in order of most to least) molasses,pure vanilla extract, cinnamon, pineapple, nutmeg, and clove were present. I was surprised by the pineapple, but it makes sense for the texture of the pound cake. I think that most adults will like the carrot pound cake, and maybe a few oddball kids. A reorder for the stockpile, but I'd like to wait for a sale.  Emergency Essentials will often drop the price by a quarter, then I'll stock up.

Stars: * * (2)