I felt like I struck the jackpot on my latest Aldi shopping trip: I had never seen so many red “dollar off” stickers in my entire life. The Aldi I go to – which was the only one in our suburban city for years, until they opened up another one a couple years ago in a much higher traffic area – is almost always slow. As a result, it seems that they rarely put Special Buy items on clearance, or mark items down, at least compared to other locations I’ve been to. So when I see anything marked down at our store, I’m usually pretty quick to act.

First impressions: this is described on the packaging as a “sliced loaf cake”, yet it looks like banana bread. So, what exactly is this? It looks like banana bread, and it’s cut like banana bread, so I’m just going to assume it’s some weird way it’s made that prevents it from being designated as “bread”. Or, maybe, is all banana bread technically loaf cakes?

I don’t like my banana bread with nuts, typically, but I have to say this is pulled off very well. The nuts are so soft, you don’t even notice they’re on there. My mom’s banana bread – which I would still pick over this one due to the nostalgia factor – was good but the nuts were so hard that they altered the taste of the bread. I suppose that’s good if you actually like nuts, but that was always the most off-putting part for me. Here, they just kind of blend in with the actual bread, both in terms of texture and taste. That won’t win any fans of the nuts over, but for people like me, who typically prefer theirs without, it’s a win.

The flavor is excellent, with bananas bursting forth in every bite. It’s kind of a fakey, over-the-top banana taste, which I happen to like, but fans of “realistic” bananas might want to look elsewhere. The cake itself is very moist, which only makes it even more inviting. I typically add butter when I eat homemade banana breads, but there’s no need for that here, as everything comes together to create a delicious little loaf that’s great for breakfast, as a snack, or really at any point of the day. I was pleasantly surprised; my wife, who’s not a fan of fake banana (or bananas in general), was not at all impressed. (For a second opinion, our 4-year-old son absolutely loved it.)

I don’t get this “cake” very often – in fact I only got it this time because it was a dollar off – but even at its full price, this is a tasty little treat, and one that I will probably get a lot more in the future.

Overall: 9/10. I know that this is probably going to be divisive, but I love the crap out of this “cake loaf”…although I’ll be honest that the fact I got a dollar off (taking the total price down to $1.69 for ten succulent pieces of exaggerated banana goodness) does factor in to the total score. Fans of the over-the-top fake banana flavor featured in many mass-produced products (like my wife) will be turned off, but I thought that, along with the impossibly moist texture, struck that balance of near-perfection, at least as far as such mass-produced products go. Even at full price this is a winner, and a product I would get again.