Trader Joe's new Plum Torte has 1,229 upvotes and a lemon-cake complaint

Trader Joe's Plum Torte is the most upvoted new dessert on r/traderjoes this fall. A shopper posted the box on September 8, and that thread has collected 756 upvotes at a 99.9% positive rate, with 63 comments. Five days later, a second thread on the same torte took another 473 upvotes at 98.6%, which puts the two together at 1,229 upvotes. 12

The torte costs $7.99 for an 18.7-ounce box (530 g) that serves six, or about $1.33 a serving. Trader Joe's lists it as a limited-time item. 3 It also made the chain's Fall 2026 Fearless Flyer, where a rocket crew decides to stop for "a Plum Torte and one of those Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cakes." 4

The torte is frozen, which has caught more than one shopper by surprise. The front of the box says "Keep Frozen," the bottom band says "Heat and Serve," and you finish the baking at home: 350°F for 18 to 20 minutes. 5 Sporked describes it as Canadian-made and partly baked before freezing, so the oven is finishing a cake rather than starting one. 6

Plums are the first ingredient, ahead of sugar, eggs, flour and butter. The torte is kosher dairy, contains milk, egg and wheat, and may contain soy and tree nuts. 3

The enthusiasm is easy to find. "This is one of the best tj's items I've tried in years imo.. delicious," one commenter wrote on the launch thread. 1 The Takeout, rounding up the first wave of reaction, quoted a shopper who called the cake "very tender" with "great flavor." 7

The one complaint in the coverage is about the fruit. "Tastes like lemon cake. The plums aren't very good texture wise," one shopper told The Takeout. 7 The reviewer at DailyWaffle put that sugared lemon in the plus column, writing that it adds a nice tang. 5 On the later review thread the argument runs the other way, toward more fruit: "the fruit is literally the whole point." 2

Two practical notes come up again and again.

Thaw it before baking if you want a clean result. Baked straight from frozen, the sugared lemon sticks to the paper pan and tears the surface; the reviewer at DailyWaffle liked the cake enough to buy it again and still recommended thawing first. 5

You can also bake a single slice instead of the whole box. The review thread's method: cut the torte frozen, put the slice on parchment, and run it in an air fryer on the oven setting at 350°F for 25 minutes, which the poster describes as "perfectly balanced with a sweet, crunchy yet moist crust." 2

Expect to hunt for it. Shoppers in both threads report arriving at stores that had not received a shipment yet, including one who had "looked all over" the week before and had not realized the cake was frozen. 2

The torte will also feel familiar to anyone who has baked from a newspaper clipping. Sporked notes that it closely follows Marian Burros' 1983 plum torte recipe from The New York Times, the recipe that made the format famous in the first place. 6

Buy one if you want a fall dessert that looks bakery-made for about $1.33 a serving, you like tart fruit set against a buttery cake, or you keep something sweet in the freezer for guests and a pot of tea.

Skip it if you are avoiding dairy, egg or wheat, if a lemon-forward cake sounds like the wrong direction for plums, or if you have no oven or air fryer to finish the box in.

Look for the burgundy box with "Plum Torte" in gold script over "Buttery Cake with Tart Plums," in the frozen dessert case alongside the rest of the fall lineup. Trader Joe's sells it as a limited-time item, arrivals are still moving store by store, and The Takeout's advice is to put a second box in the freezer now if you want one for the holidays. 7