Starbucks Caramelised Biscuit Cake Cube

The Starbucks Caramelised Biscuit Cake Cube costs £5.00 and carries 506 calories with 29g of fat and 34g of sugar. A sponge cube built around caramelised biscuit, in the Lotus Biscoff style.

At 506 calories it is the heaviest of the two cake cubes and the second heaviest item in the Bakery case behind the chocolate muffin. 29g of fat is the highest of any cube or slice apart from the lemon tart.

Caramelised biscuit spread is the reason and it is worth knowing what it is. The spread is made by grinding the biscuits themselves and loosening them with oil, so it arrives as sugar, wheat and fat already combined, at roughly the density of peanut butter with none of the protein. As both a filling and a topping, it stacks that twice.

15g of saturated fat is 75 percent of an adult daily reference intake, just below the raspberry and coconut cube at 16g. Fibre is 1.3g and protein 6.6g, both low, and salt at 0.68g is mid range.

Biscoff style spreads have moved from a novelty to a fixture on UK menus in about a decade, and the reason is that the flavour behaves like caramel without being caramel. It carries a spiced, slightly burnt note from the biscuit that plain caramel lacks, which is what stops a cake this sweet tasting one dimensional.

The cube format is a portion decision rather than a recipe one. A tall square slice of a layered cake reads as a more generous serving than a flat wedge of the same weight, and it also holds its shape in a case better, which is most of why chains have moved to it.

Soya, egg, almonds, wheat and milk are declared and it carries a vegetarian label. Prices reach £5.75 on delivery, joint most expensive in the case. The Cookies and Cream Frappuccino is the drink built on the same idea.