IHOP, matey!
Whoops, that was weird. I meant to write, “Ahoy, matey!” Sorry about that. Anyway, come on and IHOP aboard my cereal review ship, and we’ll…darn, I did it again! I really must have pancakes on my mind today.
IHOPe it doesn’t happen again.
But really, how can anyone not have pancakes stuck to their brains like syrupy griddlecakes to a plate when Cap’n Crunch’s Blueberry Pancake Crunch cereal is finally here? Sold in boxes taller than Paul Bunyan’s flapjack stacks, Blueberry Pancake Crunch combines fruity aquamarine and maple-flavored creme puffs (no, not that kind of cream puffs, sorry) to re-create a fascinatingly obscure breakfast in cereal form.
Personally, I would have preferred Buckwheat Pancake Crunch, but my pancake house menu choices are decidedly more octogenarian than most.
So while all you kids turn on Matlock for me and get off my darn lawn, I’ll pour a fresh bowl of spherical Johnnycakes.
Despite the Cap’n’s reputation for mouth-wateringly potent products, his glowing sapphire orbs don’t bludgeon you over the head and bury you with blueberry flavor. They’re the milder pieces of the bunch, and their artificial blueberry flavor is a far cry from the freshly plucked taste bud smack of Blueberry Tiny Toast.
While I prefer Tiny Toast’s approach, Blueberry Pancake Crunch puts a uniquely syrupy (that’s the word of the day, kids) twist on society’s preconceived notions of blueberry flavor. In true-blue Powerpuff Girls fashion, it tastes like Cap’n Crunch mixed…
A) Melted blue Scooby-Doo fruit snacks,
B) The distilled juice of a Kellogg’s blueberry Fruity Snack, and
C) Some blueberry compote from that cute little pancake house in your hometown: you know, the one run by a old couple that’s had the same laughably simple barnyard maze on its Kids Menu since the pancake was first invented in the 5th century B.C.E.?
…and glazed it all on a corny puff. It’s a fun flavor that combines nostalgic notes with IHOP intricacies, and I wish it wasn’t so overwhelmed by the puffs’ corn base.
If the blueberry pieces are the cabooses of Blueberry Pancake Crunch, then the maple puffs are conducting the flavor train with their rotund and sticky hands.
And if you’ve ever had an obscure little cereal called Sunrise Crunchy Maple, these puffs taste just like it. But if you aren’t a breakfast hipster, allow me to dust off my thick-rimmed glasses and elaborate.
It’s shocking how well Cap’n Crunch’s maple puffs emulate a real pancake-munching experience from start to finish. The syrup glaze is light and nearly floral, almost as if it’s been blended with golden honey. The puffs themselves have an eggy browned batter sweetness and an aftertaste of whipped butter.
I’m half-tempted to fill a pepper mill full of ’em and sneak it along on my next Waffle House trip to season my flannel cakes mid-meal.
Milk is a good “syrup” for dousing Blueberry Pancake Crunch. It makes the blueberry stand out a bit more and it unites the fruity-maple flavors in a cohesive union of creaminess. But like a whipped cream dollop on a real pancake stack, moderation is key: too much milk and your Blueberry Pancake Crunch experience will quickly shift from “melt-in-your mouth fluffy flapjack” to “sopping soggy sugar wad.”
Sogginess and crunch density are two of Blueberry Pancake Crunch’s greatest weaknesses, and they make it not quite as good as last summer’s Orange Creampop Crunch, which put a legendary orange-vanilla glaze on the Cap’n’s sturdy treasure chests instead of going the airy berry route.
I also wish there was more puckering blueberry realism and a darker amber maple taste, but hey—that last one can be remedied with a quick drizzle of the real stuff:
My mother wouldn’t be pleased to see me eating this, but my Aunt Jemima sure would.
While I have a few gripes with Cap’n Crunch’s Blueberry Pancake Crunch, it’s hard to not fall in love with its goofy charms. From its flavor innovation to the lumberjack Cap’n on the back—whose rugged manliness would make both Ron Swanson and the Brawny Paper Towel Guy weep into the latter man’s absorbent wares—Blueberry Pancake Crunch is a novel edition to the Cap’n Crunch flavor family. I hope it sells like hot cakes so we can get Chocolate Chip Pancake Crunch next year.
And yes, I did have to consult a pancake synonym guide to write this review. Just be glad I never used “Dough Gods.”
The Bowl: Cap’n Crunch’s Blueberry Pancake Crunch
The Breakdown: This cereal’s coyly candied blueberry and honey-battered maple flavors batter my taste buds with goofy fun, even if its texture is more “Cap’n Crisp” than “Crunch.”
The Bottom Line: 8.5 ancient Greek kids meals out of 10
(Quick Nutrition Facts: 110 calories, less than 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein per 1 cup serving)
***Our friends at Junk Banter and Snack Cellar have reviews of Blueberry Pancake Crunch, too. Check ’em out!***
Please bring back this cereal!!!
Please bring them back
I love this and this would be exciting if I still didn’t have 11 boxes left from last year. I literally bought it like it was going out of style.
I am on my last two boxes of Superman cereal by the way, even though they expired a year ago. I had as many as 28 boxes I think!
A year later.. if anyone s interested in getting their hands on this limited edition cap’n crunch blueberry pancake cereal send me an email. I have plenty 😊
I really need to find this again a friend had it told me about it an gave me a bowl of the 7 boxes he was hoarding an it was soooo good, I understood why he bought so many being the box said limited edition, but the captain needs to open that vault an produce more of the blueberry pan cake crunch an send them to upstate New York!
i want these so bad
Is this cereal sold at Chicago Walmart stores?The hunt is on!!!
Was finally able to find this again at the Super Walmart a couple miles from me. I have one closer, and I saw it there last month, and thought it would still be there when I went shopping a few days later. Alas, it wasn’t, and hasn’t been since. So when I saw it this morning when I was supposed to just be getting some excedrin, I had to buy it. I am glad I did, this review is almost perfect to my thoughts, though I would up it to a 9/10. It’s one of the best cereals I have ever had.
Is this vegan? No milk or eggs or anything from animals?
I live in CA and found the Orange Creampop at a local 99 cent store!
Most grocery stores in LA (Ralps / Vons) don’t carry any of the limited edition cereals.
I’m not saying I traveled from Baltimore to Cedar Rapids to find this (because I am here for professional indoor soccer – Go Rampage!), but it wasn’t at my Walmart and I found it here in Iowa today.
Haha, I’m proud of your dedication—and the Cap’n would be, too!
I always love to read your reviews (and always do, although i don’t always have the time to comment) and i was really looking forward to this one, since i love pancakes (who doesn’t ^^) and i really hoped they nail the flavor better than the (_for me_) disappointing French Toast Crunch did on… french toast ^^
And obviously they did. 🙂
Not that i think French Toast Crunch is a bad cereal, but it’s something my european tastebuds aren’t familiar with that let my really high hopes for them come to a slightly “bitter” end. And i’m sure it’s the overwhelmingly dark maple flavor in them, that, for my tastebuds which are more used to honey, taste a bit artifical… 🙁
So maybe this “light” approach is more made for me xD
So maybe i’ll try to get a box one day, but i’m pretty sure i wont. I didn’t even manage to get THE flavor i almost died craving for. (Yea it was Orange Creampop Crunch ^^)
btw:
You somehow mentioned the “overwhelmingly cornbase” again. Is it that much of a problem for US cereal? Or is it just, that they (why ever) use the cornbase for almost every cereal while the pastry flavors should better be made with a wheat base (like it’s common in europe), since that’s what the real deal is made of?
Yeah, corniness is a growing problem with American cereals. I think it’s a combo of
a) Corn being cheaper, and
b) Wheat/oat bases being more calorie dense
that prompts all these corn formulas.
And Waffle Crisp is still the king of maple cereal, don’t get me wrong!
Why are all the Cap’n Crunch spinoffs in ball form when the original is whatever-shape-Cap’n-Crunch-is?
Orange Creampop Crunch is in treasure chest form, but for the most part, you’re right! I think most people just have a weird fixation with Crunchberries.
I’m dead until I can find this.
It’s definitely a tough one, but not nearly as bad as Orange Creampop Crunch. I’ve still yet to see it outside Walmart, so if you haven’t focused your efforts there yet, I’d recommend it.
I wish Quaker would toss a couple of boxes of these to regular supermarkets. I don’t go Walmart unless I have too since they’ve been disappointing with exclusives as of late around here.
I was lucky enough to find the Orange Creampop Crunch at my local Acme supermarket in central NJ, which is a supermarket chain out of Lancaster, PA. But it didn’t last long on the shelves. I bought 3 boxes when I saw it back in August. Glad I did, because when I went back to that same Acme a week later, they were gone and never to be seen again.
I recently found the Blueberry Pancake Crunch at my local Walmart in NJ. They just started carrying it on Friday the 13th. I have to say, I think it’s a pretty good cereal. I may even like it better than the Orange Creampop Crunch as I think it has more flavor. I hope this one sticks around on the Shelves longer than the Orange Creampop did.
Where in NJ did you find it? I’m in NJ and can’t find it anywhere. Also from Central Jersey.
@John K. It’s at the Walmart in Manville, NJ. I was just there about 3 days ago and they still had some boxes on the shelf. Not sure if it’s a Walmart exclusive or not. I haven’t seen it at ShopRite, Target, Acme, or Stop and Stop or Wegmans.
Dollar general has it in little boxes for 1$