Wine Skinny - Jun/July 2007
Soup to Nuts!... Internet-Order Cakes
In this new feature, we'll be bringing you a slew of gourmet goodies that run the gamut from cocktail nibbles to spirits to sweets and everything in between. Each issue, we round up a bunch of samples of a particular product and then offer reviews on our favorites. We have no dog in this fight – we're open to trying just about anything, and we try to be as objective as possible. Sometimes the results surprise even us!
We like Spring for a lot of reasons—baby lettuces at farmers markets, the first rhubarb crop of the year, seasonal blooms in the garden, mild nights on the patio...
And cake! It just seems there are so many good excuses for serving cake in the Spring. From Easter and Mother's Day to graduation parties to birthdays in the park—we can come up with dozens of perfectly good reasons to serve cake this time of year. (Summer is no slouch in the cake-game either—what with family reunions, Father's Day and the 4th of July!)
What we cannot seem to find is the time (or skills, to be perfectly honest) to construct the luscious layer cakes that we crave.
So we decided to check out some of the tempting internet-order cake we've been seeing lately. Shipping costs are definitely an issue here (all shown below are approximate costs and vary by area), but hey—your time is worth something, right? Here are the ups and downs of those orders:
Doughboys Red Velvet Cake (8-inch, 2-layer cake, $35 plus $30 shipping) – a dense, beet red, toothsome version of this Southern classic, this popular Los Angeles bakery's version is generously layered with a tangy, way-above-average cream cheese icing. Gorgeous to look at, this cake would easily steal the show on any dessert table. And there was something about the not-too-sweet cake balanced with the creamy icing that begs for another bite. And another... Arrived in perfect condition, and we get the feeling that Doughboys really stands behind its products. Easily serves 10-12 slices.
Williams-Sonoma Bonnet Cake (8" diameter, 4" high, $99 plus $16.50 shipping) - Honestly, we thought this cake was just kind of stupid. Pricey, smallish (serves 4-6), mostly icing, and who wants a cake shaped like a hat, anyway? It's a thick layer of white chocolate on the outside, with vanilla cake and lemon buttercream layers inside. It tasted fine, and had some novelty value. But not worth the money—particularly in light of some of the other options we tasted.
Wimp's Caramel Coconut Cake ($32 plus $25 shipping)—Touted on the Oprah show, we had to know about this one… What a disaster. The short story is that we never received it, never tasted it. The longer story involves a deceptive live webpage that appeared to take our order, even sent us a confirmation email. But when the cake didn't show up, we started emailing/calling. The emails bounced. The phone number on our confirmation email was wrong. When we finally got through to the bakery, no one knew anything about, well, anything. The owner was supposed to call us back; never did. The only good news is that our credit card was never actually charged, so we were only out time and a considerable amount of frustration.
Perfect Endings Present Cake at 1-800-Flowers.com (6"H x 5"W x 5"L, $85 plus $15 shipping) - As soon as we saw this cake, we knew it had to be from the same designer as the Bonnet Cake from Williams-Sonoma (above). A few minutes of internet research confirmed it. But this one was just better. First, it was a better value—more cake for the money, serving 8-10 people. Second, it was more appealing looking. And third, it tasted better. Inside the decorative white chocolate exterior is moist chocolate cake filled with a thick chocolate truffle cream. The only problem here was that it doesn't really lend itself to simple slicing. Wedges are possible, but it might be just as well to go with a square grid. Either way, this lovely cake is sure to draw applause, and with our apologies to the designer, is way better than that silly bonnet!
Old-Fashioned Diner Cake from Dessert Gallery (9-inch, $40 plus $15 shipping) - It's just hard to beat this cake... Three layers of moist yellow cake layered with a fudge-like chocolate buttercream. This is no feather-light confection—it's satisfyingly dense and comfortingly filling. It works beautifully as a birthday cake, but equally well for any occasion. And, yes, a glass of cold milk is practically required. Great price, too!
Other winners from the Dessert Gallery include the chocolate-on-chocolate goodness of Jennifer's Birthday Cake, the melt-in-your-mouth meringue and white chocolate mousse of the special order White Chocolate Concord Cake, and a classic German Chocolate Cake with gooey caramel-coconut-pecan filling along with chocolate layers and chocolate buttercream.
Note: not all Dessert Gallery cakes are available for shipping, but many are (even if the website seems to indicate otherwise!)—so be sure to call if you have any doubts.
Seven Layer Caramel Cake from Caroline's (9-inch, $40 plus $20 shipping) - Perfect for caramel lovers, this incredible seven layer cake features thin yellow cake slashes of cake sandwiched between a glorious caramel icing. A delicious alternative (or addition!) to chocolate desserts. We thought it was particularly good with a cup of coffee at around 4pm in the afternoon, but that's just us!
Cheers!
