Cake tasting No. 2

We went to a local bakery for the second of three cake tastings for my cousin's wedding. The plus of a local bakery is that we made it to the tasting on time since it was only five minutes from home. The minus - it's a small shop so they only do cake tastings on weekend nights. That meant eating lots of sweet cake on an empty stomach.

My cousin did the consultation a week ago where she discussed cake design, possible flavors and number of guests. My responsibility as maid of honor tonight was just to try cake. The best part of a small shop is that the cakes were baked fresh for us. We had a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and a kahlua hazelnut ganache filling. The cake was moist, almost like a homemade cake and the filling had just the right balance of the two flavors. We also tried a french vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and a raspberry cream filling.

All of the ingredients at this bakery are made fresh on site. The raspberry filling, the baker told us, is made by pureeing and straining raspberries, boiling them down to concentrate the flavor and then mixing it with buttercream. The result is a creamy texture that tastes like fresh raspberries, without the seeds. We also tried a caramel and a strawberry filling, and the strawberry tasted just like eating a fresh strawberry!

My mom said it best when she said after the first place we kind of wondered if to have a beautiful cake you have to sacrifice the flavor. Turns out maybe both are possible.

One more cake tasting to go - and even if the cake is a bust, the place has awesome sandwiches and a dessert called "pot o' chocolate."

Photo by Melissa Flores

Chocolate cake with Kahlua hazelnut filling, strawberry filling