CARROT CAKE REVIEW No 6 ~ Crumbling Carrot Cake Batman !
Sheringham, Norfolk
For what was actually quite a modest sized piece of cake, this was, at £3, quite an expensive piece of confectionery. Also. this was basically a tray bake, not that I've anything against tray bakes, but for a cafe that's a bit of a cheaty short cut, particularly if you are going to charge £3.
Immediately noticeable as your knife cuts into the cake is that it instantly falls into crumbled heaps, never a good thing. The cake announced itself as being dairy free, but its been left without much else to bind it together. Apart from using the 'demon banana', there are other ways to bind it, such as a flour and water paste, an egg replacer, just using a wetter mix, or in this case avoiding over baking it.
Flavour wise, your taste buds are instantly hit by heavy tones of coconut, probably coconut oil this being quite a hipstery establishment, and any carroty flavour becomes a bit of an after taste. They've also been quite heavy on the walnuts, or at least the walnuts featured quite prominently on my palate. Good colour though, and the cake was reasonably moist, but perhaps a bit on the over airy side. I guess that was the bicarb, though thankfully not overdone. When I picked up the numerous crumbs of carrot cake they instantly became flat between my fingers. This cake lacked that density and sense of substance that is one of a carrot cake's calling cards.
The topping was a vegan version of a butter cream, not overly sweet, with a vanilla essence flavouring, actually much better than some butter creams I've tasted lately. Some vegan margarine toppings become this semi translucent slippery thing, with a rather gross looking sweaty glaze to them. This one was actually quite opaque, stiff and secure on the top of the cake, with a welcome dusting of cinnamon. The only nod to spice in this carrot cake that I could detect.
CARROT CAKE SCORE ~ 4/8
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For what was actually quite a modest sized piece of cake, this was, at £3, quite an expensive piece of confectionery. Also. this was basically a tray bake, not that I've anything against tray bakes, but for a cafe that's a bit of a cheaty short cut, particularly if you are going to charge £3.
Immediately noticeable as your knife cuts into the cake is that it instantly falls into crumbled heaps, never a good thing. The cake announced itself as being dairy free, but its been left without much else to bind it together. Apart from using the 'demon banana', there are other ways to bind it, such as a flour and water paste, an egg replacer, just using a wetter mix, or in this case avoiding over baking it.
Flavour wise, your taste buds are instantly hit by heavy tones of coconut, probably coconut oil this being quite a hipstery establishment, and any carroty flavour becomes a bit of an after taste. They've also been quite heavy on the walnuts, or at least the walnuts featured quite prominently on my palate. Good colour though, and the cake was reasonably moist, but perhaps a bit on the over airy side. I guess that was the bicarb, though thankfully not overdone. When I picked up the numerous crumbs of carrot cake they instantly became flat between my fingers. This cake lacked that density and sense of substance that is one of a carrot cake's calling cards.
The topping was a vegan version of a butter cream, not overly sweet, with a vanilla essence flavouring, actually much better than some butter creams I've tasted lately. Some vegan margarine toppings become this semi translucent slippery thing, with a rather gross looking sweaty glaze to them. This one was actually quite opaque, stiff and secure on the top of the cake, with a welcome dusting of cinnamon. The only nod to spice in this carrot cake that I could detect.
CARROT CAKE SCORE ~ 4/8
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