CARROT CAKE REVIEW NO 3 ~ The Banana Masquerade

Sheringham. Norfolk











If I was blind, or at the very least blindfolded, and I took one bite out of this substantial wedge of a cake, I would have sworn it was a banana cake. Yes, here we are on only our third Carrot Cake Review and we're developing, without really trying I have to say, a bitch of a baking theme, its The Banana Masquerade.  Where a banana cake is trying to pass itself off as a carrot cake. Throw banana in any cake, muffin or flapjack, and I know why you are doing it, but please, keep the banana in its holster. Carroty sweetness is a very subtle delicate thing, so easy, it would seem, to completely be lost sight of in a banana swamp. 

Now I'm confident they were having a good stab at making a carrot cake here.  It has a very pleasing level of moistness, there was, unfortunately, a suggestion lingering on my palate of a slightly under cooked cake mix,  The visual texture is similar to a bonafide carrot cake, its also quite a bit denser, with more than a welcome scattering of moisture hugging sultanas and meaty chunks of walnuts, all things to my mind de rigeuer for any carrot cake with serious ambitions.

It was quite a massive slice, probably the biggest I've been served so far. There was only a hint in the after taste of ginger, apart from that no other discernible spice was present. So I don't know whether they ran out of mixed spice, or thought 'oh just shove a bit of ginger in, that'll do'. Spices, used in moderation, are good at romancing the carrot. So don't be frugal or profligate with them. 

 The butter cream topping, for it was such a species, was a good half an inch thick, very stiff, and got its level of sweetness just about right. Someone knows how to make a good butter cream that doesn't shout its credentials so loudly that no other flavour can be heard.  So, not a complete mess of a cake, with some good redeeming features, but seriously let down, I've got a feeling your going to get sick of my saying this,  BY TOO MUCH BANANA !!!!
CARROT CAKE SCORE - 5/8


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