CARROT CAKE REVIEW No 25 - Unadorned by Greatness

 Sheringham, Norfolk..









It's one measure of the effects of the lock down on the supply of carrot cakes to review. I'm now reduced to reviewing a loaf!  So here goes. Can a carrot loaf be thought of as a cake anyway? Isn't it just a tray bake by another name? Because if it is I refer you to the Golden Rules, they are not a cake. So I'm struck with force of a mallet ie not that subtly - that this loaf off the Market is not one either. Plain and naked, without any decoration, no marzipan carrot facsimiles, thankfully. Its a loaf that is sliced vertically, so its certainly not a wedge. Cakes are cut in wedges. Therefore this loaf is not a cake. Move on.

I'm going to proceed as if I've not just said that, and just take this review as an exercise in culinary largesse.  The texture of this 'loaf' was the correct colour - 'Burnt Sienna'  and certainly in the right ballpark texture wise - a soft rubble. The base had the appearance of being slightly under cooked, darker and wetter looking, a bit depressed as if it had sunk from being sat on for a short while. Either that or recently defrosted and the moisture from the thaw degraded the robustness of its texture.

The loaf slice was actually quite substantial, they weren't being ungenerous with it at least. You could see the carrot stranding still and felt the moistness of it between your thumb and finger as you proffered it to your mouth. And when it went it? Well the first sensory impression was of...coconut!...and then banana!!....followed by an after taste of mixed spices. But none was worryingly long lasting. Their fleetingness indicates the flavour balance was not too queered by any one of them. It was a carrot loaf. The texture on the tongue was about right, except in that base where the unfortunate doughy quality spoiled its rubbling effect. It was fifty fifty between undercooked or defrosted, probably the latter bya whisker.

I can't review any frosting, inner or outer because there wasn't one. But for something that wasn't a cake in the first place, that was OK. Plain, but not offensive....for a loaf.


CARROT CAKE REVIEW  - 3/8







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CARROT CAKE RECIPE No 1 ~ Neal's Yard Wholefood Cookbook

Image
Carrot Cake Recipe ~ from Neal's Yard Wholefood Cook Book, Rachel Haigh, Way back in April the impetus for making this cake was to celebrate Hubby's birthday. This isn't by any means my first cake, but it was my debut carrot cake recipe. I thought that I'd broaden my search for the perfect carrot cake, by trying out different recipes. When I worked in Central London, I used to buy this carrot cake from Neal's Yard Bakery, sadly no more, and remember it as being rather good. I picked their wholefood cookbook up some years later in a remainder outlet, and some of its recipes are well established favourites. This first attempt at the recipe was OK, but wasn't quite the archetypal carrot cake I remember it being. Rather than do a single cake, I split the mix into two sandwich tins. I had to adjust the baking time, but not by quite enough, so the cake got slightly over cooked, and hence a tad dry. The recipe has sultanas and walnuts in it, ...
Read more

CARROT CAKE REVIEW No 8 ~ A Nice Performance

Image
The Old Theatre Deli, Southwell, Nottinghamshire. I know this is not on the North Norfolk coast, but its been quite a while since we've found a new cafe we haven't already visited, let alone a carrot cake. Whilst in Nottinghamshire on a Pre-Christmas family visit we spent a delightful half a day in Southwell. We took in the Minister and found an excellent Deli/Cafe, with a rather passable carrot cake. The cake was looking good from its external features, a healthy orangey brown tan with a substantail amount of filling and topping. Once you took a bite into it, the cake had that distinctly carroty texture to it, flavoured strongly with carrot too, and a decent enough amount of walnuts to be noticible on the palate. I think it had just mixed spices as additional flavouring, I couldn't detect anything else, but what there was was sufficient to complement rather than drown. Both the filling and topping were a cream cheese, so glory halleluyah ! There was a...
Read more

CARROT CAKE REVIEW No 2 - Sponge Cake does not a Carrot Cake make

Image
Sheringham, Norfolk, The cake on the plate looked enormous, declaring itself a value for money slice of cake loud and clear. You could even see the gratings of carrot creating an orange speckled effect. The first taste of the cake was that it was rather fluffy and, I have to say, excessive in the lightness of its texture. I don't know about you, but for me, one of the characteristics of a really good carrot cake is that because of its primary ingredient, ie. the carrot, it  tends to be a dense and weightier cake than most other species. When you envisage a carrot cake, fluffy, never comes to mind. I came to the conclusion that this cake was, in its very essence, made from a sponge mix with some large gratings of carrot thrown in for local colour. So, it carries its carrot credentials a bit weakly. That said, it still had some carrot taste to it, plus a mild amount of mixed spice. The overall appearance and taste did teeter towards bland, which is a shame. Had ...
Read more