PERFECT CARROT CAKE

 Norwich, Norfolk. Just when you think there is nothing new in the world of Carrot Cakes, either to be said or reported upon. Then you encounter something you truly hope is a one off, an anomaly, a catering glitch in life's kitchen. But perhaps this is a perverted new trend in contemporary cafés. And you, having been the first to discover it, must then alert the world to its manifestation in the real world. Its criminal and pernicious consequences pointed out. Consider this your early warning Hubby and I were in Norwich. We'd just walked miles from the garage on the outskirts where we'd left Barbara to be investigated for a coolant leak. Desperate for a Flat White and a cake, as a well earned reward for making it this far on foot. Now Norwich, even if you only half know it, is not short of a cafe or two. We chose this particular cafe in Exchange street, simply because it was there. We walked in, it was our choice.  All I can say in our defense is - it looked welcoming, vagu...

  North Sea Coffee, Cromer Promenade, Cromer. You are not going to believe this, you are just not. A third carrot cake since lockdown finished and a third thumbs up. Have I turned into a push over during the last year? Now, I know some of you take a perverse delight in the more vitrolic reviews. The more fulminating a condemnation the better. To be honest I miss that too, it can be such a relief, like releasing a long held fart. Its cathartic. But the ultimate aim of these reviews is to praise the perfect carrot cake. So when I do find one it produces a teenage giggle of delight, that penetrates and rattles through the world weary cynicism of my sixty four year old form. So what do I say as I begin my review? Don't lose your perspective. Don't get carried away. Don't be deceived by fusspot and foofy presentation. ( that may just be another Golden Rule right there ) In this case it was somewhat the opposite. Don't be mislead by the first appearance of your cake being ser...

 Two Magpies Bakery, 88. High Street, Southwold, Suffolk The Two Magpies is a petite fronted cafe on the main street of Southwold. They are currently on something of pincer movement across the lowly mounds of Norfolk, with new sites recently opened, or due to open, in Norwich, Blackney and Holt. Stumbling across them on a jolly to a favourite seaside town in Suffolk, was an opportunity to get a sneak preview. Like casually encountering a caravan park arranged on a Stalinist Gulag theme, its not to be overlooked. The Southwold establishment is this aspirational chains source cafe. It is very tiny with only a few tables at the back and to one side of the serving counter. So the emphasis is primarily on takeaway. The first thing to notice is the terrific range of confectionery. I was absolutely wetting myself with glee at the choice. But I was thinking of my duty and devotion to you, dear readers, when I settled on a slice of carrot cake with my standard Flat White chaser. So, lets ge...

 Holt Garden Centre, Holgate Hill, Kelling, Norfolk We were on a mission, to buy a container for a recently bequeathed gooseberry bush. We start off at Holt Garden Centre because its the closest  Venturing further afield should it disappoint, and in the past it has done so, frequently. During the lockdowns  Holt Garden Centre has undergone a massive makeover, setting them back two million pounds. But the outcome of it all is a Garden Centre that knocks spots off most of the local competition. If I were to describe their previous cafe I'd have to say it was amateurish. Always looking if it was run by a gaggle of semi retired volunteers drawn from the Kelling WI - Friends of Holt Garden Centre division. The new cafe is large open, airy and no longer looks as though it was set up in a converted milking shed. Its stylish and spacious. Having quickly made our decision on the pot, we rewarded our aesthetic deliberations with a coffee and cake. And....they had a Carrot Cake. It ...

  Waitrose - Carrot & Passion Fruit Cake I understand its difficult to make even a half satisfactory carrot cake in a factory. A true carrot cake is a highly unsuitable recipe for mass production. Its not a sponge cake, its generally heavier than most cakes and hence can be unpredictable in its outcome and cooking time. This is why factory produced carrot cakes invariably turn out to be just spiced sponge cakes, incurring my wrath and wither because, like a drug addict, they can't stop themselves from breaking Golden Rule No 3. Cake makers,  whether in a factory or in a cafe kitchen, can resort to smoke and mirrors, giving a carrot cake an exotic sounding name or ingredient and sticking marzipan carrots on it - they look like a carrot cake - but they're not even a short stroll away from being one. So this Carrrot & Passion Fruit Cake from Waitrose was low in my expectations before I even snapped my lock down eroded dentures around it. They've branded it so because i...

  Hunstanton, West Norfolk. This Cafe overlooks the main green that slopes down towards the promenade, where everything that Hunstanton can throw at you as a childish diversion resides. The cafe's interior, sits uncomfortably between spacious and sparse. I'd like to say it was a symphony in grey, but that would require much more effort than the uniform pale grey tone here can make. Bare of much to ornament its walls without the satisfaction of achieving minimalism, it is, in short, characterless - with very sticky tabletops. It was a bit late in the day for a Flat White so I toned down the caffeine to a Latte. Not that I needed to let such cosmopolitan worries about caffeine intake get the better of me. The Latte came in a mug, yes, a generic white ceramic mug straight from the local cash and carry. The contents looked disconcertingly like used dishwater. Beneath its feeble frothy surface lay what was in fact just an ordinary milky cup of coffee. Inoffensive were it not for its...

Wells-Next-The -Sea, North Norfolk. This cafe sits opposite Wells Harbour. It was the first cafe in Wells to dump the standard cottage tearoom mode for something designed more for contemporary cafe culture. The serving counter always has a sizable range of cakey nibbles on display. The staff, though friendly, do seem to be working within a certain level of self preoccupation. On this visit the display did include a carrot cake, so I felt a review stirring in my loins before I'd ordered it with the ubiquitous chaser of a flat white. As I always eat and drink with Jesus in my heart, I'll try to be kind. The cafe decor doesn't quite gel. It appears as though furnished with cast offs from British Heart Foundation. You sort of know what they're aiming for, a stylistically eclectic mix of chairs and tables, creating a characterful boho feel. But here there is raging disharmony, classic bentwood chairs and bamboo garden furniture do not sit well together. It appears don...

Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. As if the giddy exhilaration of the cable cars lifting you up from the River Derwent really wasn't enough. You then take a tour down into to the dark murky and damp depths of the Masson Cavern. Bang your head a few times on your way to view the remains of the candlelit work of generations of lead miners hundreds of feet beneath the ground.  Could it be possible to match or exalt this heaven then hell experience on the confectionery level, with a humble carrot cake?  As you take in the stunning views of the valley beneath you from the modern airy cafe you could be forgiven for believing you're perched on a white fluffy cloud observing what fools these mortals be. But nothing can bring you hurtling back down to earth on a stiflingly hot Easter Weekend, quicker than a half arsed carrot cake with a latte chaser. Admittedly the latte was in a tall glass, not the cup and saucer of an ignoramus. Someone who believes a...

Burnham Market, North Norfolk. This place has a narrow frontage with the cafe going back a long long way, like an ever narrowing tunnel. On a windy and wet day in February it had a very local feel. Similar to wandering into a local people's pub, where all eyes swivel to look questioningly at you the moment you entered - 'Ah, here be foreigners.' Apart from the clientele something in the whole cafe layout and ambiance just felt uncomfortably wrong. For Burnham Market, usually a beacon for the high end and expensive, it has what can only be described as a 'homely scruffiness.' You need to descend further into its darker recesses in order to view the cakes. I dimly peered at them, everything looked dark brown, and it was hard to discern what the labels said. So I ordered what I believed to be a carrot cake, along with my usual flat white. Now, I have a word or two to say about flat whites. If you order a flat white and they ask you at the counter...

Holkam, Norfolk. We became fond over the Summer last year of the walk from Wells next the Sea across the Holkham Estate to the Hall. So on a bright breezy Sunday morning in February we set off.  Now there is also an additional incentive, a revamped Courtyard with a spacious,well designed cafe and larger gift shop. Holkham Hall Estate does seems at present to be outrunning the National Trust with the stylish improvements to its facilities. Though a bit more attention to the quality of their cakes is called for. Hubby separate from me chose an Apple Spice Cake and I picked a Carrot Cake from off their confectionery table. Only when we sat down at a table was it clearly apparent how very very similar they looked.  The only thing to externally distinguish one from t'other was the sugar dusted frosting on the Apple Spiced Cake, and the walnut pieces on the Carrot Cake. I tried a fork full of Hubby's cake, he had a fork full of mine, and guess what? they tasted exactly the s...

High Petergate, York Its is probably the best positioned cafe in York, curved around a corner immediately adjacent to the entrance of York Minster. Most cafes could only dream of the footfall they must get in high season. Inside its a straightforward traditionally styled English Tea Room, with slightly butt clenched staff. After we'd arrived, somewhat late in the day it must be said, the waiter surreptitiously flipped the door sign to Closed. Not long before home now boys and girls. Now I rarely talk about my experience of the cafes I visit. I focus on the qualities of the carrot cake not the ambiance, customer service etc. I'm not a low rent version of Trip Adviser. But I do find myself warming up for a generalised gripe. I don't mind cafes that tick all the right boxes but fall short of their sales pitch. I absolutely love a cafe that pulls off something truly marvellous as if by magic, often by thinking in detail about the qualit...

Heydon Tea Rooms, Heydon, Norfolk. First, I must confess a prejudice, Heydon Tea Rooms is one of my all time favourite places to go for coffee and cake. The range and excellence of their cakes is unmatched. How would they perform when stepping onto the hallowed ground of Carrot Cake?  Well, if I'm being really really honest, this was never going to be the pure unadulterated Carrot Cake that I've extolled in fundamentalist detail in previous blog posts. The official title for it was Spiced Carrot and Orange Cake. So thats spice, tick, carrot, tick, orange? well, lets see. Orange can so easily sweep away all that comes into contact with it, so what started out in its bones the very essence of a carrot cake, is frogmarched into becoming a Tangerine.  As you may be able to detect from the photograph this cake could never be described as solid or weighty. The cake's texture was light, springy and moist. My god was it moist, moist wit...

Venetian Carrot Cake Recipe by Nigella Lawson from the Food Network website I have no idea whether Venetians ever make carrot cakes. I strongly suspect Nigella has taken her usual ladle full of liberties. That said the result is certainly Italian in style. It uses Olive Oil rather than butter or margarine, and has sweetened mascapone as a side accompaniment. The recipe itself is full of faffy touches like patting your grated carrots gently dry between double layers of kitchen towels, dry toasting your pine nuts and simmering your sultanas in rum. Though I assure you that it is well worth it. I made this cake for Jnansalin's birthday so I was hoping for something special and was not disappointed. Of the reviews on the website, some absolutely loved this recipe, others were either a bit sniffy or distinctly underwhelmed. What appeared to make a difference was how closely they stuck to the original recipe. At first its better to do a recipe as close to how its presen...

Whitby, Yorkshire. Just because I'm on holiday doesn't mean I neglect my search for the perfect Carrot Cake, I have merely broadened the designated search area. Also, one should not assume that because I was in one of my favourite cafes in Whitby, whose range of superlative cakes I could go into raptures about, that they were a shoe-in for a high rating. Reader read on. Well, it was a huge portion, on what was quite a small plate, perhaps they were trying to emphasise I was getting value for money. But you know me, I'm not easily swayed by appearances however beautifully confected, if it doesn't cut it once its placed inside my gob, then all that is for nought. Unfortunately once this cake hit my palette and the taste buds started to do their routine detective work, the first flavour hit was of ginger, no, spice, oh boy this is a mixed spice cake my dears. One might want to be charitable, and assume the baker had a bit of an over tipple with the spice...

Cley Next The Sea, North Norfolk. Though only a traybake (and you know how I  feel about those ) and a vegan one to boot, its qualities put a lot of the fully fledged carrot cakes I've reviewed in the shade. A very sturdy cake, with a pronounced texture on the pallate that says ' Yes!!! There is a lot of carrot in this!!!. Hurrah!!! Also, there's sultanas and walnuts in the mix, and perhaps a hint of coconut (not sure about that, but I thought I detected a smidgen) with a moderate amount of mixed spice. It was actually a rather good carrot cake. It held together well, and unlike some special diet carrot cakes I could mention, it didn't disssolve as soon as it hit mouth moisture, nor leave an aftertaste of bi-carb that would take the lining off your tongue. Nope, no such falings. In fact if you hadn't been told it was a vegan carrot traybake, I'd say no one would've noticed. That said, it maybe that it this vegan recipe works best as a tra...

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...

Overstrand, Norfolk. A strong aroma of citrus should have been sufficient warning, to indicate that all was not right here. The first mouthful. lost no time at all in confirming there was no trace of carrot flavour left in this travesty of a carrot cake, that had not been soaked, but sozzled, in orange flavouring. Not a nice orange flavouring either, but that peculiarly pungent catering variety the synthetic orange essence, similar to sucking out the liquid centre of a boiled sweet. A self-declared Gluten Free cake, it bore some of the sadly usual shortcomings of the genus. The cake had so little structure, stability or weight to it, that almost from the moment the cake hit my palate it quickly dissolved into nothing. Leaving a horrible dry after taste lingering like a layer of plaster dust on the tongue. Hubby suggests that they've used a gluten free flour of some kind without really doing enough to provide sufficient substance to keep the whole thing afloat, ...

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 o...

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, ...

Sheringham Park , Norfolk. It was quite a moderately sized slice of carrot cake, but the price probably reflects that. I've certainly had bigger, but then size isn't everything, and those huge slices often turn out to be flavourless sponges anyway.  The cake had a good open texture, with that reassuringly orangey brown that any half decent carrot cake will possess, like a healthy baked tan.  It also had a rugged smattering of sultanas and walnuts, some of which, unfortunately still lay on the bottom of the cake. They probably weren't well enough mixed in. The first flavour you hit, once you stop observing the external indicators and sink your molars into it? Well, actually its an excellent carroty taste, not overly moist, but then not gingerbread dry, probably about right. The texture is good, the recipe appears to possess a goodly amount of carrot, it has avoided that weightiness, solid and soggy, that the truly worthy wholesome carrot cake can bec...