Let's Talk About Cake

When in a café, it’s as much about the cake as the coffee – am I right? Of course I am! It takes a mighty amount of willpower to resist the cake display and order a standalone coffee or tea. I CAN do this, and I HAVE done this, but it’s not as much fun as deciding which tasty treat will accompany my flat white 🙂

Looking at Instagram one day, and noticing my feed was full of gorgeous looking cake photos (#cakeporn), it got me thinking. I’ve visited many cafes over my lifetime – could I single out just one outstanding slice of cake? For a good while I travelled the world in my head, thinking back to all the places I’ve ever visited and remembering all the cafes I stopped at … no wonder I need to diet! I concluded that I’ve eaten some pretty darn good ‘sweet treats’ over the years! There’s quite a few posh venues on my list too – mainly afternoon teas (Harrods being a notable one).

Our previous post about ‘favourite coffee’ ended up being mainly about the venue rather than the actual coffee. When thinking about the best piece of cake ever eaten in a café it seems not to matter where you are – it really is all about the cake!

So, decision time, what was my favourite? Well, it might not have won awards for photographic perfection, but it was actually a humble piece of handmade millionaire shortbread. Can I call this a cake? I think so as it’s so much more than a biscuit! I’ve eaten many triangles of millionaire shortbread in many cafés, but what made this one stand out was the gooey toffee layer between the biscuit and the chocolate. So often it’s gritty and fudge-like (I don’t like fudge), but this was ‘proper’ runny toffee that made it impossible to cut neatly or eat daintily – but the taste was sensational! Where was this? It was a traditional café located in the historic buildings surrounding the cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire. It was about 8-9 years ago, when I used to live there. But it wasn’t about the venue – it was all about that large triangle of perfect biscuit base, fabulous toffee and rich crisp chocolate on the top.

Gosh, my mouth is watering just thinking about that cake! I’m really sorry to say that I haven’t got a photo to show you … but as I said, it was all about taste as opposed to looks!

What about yours? If you had to choose just one slice of cake to stand out as being exceptional – what would it be? I asked this to my blogging friends, and this is what they told me (Warning: Scrummy Cake Alert!)

Vikki from Family Travel with Ellie: A friend and I enjoyed the most delicious mini cakes when we went for afternoon tea at The Principle Hotel in York. They looked too good to eat! (We soon got over that and demolished the lot!)

Dawn from Allcot Media Marketing: Bouchon Bakery in Rockefeller Center, New York. Bunny cake! This is a carrot cake with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting, some sort of delicious pink frosting, and raspberry cookies on top.

Emma from Me, The Man & The Kids: My daughter and I often have lunch in Wholefoods, Cheltenham, and sometimes we skip the main and go straight for the cake! All freshly made in store and their carrot cake is amazing!

Amy from Eps and Amy: The Swallow Bakery, in Chichester. Best cupcakes ever! The cake is soft and fluffy, but the best bit is the icing … Mmm … they have a huge selection of flavours to choose from, one cupcake is just not an option!

Hayley from Devon Mama: Fremington Quay Cafe on the Tarka Trail, North Devon. Delicious and absolutely huge, plus completely justifiable at the end of a long walk!

Jennifer from My Mummy’s Pennies: Does it have to be a slice of cake or would this count? My favourite has to be this fat rascal from Betty’s in York last summer! It was absolutely delicious, fresh, moist and full of fruit.

Jaymee from The Mum Diaries: Coffee and Walnut cake! It was from Lakeside Kitchen and Bar in Peterborough.

And finally Kate from LesBeMums: My wedding cake from ‘Cloud 9 Cafe’, Brighton. It was a rainbow layer cake with the most delicious vanilla frosting on top.