I grew up eating Valencia cake. It was the ONLY cake we buy, whether for birthdays, baptism,…read moregraduation, getting a new job, bridal shower, weddings, baby shower, even divorces. Valencia cake was part of the family tradition to celebrate.
In 2021, I bought a Valencia cake at Burnside Ave in the Bronx since the one I used to go to at Jerome Ave was closed (was still the height of Covid pandemic) . I quickly noticed the texture was dry and hard, the flavor was off. It was a fiasco. Overall, it tasted old and stale. I was disgusted and threw it away after 1 bite. I heard owners changed and so did their recipe. I read and heard from others many bad reviews, I never wanted to buy another Valencia cake ever again.
3 years later, even though my mom passed away 11 years ago, my brother, sister and I still celebrate her birthday. We went to East 103rd St known as El Barrio, also known as Spanish Harlem to buy a cake from the Valencia Bakery. I had such an awful experience 3 years ago, but my brother insisted we buy from El Barrio. We halted the birthday tradition for 4 years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) due to Covid.
We took the cake out of the box, you can see how moist it was by the pineapple filling drip at the bottom. A blessing to my mom, and we ate the cake. It was exactly as the cake I grew up with. Pineapple filling was delicious, the cake texture was soft and flavorful, the frosting that only Valencia has that technique was on point.
I came to the conclusion in El Barrio, you don't mess around with Valencia cake that has decades of tradition. If East 103rd ever sell that dry, stale cake I brought in the Bronx, customers, especially Puerto Ricans will not forgive and blast out in anger and hardcore protest over disrespecting that cake that has a life of it own. Not sure if the main bakery facility went back to their original technique after customers complained, but glad, this location still receive the cake from the main bakery warehouse that's made old school... that's expected.
