Sunday afternoon, it was steamy hot outside walking around downtown Ferndale, I slipped inside the Rust Belt for a quick browse. Coming in the through the back door, just on my left was a booth with a friendly chap sitting behind stacks of cake slices and offering taste samples. I said "no thanks", cuz I am quite the foodie snob and wasn't up to it...when it comes to sweets, I will say that most bakeries throughout Royal Oak, Ferndale, Oak Park, and Hamtramck don't meet my standards. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some gorgeous preparations, but pretty doesn't necessarily mean that it tastes good. Now, please don't get me wrong...I'm not throwing anyone under the bus here, but I'm just saying from my own experiences and I grew up in a very successful German Bakery family business in South Texas, so I know a little bit.
But, But, But...I left the Rust Belt gazing at the cakes as as walked by, I went on to do some shopping and as I walked back to my car, something in my gut said "cake", probably just my compulsive love of food calling me...but I listened and went back into the Rust Belt to take a closer look and taste some samples. I had a good chat the with chap telling us about the cakes and I tried two samples, Coconut Cream & Butter Pecan. SOLD...I bought both for $7.00 each. They were honestly worth $12.00. The slices are huge, and two of them I'm sure was 3-4lbs in the bag. Regardless...let's talk about cake.
My granny who started our family bakery from scratch in her own kitchen, with 8 kids, and 36 gran kids, all working their part in the bakeries at some point in their lives, myself included...Not kidding here, Detroit Sugar's (Armanda Herbert, Founder/CEO) cakes would've gave my granny's cakes a RUN FOR HER MONEY...Granny please don't strike me with lightening!
BUTTER PECAN
* Thick moist cake (not dense) but fluffy and super moist...didn't crumble and I could get a fork to slice through vertically and it would stay together for the oh so perfect bite.
* Between the frosting and the cake there is a lovely gift of what I believe to be a type of praline...thin, scattered bits of buttery crunch. Not too crunchy (some praline will break your teeth) but just a little...it comes as a surprise.
* The frosting, the perfect balance of buttery vanilla icing...not too much, soft, and spreadable. It didn't form a crust layer over the top, get stale, or solidify.
It was the most perfectly balanced cake I've had in years. It took me 3 days to finish it and I didn't put in the refrigerator...no need it stays fine on the counter.
COCONUT CAKE
* It's the same... AMAZING! The one thing I will point out is the coconut flavoring is lovely from using the coconut milk and coconut oil. When coconut extract is used, it will leave a chemical after taste that can really ruin coconut anything. So the flavor here is really enhanced with natural coconut products that really brings it together, not over powering, just smooth and amazing.
I will be back in the Rust Belt to try other flavors that I'm sure are all fantastic. But if you have walked past and not tried a sample, you really are missing a taste of confectionery euphoria! read more