Category: Northampton

The time between eating and writing is stretching. I’ve also had two muffins (peach-ginger by Tart from Northampton Coffee, raspberry almond from Sylvester’s) and a scone (maple nutmeg oat from Hungry Ghost) which I didn’t blog. So this experiment is probably drawing to an end, as expected. An important aspect of evolution/maturity for me is to recognize that I have way too many ideas to fully carry out in a human lifetime, and it’s not a failure to start many and only finish a few. But what I might try first is just focusing on cake. When I first had the notion to do something like this, pre-pandemic, I wanted to focus on one type of baked good at a time, starting with almond croissants – like Nosh and Nibble’s ranking of them in the Vancouver area, which I just found – so I could start with cake. We’ll see.

I had already had Iconica‘s carrot cake, which they describe specifically as “Carrot Cake w/ Ginger + Walnut: 3 layer; yogurt + honey cake, lemon + turmeric cream cheese frosting,” so I knew it was good. The frosting’s bright yellow color is a little shouty because of the turmeric, but it’s a lovely contrast with the dark brown cake, and as usual it’s not tooth-achingly sweet and there’s just the right amount (nor does it taste of tumeric in a detectable way). Note my slice got a little banged up in transit, plus I’m not a food photographer! Texture great, flavor amazing – I think maybe it’s the honey that lingers as a sort of unplaceable yummy aftertaste? It makes me want more, and I did eat it a little faster than I meant to. But one of the things I particularly appreciate about Iconica’s style of cake is that while they taste super-delicious, they don’t have that extra level of butter/sugar/grease that some “indulgent” baked goods have, and as a result my body has never regretted the eating of them. It helps that the slice is the right size to be a satisfying serving and not a temptation to eat too much. Anyway – high marks!

• Compared to platonic version – 4/5 (my ideal classic carrot cake has coconut, more raisins, and pecans, but this a 5/5 of this specific style!)
• Originality: 4/5
• Value for money: 4.5/5 ($4 before tip)
• Effort factor (1 = could make in my sleep; 5 = no way would I ever make this for myself): 4/5
• 6 minutes to eat, 26 to write but there was a whole meta-paragraph!

As I told the Iconica folks, red velvet is not a favorite flavor of mine; I hoped the beet would make it more interesting. I wouldn’t have been able to pick it out, but the texture was not only moist but particularly sturdy – not chewy, yet resistant to the tooth in a pleasurable way. I wished the frosting had been a little more assertive on the lemon front. The cake itself had the classic “I don’t know what this tastes like but vaguely cocoa?” of red velvet cake, which is why I don’t much like it. Not a winner, but at least the beet meant it wasn’t soaked in red food coloring.

• Compared to a platonic version – 4/5? (hard to say)
• Originality: 4/5
• Value for money: 3.5/5 ($4.50 before tip)
• Effort factor (1 = could make in my sleep; 5 = no way would I ever make this for myself): 4.5/5, grating beets being an especially big nope
• 9 minutes to eat, 12 to write

Oooh, a new cake variety – new at Iconica that I can recall, and totally new to me as I’d never heard of it before. Iconica’s description: “3 layer; crushed pineapple, banana, pecan cake; cream cheese custard; browned butter buttercream,” and their promo email explained “the pineapple creates a moist crumb but doesn’t feature as a taste in the cake, itself.” Indeed, the flavor was predominantly banana. I like fresh bananas but I tend to avoid them in ice cream or baked goods. It’s an instinctive aversion which doesn’t make much sense because I usually enjoy the flavor once I’m eating it, and this was the epitome of that intense banana flavor – interestingly, not only the pineapple but also the pecans blended in, contributing to the texture alone. As always, perfect proportions, great slice integrity, and delicious (lovely to look at too – the photo didn’t come out very well).

• Compared to a platonic version – another holotype! – 5/5
• Originality: 4/5
• Value for money: 4.5/5 ($4.50 before tip)
• Effort factor (1 = could make in my sleep; 5 = no way would I ever make this for myself): 4/5
• 12 minutes to eat, 22 to write

Iconica has five different regular cake flavors, of which I’ve already had four, so this completes the set – and I think it’s my favorite! It’s gorgeous to look at, lovely gold layers with warm brown frosting decorated with whole nuts and rose petals, and it smells wonderful. I bought it early in the day to make sure they didn’t run out but didn’t eat it until later, so I kept sniffing it (I do call myself a “cakesniffer,” which I got from the A Series of Unfortunate Events books but define more descriptively than pejoratively). I’m not very familiar with cardamom outside of Indian cuisine and wouldn’t have guessed its presence, but it might contribute to the almost lemony fragrance (Wikipedia describes it as “intensely aromatic, resinous”). This is part of the challenge I’ve given myself – if I were only eating I’d call it delicious and move on, but trying to figure out why it’s delicious is interesting. As cake it hit every mark: very moist but kept its integrity under the fork, clearly-delineated layers with the creamy texture of the frosting complementing the softly-grainy crumb dominated by ground pistachio, complex flavors, not too sweet, just the right amount of frosting, the perfect serving size.

• Compared to a platonic pistachio cake – this is my holotype since I’ve never had any kind before! 5/5
• Originality: 4/5
• Value for money: 5/5 ($4 before tip)
• Effort factor (1 = could make in my sleep; 5 = no way would I ever make this for myself): 4.5/5
• 13 minutes to eat, 40(!) minutes to write