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Take The Cake
Tasting the City’s Perfection of Confection
By Deborah Held Maslia
When it comes to marking an occasion or celebrating an accomplishment, little else will do than the appropriate cake, and the holiday season is the perfect time to take the sponge – er – plunge. Once you’ve tasted such decadent desserts, you will never again settle for less. As a matter of fact, with cakes like these, you may never even bake again.
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Best Old-Fashioned Cake
In 1985, tired of the corporate world, Piece of Cake founder Melissa Bunnen began her cake business, baking from her condominium and using her grandmother’s recipes. Bunnen was on a mission to make good, non-fussy cakes using only the freshest ingredients. Mission accomplished. By Bunnen’s first holiday season as a baker, the entire downstairs of her condominium was covered with cakes. She moved to a commercial space, relocated to Buckhead in 1995, and opened her second location in Roswell in 2003. “It never occurred to me that this would fail,” she said of her booming business.
Stopping by Piece of Cake is a sensory experience. Exciting and colorful party candles, paper goods, cake toppers and other cake accessories beg to be noticed. A welcoming staff stands behind their u-shaped desk ready to take cake orders and man the constantly ringing phones. Behind the desk, cakes are being baked in the kitchen, and the aroma is distracting enough to make a person plead for a bite.
Fortunately, Bunnen is kind (and wise) enough to sell her cakes by the slice from a plain, white shelving unit on the wall. No fancy display cases or lighting are needed as approximately 100 slices of cake are sold on a typical day.
As for whole cakes, according to Bunnen, an average day yields orders for 100 cakes; that number climbs to 800 during the holidays. (As layer cakes cannot be shipped, Piece of Cake relies on its sales of pound cakes for shipping orders.)
Devoted customers drive from all over Atlanta to Piece of Cake’s Buckhead location when a craving hits. Devoted “regulars” say that over time, everyone develops a favorite flavor. “I come here specifically for this [carrot] cake. My whole day is ruined if it’s not here,” said fan Tracey Dominick of Decatur.
While today Bunnen no longer bakes the cakes herself due to the growth of the business, she is onsite to manage quality control. And she still eats cake. “I would have hoped that after 20 years I might be tired of them,” she said. “But I’m not.”
And really, how could she be? Her cakes have an old-fashioned look and taste. The yellow cake is light and airy and the caramel frosting tastes like the coating of a caramel apple, even capturing some of the confection’s consistency. Slightly “retro” in style, Bunnen offers orange cake with orange cream frosting. Lest the chocolate cake feel outdone, it, too, is light and moist — not an easy task to achieve with chocolate.
Other favorites are in the pound cake family, such as sour cream coffee cake with pecan cinnamon swirls, luscious lemon, or blueberry with lemon glaze. Packed in a shiny red tin, these pound cakes make for a perfect Christmas presentation.
Piece of Cake
www.pieceofcakeinc.com
3215 Roswell Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-351-2253
540 W. Crossville Road Suite 203
Roswell, GA 30075
770-643-4999
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Best Celebration Cake
These are not your grandmother’s cakes. Of course, it’s a safe bet that most grandmothers were not formally trained in the art of pastry at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, as was Chef Robert Alger. Alger’s impressive pastry resumé includes stints at the Four Seasons Hotel in both Chicago and Houston and the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore.
One taste of Alger’s spongy and flavorful yellow cake layers sandwiched between homemade lemon curd and I’m a believer! This man is not only a genius with cake, but an artist as well. “You have to own what you make,” said Alger, who is moved by nature’s bountiful offerings. While such delicacies as lemon, chocolate mousse, Boston cream and tiramisu remain available year-round, Alger is moved to create when a local farmer comes by with fresh organic peaches. Peach shortcake is born shortly thereafter.
And that’s the thing about Alger — he’s not only a master of cake confections, but a true artist as well. Although you might order a sheet of his lemon cake twice (and I have), each one is its own masterful work of edible art, lovingly tended to the last detail. No two cakes will ever look entirely the same, but the taste never varies.
For certain, Alger’s creations never fail to impress. This is the cake to serve when you want to make the dessert the centerpiece of your affair. It’s a treat your guests will never forget.
Lending toward a European flair, Alger’s elegant menu includes his President Cake, which features two layers of almond biscuits, praline chocolate mousse and bourbon simple syrup with a topping of ganache. On any given day, it’s not even possible to list all of Alger’s offerings, as they vary based on the event, season and customer request.
Come Christmas, Alger’s clientele veers toward his red velvet cake and his French pastries, which can be made into larger cakes. Pastries include Key lime cheesecake, pistachio éclairs, chocolate mousse, hazelnut “crunch” bars (yummy!) and fruit tarts.
The Cake Company
www.cakecompany.com
2191-B Briarcliff Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-633-3734
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Greatest Variety of Cakes
Metrotainment Bakery’s executive pastry chef Barbara Pires has one goal — to serve consistently good cake, slice by slice, across Atlanta until everyone understands the importance of enjoying quality cake at the end of a meal. “It’s the last taste and remembrance of the restaurant experience,” said Pires, who began baking professionally in the basement of Einstein’s restaurant on Juniper Street just eight years ago without any formal pastry training.
As a child, Pires enjoyed baking cakes for her parents, but life got in the way as an adult, leading her into an engineering career. In November of 1998, a chance encounter changed the course of Pires’ life; she was hired to bake desserts at Einstein’s, based simply on her baking talent and passion for cakes.
Word of Pires’ desserts spread and cake requests from other restaurants literally began pouring in. Eventually, 14 bakers were staffed to assist her. According to Pires, the most difficult part of her growth was entrusting the new assistants with her most precious treasures, her secret cake recipes. Could others maintain the same level of quality control and integrity with the cakes that she had managed on her own? Indeed they have, with Pires overseeing their work like a mother hen. “It’s our consistency that keeps us so successful,” she said.
Today Metrotainment, with Pires at the helm, wholesales to more than 100 restaurants, more than twice a week to some. If you’ve enjoyed a good slice of cake in a local restaurant, there’s a good chance it was baked by Pires and her Metrotainment staff. But don’t despair; anyone can order her cakes, as the front of the Metrotainment Bakery serves as a retail outlet, where whole cakes (and other baked goodies) enticingly sit on view in a giant glass display case and may be ordered and picked up for any occasion.
Top sellers at Metrotainment Bakery include the coconut cake and the white chocolate mousse. Cakes abound, from German chocolate cake to cinnamon apple walnut cake and plenty of mouthwatering options in between. If you can imagine it, Pires can create it. An extensive assortment of cheesecakes, tortes and pies are also available.
As it turns out, Pires’ engineering skills came in handy in helping her create what just might be Atlanta’s tallest cake. The Towering Chocolate Fudge Cake is seven layers of chocolate cake frosted with chocolate fudge icing, standing a full 10-inches tall and weighing in at 20 pounds.
During the holidays, according to Pires, mini versions of her year-round cakes sell in mass volume. In November and December, Metrotainment will sell between 10,000 and 15,000 mini sweets, on the retail side of the business alone.
Metrotainment Bakery
www.metrobakery.com
691 14th St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-873-6307
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