Richard B.
Yelp
We received a wonderful surprise by FedEx: A black and white layer cake sent as a gift for my wife's 81st birthday.
It was in a heavy box, well wrapped in thick plastic, so well wrapped that I needed kitchen shears and a lot of determination to extract the cake intact. Once removed, The Cake was beautiful to behold, but it seemed so heavy for its size. Dense!
Also in the shipping carton was a little plastic, screw-top jar and a small candy box with two truffle-like small candies, but no explanation as to the purpose of these "extras."
I poked at what looked like ganache in the jar, but it was too thick to spread, so I microwaved it for 5-seconds. Better....so another 5-seconds and it was very pourable. Tasted, it was excruciatingly sweet, but definitely chocolate..y too.
Since there was just the two of us, I decided to cut two slices and pour the chocolate over each slice instead of topping the whole cake...and the amount of sauce wasn't really enough for that anyway.
Cutting the cake: I decided that 1/8th looked like a good portion. But what type of knife to use for a gooey cake? Ah, the Henckels 10" gratin blade would perfect...razor sharp with those little grooves that permits it to easily cut sticky foods. I often use it for semi-soft cheeses.
Well, it took a lot of "heavy persuasion" to get that knife to work through this unusual cake.
Is this what gluten-free cake is all about...so dense that it almost defies a thin sharp blade?
I plated the two slices and drizzled the chocolate sauce over each slice.
Deciding to forgo the birthday candle, I served the perfect slices with a dessert fork.
We sat down together and each cut a forkful....but clearly something was wrong.
The texture? It was too tough and firm. And what was this indescribable texture in my mouth? It wasn't cake-like at all.
It was as if the cake had spent a week on display in a cake museum, stale, hard, and lacking in flavor.
It was unpleasant in terms of texture too...stale to the point of wondering if it was even safe to eat.
We looked at each other and both of us giggled...a little nervously...as we pushed the plates aside and reached for a glass of water to try and get the taste of dry spackle out of our mouths.
How would we ever be able to explain our experience to the ever so thoughtful beloved cousin who'd wanted to send a real treat for my dear wife's epic birthday? It would be awkward, to say the least!
We shared some delightfully smooth Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream to cleanse the pasty taste of that "beautiful cake" from our mouths. I'm still mystified...