Taste It Presents Desserts

As you know by now, desserts, and baked goods in general, are pretty much my favorite things to review.  And by "review", you know I mean "eat".  For "research".  While I certainly love local small bakeries, for my group at work, we are required to order through foodservice distributors, so I've had my share of wholesale items.  Many taste like the freezers they come from, most are non-offensively average, and every once in a while I find a vendor that makes a noteworthy item.  Like Taste It Presents.

"Taste It Presents creates gloriously tempting gourmet desserts, delighting pleasure seekers across the country. "

Taste It Presents also has 4 sister brands, Cannoli Factory, Love & Quiches, Joey’s Fine Foods and Sweet Sofia’s Bakery, but I've only tried the signature Taste It Presents line.  

"We offer a full range of triumphant frozen desserts for Foodservice and Retail, including American, Italian, Spanish/Latin, Asian and other world-renowned specialties. Choose from a wide assortment of delectable cakes, trays and pies, creamy cheesecakes, individual desserts, mousse desserts, brownies, dessert bars, cookies and cupcakes, grab-n-go, gluten free, baked goods and other top-selling favorites."

The lineup from Taste It Presents is reasonably extensive, but I've only tried the cakes.

Cakes

"No major milestone in life can be passed without cake marking the occasion. Our memory-making temptations have been capturing the hearts of diners for decades.

From the Belgian chocolate in our mousse cakes and the Italian Amarettini cookies atop our Toasted Almond Cream Cake to authentic Key lime juice in our Key Lime Pie, we source only premium ingredients, ensuring each cake has just the right balance of flavor, sweetness and texture."

The lineup of cakes is quite extensive, and I've tried several.  The quality bar is high.  And, spoiler, they make my favorite lemon dessert of all time.

Limoncello Mascarpone Cake.

"Our luscious Limoncello Mascarpone cake is a rich combination of Sicilian lemon infused sponge cake and Italian mascarpone topped with European white chocolate curls. A refreshingly light creamy dessert with the perfect combination of sweet and tart."

Limoncello.  I like Limoncello.  But ... I dislike most citrus based desserts - lemon curd, key lime ... just, sorry, not my thing.  And cake?  Eh.  Its ok, but, generally I want a pie, crisp, cobbler, mousse, or just something ... more interesting.  

The first time I saw the Limoncello Mascarpone Cake, I tried it, mostly because I was desperately wanting something sweet, and I figured, if nothing else, I'd eat the creamy frosting and white chocolate off the top.

But ... this is actually really good.   Really, really good.  It is a repeat order for my team.  We all rave about it every time it is served.

Limoncello Mascarpone Cake: Side Profile.

The sponge cake is light as air.  So fluffy, yet moist.  Amazingly light.  Like I said, I don't like cake, and I genuinely like this.

The layers of filling are sweetened, rich mascarpone cream, far more interesting than just sweet buttercream.  Perfect compliment to the lightness of the cake.

The white chocolate curls on top add an extra hit of sweetness, and a bit of texture.  The manufacturer recommends serving with fresh berries, whipped cream, or raspberry coulis.  I think the sweet coulis would be overkill, and mask the lightness of the limoncello, and more whipped cream is just totally unnecessary (not something I say often!), but berries I'd like to try sometime.

Is it good for you?  Well, no.  The mascarpone and cream add up.  A single slice (4oz, as pre-sliced is 380 calories), but honestly, it feels lighter!

****+.

Limoncello Mascarpone Cake: Again!

I'm shocked every time I have this, as I genuinely like it.  I've added it to our rotation to theme alongside "Italian night" when we have it.

Most recently, I took my own suggestion and paired with fresh blueberries and raspberries, and they complimented the lemon and cream beautifully.  Definite success.

****+.

10" Mixed Berry Cake.

"Sponge cake with Mascarpone cream, topped and filled with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, black and red currants." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor

"Mixed Berry Cake is refreshingly light and creamy, with colorful blue, red & black wild berries." -- Taste It Presents

After the surprise success of the Limoncello Mascarpone cake, I eagerly ordered the new Mixed Berry cake, as it too promised layers of mascarpone cream.

It is a nice looking cake, loaded with berries and white chocolate garnish on top.

And it too delivered.  The cake was again light and really not bad (for cake!), although this time not soaked in anything.  The mascarpone cream with thick, rich, and pretty fantastic.

Mixed Berry Cake: Side Profile.

The fruit was also found in the layers, assorted types of berries - blueberry, raspberries, strawberries - and tiny currants.  All the assorted fruits gave great pops of flavor, and I especially appreciated the currants.  Add in a bit of sweet white chocolate curls and I was quite pleased.

Update: we have had this several other times, and I've always enjoyed it.  Best when allowed to warm up to room temperature, and soften a bit, rather than "refrigerator" temperature.

***+.

Mixed Berry Cake / Wildberry Cream Cake.

"Two layers of light, buttery sponge cake are delicately soaked in vanilla syrup, then enveloped with two layers of heavenly Italian mascarpone cream that is hand mixed with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, black and red currants.

Topped with white chocolate curls."

Same cake, new name?  I think it is now marketed as the Wildberry Cream Cake, with a more accurate description, but I'm pretty sure this is the same cake.

I again do like the cream, but the berries weren't as great as I remembered - specifically, I wasn't into the currants, and they were dominant.

***.

Toasted Almond Cake, 10" Round.

"Delectable combination of imported ladyfingers lightly soaked in amaretto syrup, layered with smooth and creamy Italian mascarpone. Finished with crushed amaretiini cookies and roasted California Almonds." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor

"This 2 layer sponge cake is delicately soaked in amaretto syrup layered with imported mascarpone cream and topped with Italian amarettini cookies and roasted almonds." -- Taste It Presents

After enjoying the previous cakes, I branched out, ordering more cakes, again drawn in by teh mascarpone.

This cake is one of their signature items, and is available in a slew of formats - a full tray tiramisu style, a 7" round cake, a 10" round cake, and even individual pudding cups.  We had the larger 10" round.

Toasted Almond Cake: Side Profile.

It was a fantastic cake.

Much like the limoncello mascarpone and the berry mascarpone, it was made from light, moist ladyfingers, this time soaked in amaretto syrup.  I really don't tend to enjoy cake, but, when its this light and moist, it really is nice.  The soaked cakes from Taste It are better than the unsoaked.

And then, of course, their wonderful mascarpone cream.  Thick, rich, smooth, creamy.

Just the layers alone were a wonderful cake actually, but the crunchy amaretti cookies and bits of caramelized almond on top really pushed it over the top.

Light and moist.  Creamy and decadent.  Crispy and sweet.  Very good.

***.

Update:
I had it another time, and ... it wasn't as good.  It tasted stale in a strange way, like, the cream filling actually tasted stale, which is not a flavor I've ever associated with cream before.  I wonder if it was in a fridge with something with odor?

Tiramisu Cake.

"A light sponge cake and ladyfingers delicately soaked in espresso, alternately layered with imported mascarpone cheese and finished with a light dusting of cocoa." 

Tiramisu, as a cake?  Ok, why not?

This looked basically like a tiramisu, with layers of alternating soaked sponge cake, and mascarpone.

Tiramisu Cake: Inside.

Three layers total, but it was clear from immediate inspection that the ratio of everything was far more "cake" than I wanted.  Yes, this was a cake, not a tiramisu.

The cake was ... fine.  But boring.  Standard cake.  A bit dry.  Not a light airy one like in some of the other products.

The mascarpone filling though of course was thick, rich, and delicious.  I wanted more of it, like a real tiramisu.

The amount of cocoa on top was too aggressive for my tastes.

**+.

Tiramisu.

"A traditional Italian dessert consisting of alternating layers of imported Mascarpone and ladyfingers delicately soaked in espresso with a hint of liquor."

Taste It also makes traditional tiramisu, which comes in a large tray of pre-scored slices for banquets and catering.

It was pretty classic, decent enough tiramisu.  Unlike the layer cake, the ratios were much better, enough cake obviously, but, look at the cream topping!  Much better.

The ladyfingers were nicely soaked, moist, lots of espresso.  The mascarpone cream was thick and rich, good flavor.  Powdered cocoa on top.

Very classic, no more, no less. ***.

Update: I had it a second time, and was less thrilled.  The cake was nicely soaked, but, the cream didn't have much depth to it, and, eh, cake.

Dulce de Leche Cake.

"A rich chocolate cake topped with dulce de leche mousse, sprinkled with chocolate curls." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor

"Savor this rich chocolate cake topped with dulce de leche mousse (caramel flavor) sprinkled with chocolate curls." -- Taste It Presents

I was excited to order this one, something totally different, featuring mousse.

Sweet. Very, very, very sweet.  That is what I have to say about this one.

It looked like such a stunner, and everyone was excited for it, but most slices wound up in the trash.

Dulce de Leche Cake: Side Profile.

The base was fairly dry, not rich as advertised, chocolate cake.  I didn't care for that, but I never really care for cake.

The rest was the "mousse".  The texture was smooth and creamy, but the flavor was overwhelmingly sweet, in a cloying way, with a strange aftertaste.

The chocolate curls on top were at least good, nice dark chocolate.

*+.

Caramel Pecan Fudge.

"The ultimate combination of rich chocolate mousse cake, topped with pecans, swirls of caramel and milk chocolate." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor.

"Caramels, pecans and fudge? Is there any BETTER combination? Put this cake on your menu, and watch the smiles come..." -- Taste It

There were some good, and some bad, parts to this.

The cake was dry and boring, not rich, not chocolately, not moist.  Throwaway component.

The chocolate mousse however was good.  Very thick, very rich, very chocolately.  Intense.

The caramel drizzle over the top was also nice, sweet, standard caramel.  I liked the crunch from the pecans too.

Overall though, it was actually ... too rich.  It needed whipped cream.  Badly.

Once I removed the cake, added whipped cream, and just had an amazing chocolate mousse with caramel and pecans and whipped cream, I really enjoyed it.

**+.

 Belgian Chocolate Mousse.

"For the chocolate lover. A satisfyingly smooth chocolate mousse on a chocolate crust." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor

"A chocolate lover's dream. This light and satisfying cake has smooth Belgian chocolate mousse and is finished with tasty chocolate shavings." -- Taste It Presents

This was an ok product.  The mousse was creamy and rich, not super intense chocolate, but enough.  The texture was spot on.  I really liked the dark chocolate shavings on top.

The cake crust was dry, boring, and best left behind, but chocolate mousse doesn't need chocolate cake with it anyway.

Even better with some whipped cream.  Not an amazing mousse, but not awful.

***.

Flourless Chocolate Cake.

"Indulge your senses with this decadent, flourless chocolate cake. A chocolate lover’s dream, this dessert will delight gluten and non-Gluten Free customers alike.  Made with the finest Belgian semi sweet chocolate, butter, cocoa powder and vanilla. Unlike other flourless chocolate cakes which can be gritty, flakey or dry, this cake is delicately rich, and bursting with a smooth, moist, and creamy texture."

This was one of the better flourless chocolate cakes I have ever had.  It really was remarkably smooth and creamy, almost like a really thick pudding or mousse.  Deep, rich chocolate flavor.  

I laughed at the pieces my cafe cut them into, but I understand why - this is a "little goes a long way" kind of cake.  Best paired with some whipped cream to cut the heaviness, or strawberries/raspberries if consumed cold.  I also heated up a second slice the next day and added a scoop of coffee ice cream, which worked beautifully as well.

****.