Sweet Sam’s Baking Company is a bakery ... but certainly not a local mom and pop shop, although it did start as a couple passionate about making the best pound cake, based on using quality butter. They are based in the Bronx, but their products are sold wholesale, and are distributed nationwide. I see them in cafes and markets around San Francisco regularly.
"Sweet Sam’s bakes premium quality all-butter goods for businesses of all sizes, from neighborhood cafes, coffee bars to all gourmet foodservice establishments. We provide our customers with the finest bakery products such as sweet loaves, crumbcakes and cookies."
The product line up has one key focus: butter. All butter. They make mostly breakfast pastries (scones, croissants, muffins, coffee cake), along with the aforementioned pound cakes, dessert bars, cookies, and cupcakes. Many come individually packaged for retail.
I've had a chance to try an assortment of items.
Pound Cakes
"All loaf cakes are made with AA sweet butter and fresh eggs. All are center cut."Sweet Sam's makes a slow of different pound cakes, available as individually packaged slices, or pre-cut loaves. They are quite popular, sold at local coffee shops, but also at higher end places like Whole Foods.
"From the traditional classic to our famous Iced Lemon, these buttery loaves melt in your mouth. Made of the freshest ingredients in a variety of natural flavors, the result is moist and rich with a velvety smooth finish."The range is extensive, including basic plain or marble pound cake, a bunch of nutty or fruity breakfast/brunch offerings (pumpkin with raisins/walnuts/pumpkin seeds, banana walnut, cranberry walnut, orange poppyseed, raisin), and of course, just sweet and dessert like (chocolate chip, iced red velvet cake, iced gingerbread, iced double chocolate, chocolate frosted double chocolate, iced carrot).
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| Iced Lemon Cake. |
"An all–time favorite, slightly tart and covered with lemon zest icing." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor
I am not generally one for cake (frosting yes, plain cake, no). And I'm not one for lemon desserts. But, we had these for breakfast at an event I was attending, so, I gave it a try. I don't shy away from cake for breakfast!
It was ... well, packaged lemon pound cake. It was very moist, to the point of almost being gummy. Too buttery it seemed. And yes, it had a tart lemon flavor.
The icing was only on the very top, but it was a thick layer, and intensely lemon flavored. So, not for me.
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| Banana Walnut Pound Cake. |
I never imagined that I would like this. I never really care for banana bread. I never really like cake.
So why did I try it? Well, my cafe turned it into french toast the first (and second) time that I had it, and it was insanely amazing. Crazy rich pound cake used in french toast just changes the (otherwise boring) french toast scene entirely.
It inspired me to try the pound cake eventually on its own, not as french toast.
It was ... well, banana pound cake. Banana bread, just a bit sweeter, a bit denser, a bit richer, more of, well, a cake than a bread. Still banana bread, but, significantly better in my mind. I loved how moist it was, and really like the walnuts in it.
For a loaf cake, I enjoy this, and regularly get a slice before they turn it into french toast, but, it is hard to pretend it is breakfast appropriate, it really, truly is cake.
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| Chocolate Loaf Cake with Vanilla Frosting / Iced Double Chocolate Pound Cake. |
"Double Chocolate Pound Cake filled with semi-sweet chocolate chips and topped with cream cheese icing." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor
I ordered this one after liking the banana cake, opting for something more actually desserty. I thought the double chocolate would be a fantastic hit.
This one was not a favorite for me. It was definitely a dessert item, a pound cake, absolutely not something you could pretend is breakfast.
Yes, it was a moist, dense, chocolate cake. Yes, loaded with chocolate chips, for great texture and intense chocolate flavor. Yes, generous icing that was clearly cream cheese based, tangy.
But for me ... eh. Just chocolate cake. Perhaps that is just me though, I'm never exited about cake.
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| Gingerbread Loaf Cake. |
For the holidays, Sweet Sam's makes a gingerbread loaf cake. I'll admit that gingerbread is not exactly exciting to me, and obviously nor is cake, but ... sometimes the holiday mood is right!
The cake was moist, dense, and rich, with a lovely spicing and decently strong gingerbread flavor. I'd be bored with just the cake, but the cream cheese icing was very sweet and a perfect compliment, although I wanted far more ... I felt this was enough icing for about half the slice, not the whole thing.
Overall, it hit the spot, during the holiday season, paired with a glass of dessert wine, and ... with far more icing.
Coffee Cakes
"Take rich cake made with fresh eggs and sweet cream butter. Then add fruit. Or chocolate chips. Or walnuts. Or nothing. And top it off with a heaping layer of rich, crunchy crumbs and a pinch of cinnamon. Addictive."
Sweet Sam's makes a variety of coffee cakes, all of which look pretty good, as they are loaded with mix-ins and toppings. Crumb cake, crumb cake with apples/blueberries/chocolate chips studded throughout, or a very streusel heavy one. You can guess which one I immediately went for. I'm all about the streusel!
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| Coffee Streusel Cake. |
"This cake is a little different from our traditional crumb cake. A rich walnut filling through the middle separates two layers of rich, buttery cake. Those three layers are then topped with an irresistible mixture of finely chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar. There's no coffee in the cake, but the fit is so natural we had to put it in the name." -- Sweet Sam's
Like many Sweet Sam's products, the coffee streusel cake came individually packaged for retail.
It didn't exactly look amazing, and I'm not one for cake, but, the sugary coating on top, and the generous visible filling drew me in. It also wasn't a light item, the serving size listed on it was 1/2 a piece, because, you know, you buy an individually packaged item and eat just half.
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| Coffee Streusel Cake: Side View. |
The cake itself, just a boring cake. Moist, but not remarkable in any way. Sure, rich and buttery as advertised, but, plain cake. The top and bottom of it were both darker brown, and seemed almost burnt or stale.
The top was a fairly traditional streusel, cinnamon and sugar based. It helped mask the mediocre top of the cake.
And the part that really drew me in, that filling? Yeah, it was fine. Very moist, finely chopped walnuts, cinnamon, sugar. Sweet, fairly flavorful. Tasty enough.
So, overall, yes, fine. For a packaged coffee cake, good even. But for me, I wanted whipped cream, and I wanted more from it. Which I could add of course, warming it up, adding a scoop of ice cream, a mound of whipped cream, some sauce ... but at 520 calories already, that felt a bit hard to justify.
Scones
"Our traditional Irish buttermilk scones are well-leavened and oven-baked for a dense and crumbly texture. Then loaded up with juicy berries or plump raisins or chocolate chips and sprinkled with coarse sugar."
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| Assorted Scones. |
All are square shaped, use the same buttermilk base, and have pearl sugar on top. I've tried them all.
The scones are more of a biscuit style, with a buttermilk base (slight tang), and fairly cakey. The base isn't particularly exciting, but the crumb is good. The scones are decent, not amazing, but, good for a pre-made item.
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| Blueberry Scone. |
The blueberry scones were indeed loaded with blueberries as promised. The berries were flavorful and large. I slathered on some additional blueberry jam and some whipped cream, and really quite enjoyed this, but it was more of a dessert shortcake style biscuit than a breakfast scone.
My favorite of the scones.
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| Cranberry Scone. |
The cranberry version was much the same, just with large cranberries in place of the blueberries. They too were generously distributed, and juicy, but, since I don't really like tart cranberries as much, I liked this less.
My least favorite of the three, but due to personal preference. I bet this would be good with orange marmalade to complement the tart cranberries.
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| Chocolate Chip Scone. |
And finally, the crowd favorite: chocolate chip.
The chips were standard chocolate chips, and, yup, tasted like chocolate. My second favorite, and again better with whipped cream.
Cookies
And finally, cookies, another product I'm not normally very excited for. Sweet Sam's only makes 3 types of cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and, black & white. I tried the later.
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| Black & White Cookies. |
"Pound cake base with a heavy hand decorated black and white frosting." -- GourmetXpress, Distributor
"Soft cake-like cookie with a rich dark chocolate frosting and white fondant icing." -- Sweet Sam's
"A New York classic, this cookie combines a soft cake-like cookie with a rich dark chocolate frosting
and white fondant icing." -- Sweet Sam's
These were massive cookies. Not really a single serving. They were also entirely not my style.
Soft, cake-like base, basically just a thin pound cake. Serious meh.
The chocolate frosting and white frosting were both good, thick, sweet, tasty, but not enough to liven up that boring base.
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