Symphony Pastries

I feel bad whenever I review wholesale bakeries, as you, my dear reader, generally cannot just seek out and order these items yourselves.  But you will encounter these goods frequently at hotel buffets, conferences, gas stations, grocery stores, or, depending on the brand, many restaurants.

Symphony Pastries is a wholesale bakery based in New Jersey, making primarily cakes - either individuals, strips, or round.  They carry a few other items (like tartlets)  and offer up a few gluten-free varieties too.

Strips

Strips are Symphony Pastries primary product line.  Ideal for catering as they can cut them into whatever size bites they choose.  Symphony Pastries strips generally involve layers of cake, with frosting in-between, although there are some that break the mold (like the interesting looking "Georgia" with a biscuit rather than cake, and almond amaretto mousse and poached peach between the layers of biscuit).  All are undecorated, intentionally, so that the caterer/restaurant/etc can garnish and personalize as they choose, which makes them come across more housemade when presented to guests.

I tried three different strips recently, and the quality varied dramatically.  I wouldn't write the brand off entirely, but, I think some may be significantly better than others.

Red Velvet.

"Three layers of red chocolate sponge brushed with vanilla syrup, and three layers of creamy white cream cheese."

This was the first item I tried from Symphony Pastries and it was not very good.  A 3 layer red velvet cake, classic cream cheese frosting.

The cake was very dry, and had no red velvet tang to it, although the ingredients did say cocoa.  The cream cheese frosting was decent though, creamy, flavorful, but overall, not a very good item.

**+.

Primavera.

"Strawberry and pistachio mousse between layers of vanilla sponge."

Next up, the Primavera (which, honestly, sounded like it should be pasta, not a cake!).  It too was three layers of cake, with two layers of pistachio mousse and only one of strawberry.

This just tasted odd.  It didn't taste like strawberry, it didn't taste like pistachio, it just tasted like ... I don't even know.  I really disliked the flavor.  Like the red velvet cake, the cake layers were quite dry.

*.

Tiramisu.

"Ladyfingers soaked with coffee liquor filled with a delicious mascarpone mousse."

And finally, a classic: tiramisu.  Another 3 layer cake.

After the previous two items, I certainly didn't expect the tiramisu to be good, but, shockingly, it was.  The ladyfingers were well soaked, super moist (ok, kinda soggy, but for tiramisu, it worked).  A complete contrast to the dry cake layers in the other two I had tried.  The mascarpone mousse was thick and rich, and, although the mascarpone flavor wasn't particularly strong, the thickness and texture were good.  

Amazing tiramisu?  Definitely not, but, it really was decent. ***+.

Black Forest Cheesecake.

"Creamy New York style cheesecake topped with bitter chocolate mousse with poached cherries and chocolate shavings."

The desserts I tried just kept getting better and better.  This black forest cheesecake was even better than the tiramisu.  Every layer was good.  

The base was a dark, rich brownie / chocolate cake, a soft but sturdy style, not like a chocolate cookie crust. I liked it more than your average bar style dessert base.  It went really well with the chocolate mousse. ***+.

Above that was the cheesecake layer.  It was thick, creamy, and tasted like, well, cheesecake.  Strong cream cheese flavor.  The texture was perhaps slightly more mousse like than a traditional denser cheesecake.  Basically, a bit better than a generic cheesecake, not noteworthy though.  Another ***+.

Next, between the layers of cheesecake and mousse, was a few poached cherries, soft and sweet, bringing in the black forest element.  There weren't all that many though, so I think only one bite of mine had a cherry.  The cherry went nicely with the cheesecake and the chocolate mousse, both things that pair well with cherries.  ***.

And finally, the chocolate mousse.  The texture was perfect, textbook mousse.  It was lightly chocolatey, and seemed more like a milk chocolate than the advertised "bitter chocolate".  It was good, but I would have loved an even more intense chocolate flavor.  Texture wise though, definitely nailed. ***.  I really liked the chocolate shavings on top, they seemed to be good quality dark chocolate.

Overall, every layer was good, above average.  My only qualm is that I don't actually really like chocolate and cheesecake together all that much.  And I really don't like chocolate cheesecake.  I like them both on their own, just, not together.  And while I could carefully eat the layers separate, and enjoy a cheesecake and a chocolate mousse on their own, I felt sad when I got a bite with both, as chocolate and cheesecake just clash for me.  That is a personal preference thing though, as I know plenty of people like chocolate cheesecake.  ***+ overall.