Noe Valley Bakery

Update Review, October 2023 Tastings

One of the best parts about being back in the office, besides of course the joy of my co-worker's company, is the random encounters with extra goodies.  Which, in a building our size, happens quite a bit.  

When I saw the e-mail, "Lots of extra cake and cupcakes from Noe Valley Bakery", of course I went running, even though I had literally just finished my lunch dessert, and I didn't even really remember if I had ever had Noe Valley Bakery items before (turns out, I had, but it was 8 years ago).  Cake!

I'm glad I went running, and next time I see a message about Noe Valley Bakery items, I might even consider sprinting (in the most business appropriate way possible of course).

Red Velvet. $78.

"Our rich red velvet chocolate cake layered and topped with cream cheese icing."

Oh, wow.  Wow, wow, wow.  I took one bite of this cake, and was amazed.  I went back for more.  And more.  And more.

I can safely say this is the best red velvet cake I think I've ever had.  The cake was light, fluffy, moist, baked very well.  

But the reason this cake was phenomenal is the frosting.  O.M.G.  I've had many cream cheese icings before, on red velvet or carrot cakes.  Cream cheese icing is generally good.  After all, it is sorta just fluffier, sweeter cheesecake.  But this was extraordinary.  The best I've ever had.  It was perfectly balanced in sweetness (quite sweet, as it should be, but not cloying), it was remarkably fluffy and light, AND it had strong cream flavor.  It delivered on all three of those aspects, none overshadowing the other.  Amazing.  *****.  Nothing at all that I'd change.

I couldn't stop eating this, and getting more to save for later.  Very noteworthy, and I'd clearly gladly have it again anytime.  ****+ overall.

Custom Devil's Food Cake.

"Our sinfully delicious devil's food cake layered with whipped cream, topped with vanilla buttercream."

To celebrate a big milestone, the hosts got a cube shaped custom layer cake, essentially the birthday cake that Noe Valley Bakery makes, but, without the sprinkles around the outside, and Google colors and decoration.

I was the first to cut in.  Yes, the actual party attendees didn't even try this, they had that many other goodies on hand.

Custom Cake: Inside.

Inside I was met with two thick layers of chocolate devil's food cake, thicker than the ones in the red velvet, separated by the buttercream frosting.

I started by trying a bite of the frosting, knowing there was no way it would be as magical as the cream cheese frosting from the red velvet.  It wasn't quite that level of magic, but, it was top notch buttercream.  Even fluffier than the cream cheese one, and again, perfectly balanced.  Sweet but not cloying, and it didn't taste too strongly of butter nor sugar, in the way buttercream sometimes can.  I really liked it.  ****.

And then, the devil's food cake, a very rich, moist dark chocolate cake.  The cake itself was top notch too.  Great crumb structure.  Clearly high cocoa content.  It tasted a bit like the cake form of an Oreo cookie wafer.  One of the best chocolate cakes I've had in recent memory.  ****.

The ratio of frosting to cake was slightly off for me, as I wanted more frosting to match the thicker layer cakes, but that may be just personal preference.

Overall, a very good chocolate cake, and I'd happily have it again.   ****.

Carrot. $3.15.

"Carrot Cake studded with walnuts and topped with cream cheese icing. (it's healthy, it has a veggie in it!)"

The layer cakes were so good I couldn't help but grab a carrot cake muffin when there were still plenty left, even though, back in 2016, I wasn't particularly impressed.  They came decorated with adorable piped carrots on top.

The cream cheese icing again blew me away, just as in the red velvet.  It is just so perfectly sweet, and creamy, and cream cheese-y.  Truly some of the best cream cheese frosting I've ever had. ****+.

The carrot cake itself was fine.  It was studded with juicy raisins, and a few bits of chopped walnut for crunch.  Noticeable shreds of carrots.  Fairly heavily spiced, but the spices worked.  Slightly dry, particularly compared to the layer cakes.  Better than a generic grocery store carrot cake, but not particularly remarkable.  ***+.

Overall, really just a ***+, but, wow, that frosting is good.

Mostess. $3.15.

"Our classic chocolate cupcake filled with Bavarian cream, dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with an iconic white chocolate loop."

I didn't grab one of the Hostess knockoffs, the "Mostess", but I wish I had once I realized it was filled with bavarian cream.  My co-worker who had one devoured his in seconds, and said it really did remind him of Hostess. No idea if that is an endorsement or not.

Raspberry Sherbet. $3.15.

"Vanilla cupcakes filled with raspberry bavarian filling, frosted in a bright yellow and pink buttercream frosting."

I also passed on the pink and yellow topped cupcakes, thinking they were just vanilla, but later saw they had raspberry bavarian cream inside.  Doh!  I missed out.

Original Review, May 2016

Noe Valley Bakery is, you guessed it, a bakery in Noe Valley.  They make all your standard baked goods, including bread, breakfast pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, and more.

The stuff must be good, as they have been in business for 21 years.  But that is about all I know about the place, as I haven't actually been there myself.  But, I hosted a dinner party and one of my guests came with a box of treats.  Note to self: host more parties!

You know how much I love desserts, so, I was pretty excited to rip open the box basically as soon as dinner was over.

Treats!

From Top Left (clockwise):

• Milky Way Bombe(2): "Flourless chocolate cake, malted chocolate mousse, caramel mousse, Valhrona Croquants, chocolate ganache".
• Carrot Cupcake: "Shredded Carrots, Pineapple, Toasted Walnuts, Cream Cheese Icing."
• The Republic: "Stout Chocolate Cupcake, House-made Salted Caramel Bavarian, Irish Cream Buttercream".
• Red Velvet Cupcake: "Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcake, Cream Cheese Icing".
• Chocolate Fudge Cupcake: "Devils Food Cupcake, Old Fashion Fudge Frosting, Sprinkles".
• Chocolate Caramel Fleur de Sel: "Devil’s Food Chocolate Cupcake, House-made Caramel Bavarian, Chocolate Ganache, Grey Sea Salt".

The box had 5 different cupcakes and 2 Milky Way Bombes.  We also had 6 people who wanted to try basically everything,  So, rather than forcing choices, we cut the selections into 4 chunks each (smaller just didn't seem possible).  I missed out on the filled cupcakes (The Republic and Chocolate Caramel Fleur de Sel), but tried all others.  All of the cupcakes were decorated differently, with some kind of garnish on top, a touch I appreciated.

The first item I grabbed was the carrot cupcake.  I love good carrot cake, but I know I have strong preferences for my carrot cake, as my Great Aunt makes a "famous" version that pretty much no other version lives up to (the only one I've found is the carrot cake from Flour & Co, which, um, is even better than my Great Aunt's!)  Noe Valley Bakery's was ... fine.  The cake was moist.  It had shredded carrot inside, and I guess some pineapple and walnuts, although I didn't really detect either of these elements.  It didn't have much spicing.  The frosting was classic cream cheese icing, soft, fluffy, and pretty good.  The candied carrot garnish was cute.  Overall, it was absolutely fine, but not particularly exciting.

The next cupcake I grabbed was Red Velvet.  It had the same cream cheese frosting as the carrot, and a garnish of a little red dot.  The "red velvet" flavor was actually quite good, I was impressed.  It had a real buttermilk tang, something so many red velvets do not have.  I also appreciated that it had a slightly crispy top.  I always like that contrasting texture.

Finally, after the others had polished off the chocolate filled cupcakes, I had the final chunk of the final chocolate selection, the non-filled Chocolate Fudge Cupcake.  I'm just not one for chocolate cakes, so I mostly ignored the chocolate ones, but, I'll admit, this was a decent chocolate cake, very rich dark chocolate flavor (I guess Devil's Food IS more than "just" chocolate).  The frosting was pretty classic, good, chocolate frosting.

Overall, all the cupcakes were fine, but, I wouldn't go running back for more.  Then again, I'm not usually that big of a fan of cupcakes (or cake) anyway.  I need to be in the right mood to really want cake.

Milky Way Bombe: Inside.

"Flourless chocolate cake, malted chocolate mousse, caramel mousse, Valhrona Croquants, chocolate ganache".

The Milky Way Bombe however was another story.  A very unique item, and I'm glad our guest brought two of these!

The base was flourless chocolate cake, a thin layer, as you can see here.  It was moist, but not particularly dark or rich.  On top of that was the layer of caramel mousse, a lighter color than the malted chocolate mousse above it.  It was fluffy and sweet, but I didn't know it was "caramel".  The malted chocolate mousse was great, really creamy, fluffy, smooth, pretty much perfect chocolate mousse.  The entire thing was coated in a thick layer of rich chocolate ganache.

I really liked the chocolate mousse and the ganache, and would happily just eat a bowl of the mousse.  The Bombe was certainly best to share, as it was pretty rich.

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MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea

I had never heard of Mixue before I visited Sydney recently, but once I saw it when I was walking by, I was pretty instantly drawn in, by their cheery "Snow King", and ridiculously affordable prices.  It turns out to be a large Chinese franchise, with 22,500 stores worldwide.  It started in 1997, but the first location in Sydney didn't open until February 2023, not long before I visited.

Storefront.

Visiting the store is, um, a cultural experience.  It does draw you in though, with the very welcoming mascot, the Snow King, showing up in many places.

$2 ice Cream.

The very low prices are definitely one of MIXUE's main attractions, and are displayed prominently, like the one here for the $2 cone (which, was $1.50 just a few months prior).  Note that these are Australian dollars, so that is actually just $1.25 USD with today's exchange rate.

Tea.

Milk and fruit teas make up the rest of the menu, and are mostly reasonably priced as well.

Snow King Magic Shop.

Off on the side is the branded "Snow King Magic Shop" where you can purchase toys and tumblers.

Signature Cone. $2.
(November 2023)

I had seen people walking down the street with these cones, so I knew it would be comically large, but, I still wasn't prepared to have this handed over.  The cone itself is, well, worthy of the Snow King perhaps.

My cone didn't actually look particularly made with care.  Nor did it look as well filled or as big as others, and they only make one size, so, it wasn't like I had a different size.  They lose a few points for that, as part of my cone was pretty hollow.  And, as I said, I was pretty apprehensive this could really be very good.

I took my first bite of the ice cream.  Well, huh.  It was creamy.  It wasn't icy.  The flavor was sweet, but not cloying.  Nothing artificial about it.  Milk flavored, I guess, but I detected hints of coconut even.   Certainly better than any fast food ice cream, and it rivaled many ice cream shops.  Not blow your mind special, but very good.  ***+, on the verge of ****.

And then the cone.  Ice cream cones are often sorta a throwaway component, a means to getting ice cream in a satisfying to lick form factor, and little else.  But this cone, this cone was part of the experience too.  It was a unique style, like thin sweet wafer cookies rolled into a cone shape, 2-3 layers.  It was sweet, it was crunchy, it was really quite good.  It got to maybe be a bit much, just given how big it was, but I truly enjoyed it.  I think it would be good just as a standalone cookie to eat alongside a coffee.  A memorable, and tasty, and unique, cone.  ****.

So overall, made with care?  No.  Perfectly swirled and filled?  No.  But actually very enjoyable, and ridiculous quality for the price.  ****, and I'd gladly get another.

Signature Cone. $2.
(February 2024).

Two months later, I was back in Sydney, and the moment it was a warm day, I was right back at Mixue.  This time I knew exactly what to expect, and I'll say that Mixue seems highly consistent, at least based on my experiences.

My order was ready relatively quickly, the soft serve was a bit haphazard and did have a bit of a hole in the middle, but, the cone was crispy, unique, and not stale, and the soft serve was fairly creamy, again lightly sweet milk flavor.  I added my own sprinkles, and was still just amazed that I got such a decent and unique ice cream cone for literally $1.20 USD.  ***+.

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