Griffins Marvels Popcorn

Let's start with an education for those who haven't been to Australia.  The Golden Gaytime is a popular ice cream novelty treat, made by Streets, and I've reviewed it before.  The Gaytime is a frozen ice cream adjacent novelty on a stick, with vanilla and toffee ice cream inside, chocolate coating, and biscuit crumble over it all.  It is iconic, and vendors of all kinds try to use it for inspiration for items, like the truly incredible Golden Gaytime french toast I had at Three Williams once (truly the best french toast-ish dish I've ever had), or the savory lamb rib with crunchy nuts at (now closed) Pinbone.  

Snack foods manufacturers also get in on the trend, which leads us to Griffins Marvels, an Australian brand.  They have no connection to Marvels the comics, as far as I know.  They tend to make items like biscuits and cookies (which do come in a Golden Gaytime inspired flavor too), but they also make ... popcorn!  Regular readers of my blog will know how much I adore all things popcorn, so to say I was overjoyed when some Australian co-workers visited and brought me a bag of, wait for it, GOLDEN GAYTIME POPCORN is an understatement.

Golden Gaytime Popcorn.

"A popped time is a Gaytime! Golden Gaytime Popcorn - The iconic combination of Gaytime vanilla biscuit crumbs and toffee you love, now in irresistibly delicious morsels of popcorn!"

I took a huge handful to start.

Wowzer. This is, well, sweet doesn't even begin to sum it up.  It literally makes my teeth hurt to think about it, let alone consume a handful.  And yes, the first ingredient, literally, is indeed sugar.  This stuff is intensely sweet.  Under the thick, sweet caramel there is well popped popcorn, and it is drizzled with additional sweet white and milk chocolates, and coated with some biscuit crumb (although I didn't really find much of that), but the toffee is definitely the dominant thing going on here.

Now, did it remind me of a Golden Gaytime?  Not exactly.  But the vanilla and toffee aspects were definitely there and unique from most caramel corn.  I think if the biscuit component was more prevalent it would be more akin to a Gaytime.

It is good, don't get me wrong, but I really couldn't eat more than a few pieces at at time (which is perhaps good, as the small bag has what they say is 5 servings).  I found it best to just pop a few pieces alongside a dark, black coffee or glass of red wine (the pairings really do work!), or to mix it with plain popcorn.

I was glad to try this, but I don't think I'd actually purchase it again.  ***+.

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Desserts from The Buoy

The Buoy is Korean cafe and bakery in Hayes Valley.  In addition to coffee drinks, teas, and fun beverages like a black sesame or toasted coconut latte, they make a variety of baked goods, and a couple Korean inspired paninis.

"At Buoy, our mission is to elevate your mood with sweet and healthy desserts that cater to everyone. We aim to redefine gluten-free treats and offer a refreshing twist on traditional coffee drinks. Our goal is to provide you with an experience that feels both special and comfortably familiar."

The baked goods are particularly noteworthy as they mostly all use rice flour, and are thus gluten-free.  I only got to try one type of item (roll cakes) at an event I attended that featured them, but I'd love to try some of their other items, such as teh sweet pumpkin cupcake, black sesame brownie, or ssuk tiramisu.

Assorted Roll Cakes. $42 each.

Roll cakes are available in only 3 flavors: matcha, raspberry, and red bean.  They sell for $8/slice, $26 half (3 slices), or $42 whole (6 slices).  We had all 3 flavors, all full size.  The cakes were quite attractive, and the pastry chef / owner's background in industrial design was slightly evident, as care as clearly taken to the visual appeal.

Raspberry.

I started with the raspberry flavor.

The cake had a nice swirl pattern, and was actually raspberry flavored (I had assumed it was just colored, not flavored).  It was light and airy chiffon, which is just never my favorite type of cake.  I prefer denser, sweeter, more buttery American style cake.  But for a chiffon, I think it was well baked.

The filling was fairly heavy, rich dense cream cheese filling.  It was quite fruity and raspberry flavored too, with bits of berries in it.  There was something about the taste of the filling I didn't really like, and I couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly.  It was sour almost.

Overall, this was a very fruity cake, and the lightness of the chiffon and the heaviness of the filling didn't quite seem to play together well.  At least for me, I wanted a lighter whipped cream style filling to match the lighter cake style (or a denser cake to match the cream cheese style).  I wouldn't get this again.  **.

Matcha.

Next up, matcha.  It too had a lovely pattern in the cake.  It too was intensely flavorful, this time, full on matcha.

The cake was similar light chiffon, and quite matcha forward.  Lovely, I'm sure, if you like chiffon cake.  The filling was also deeply matcha flavored, and less rich/cream cheese like than the raspberry cake.  It seemed a better match for the cake, but it was so much matcha that it was a bit one-note.  I think I'd personally enjoy it more to have perhaps the raspberry cake with matcha filling (or really, taro cake with matcha filling, but they don't do a taro version).

So again, a fine cake for the style it is, and definitely ones for matcha lovers, but not something I'd get again myself.  ***.

Red Bean.

I saved the surprise hit for last: red bean.

This cake was actually the most boring, just plain chiffon, no design, no flavor.  So that element was ho-hum, and not a style I like.

But the filling was great.  A cream based filling again, I'm not sure if cream cheese or just whipped cream, as it was minimal, this was mostly mashed red bean, with plenty of bits of red bean in it.  Sweetened, but not too sweet.  And ... surprise!  It had mochi bits!  I loved the texture of this mix, the flavor, and really everything about it.

****+ filling, ** cake, so overall, ***+, and by far my favorite of the cakes.  I'd get this again.

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Junior's Cheesecake

Junior's Cheesecake is one of the more well known brands of cheesecake in the US.  It comes from a restaurant, Junior's, which opened in Brooklyn in 1950.  It has its roots as a diner and Jewish deli, but cheesecake is their claim to fame.  They have since expanded to several other locations, including a ridiculously busy one right near Times Square that I've walked by before.  They also run a wholesale bakery and offer the cheesecake for nationwide delivery (including through QVC, which I honestly didn't realize was still a thing!), and have some retail grocery partners (including Costco, which we'll get to soon).

So why is the cheesecake so "famous"?  First, it is a unique style, using a recipe with a sponge cake base instead of graham cracker crust.  And then there are the actual awards, like how NY Magazine conducted a blind taste test and rated Junior’s as the best.  And the celeb fans of course.  

At this point, Junior's makes a slew of different cheesecakes, in more flavors than the Cheesecake Factory even. You can get fruity flavors like strawberry, pineapple, or key lime, or crumb topped like cherry or apple.  A slew of chocolate options including a multi layer cheesecake and chocolate mousse, epic looking devil's food one with cake layers too, Oreo studded, etc, etc.  Of course they have seasonal offerings too, and low carb ones, and no sugar added ones, and mega 6 pound ones.  And plenty that I'm not sure really qualify as cheesecake ... if the dessert is 60% funfetti cake and 20% frosting and 20% cheesecake ... isn't that more of just a cake?  What about the one that is more brownie than cheesecake?  The restaurants also carry other baked goods like cookies and cupcakes.

I'd heard of Junior's long ago, and have walked by their crazy busy Times Square location many times, but even though I'm a huge dessert girl, I never had a chance to try it until recently, when a co-worker brought in a selection of the Junior's offerings sold at Costco.  Spoiler: I've been missing out!

Mini Variety Pack.

The offering from Costco is minis, truly minis, only 1.5 ounces each. The Costco variety pack comes with 3 flavors: Original, Strawberry Swirl, Chocolate Swirl.  This particular assortment and style is only sold at Costco, although they do sell bigger 4 ounce "Little Fellas" for $5.95 each at their restaurants.

Of particular note is that the minis are all crustless, which I know some people complain about, but frankly, given how much I tend to not like standard graham cracker based crusts, I see as only a good thing.  No soggy sawdust layer to scrape off!  That said, my understanding is that Junior's actually uses a sponge cake base, not a graham cracker one, on their full size pies, which does sound fascinating.  I'm not sure I'd want that texture though with creamy cheesecake?

Original New York

"These mini versions of our Original New York Cheesecake are perfect for parties and can be served with a variety of toppings.  Smooth and light, soft and creamy, heavenly and delicious. The Junior’s cake that started it all."

I started with the most basic: the original.  

I was instantly blown away by just how smooth and creamy it was.  Wow.  Exceptionally smooth cheesecake.  Almost too smooth even, as the consistency, particularly when room temp (which is how they recommend serving it, not fresh from fridge), veered into pudding territory (although it held its shape fine).  More chilled though, the texture is just fantastic.

The cheesecake flavor was pretty standard, not overly sweet, not particularly heavy handed in the cream cheese, just classic NY style (not ricotta based).  It didn't seem to have notes of lemon or anything else, just, pure classic NY cheesecake.  Sweetness level was just right for me. 

This was touch boring since just plain cheesecake, and no crust, but it really was a blank canvas, and easy to add fresh fruit, a drizzle of sauce, etc.  I'd gladly get this again. ****.

Strawberry Swirl

"Set your taste buds awhirl with a strawberry swirl! Enjoy the smooth richness of Junior’s Original Cheesecake blended with a delicious swirl of fresh strawberry puree."

Next up, the raspberry swirl.  I assumed it would be like many cheesecake brands, where the mini has a tiny swirl on top and no real marbling throughout, but this did indeed have strawberry puree in the middle as well.  The berry flavor wasn't super pronounced, but it was fruity and added a bit of interest to the base cheesecake.

The cheesecake body was the same as the original, just so exceptionally smooth and creamy.  No complaints at all.  I again chose to add some fresh berries to jazz this up a bit.  ****.

Chocolate Swirl

"The Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake is pure indulgence. Chocolate is added directly to the famous cheesecake recipe and swirled with the Original New York for a seductive marble effect."

And lastly, chocolate swirl.  I don't tend to go for chocolate cheesecakes, and although the chocolate here was minimal, it still was my last pick to try.  I assumed it would have chocolate inside like the strawberry swirl, but it did not.  So the chocolate component really was just that little swirl on top, and I barely tasted it. And otherwise, this was just yet another fabulous, insanely smooth, excellent cheesecake. **** for this one too, went great with fresh strawberries.

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