Atlas Protein Bars

Another day, another protein bar review?  Yep.  Bars are something I keep stocked in my pantry, and in my bag, pretty much all the time.   I'm frequently on the go, so I utilize them when I need a mid-afternoon snack, and for some styles of bars, I also enjoy them with my breakfast (I like to dunk them in yogurt and top with fruit and cocoa nibs ...).  I'm always trying new brands of bars of all styles, which led me to Atlas Bars.

"There's nothing special about Atlas Bars. They're made with ingredients so simple you could make them at home."

The marketing for the brand is about how simple they are: real, clean ingredients, no seed oils, no artificial sweeteners, no additives.  The bars boast 15-20g of protein each, mostly due to a combo of whey and milk protein isolates (and to a lesser extend, nuts).  I'm not really sure I consider whey protein isolate an ingredient I'd have at home, but I understand their point.  All are gluten-free, but not vegan.  They come in only 4 flavors: almond or peanut butter chocolate chip, dark chocolate almond, and salted peanut butter.  One size, one format, no other adjacent styles of product.

As my body doesn't generally tolerate whey protein isolates, I had to start small to make sure I wouldn't have a reaction to the bar - but also, the moment I opened it and it had that classic old school protein bar look (you know what I mean, the ones that look like they'll be dry and chalky and taste awful), I assumed this would not be a problem.  I only tried one flavor, but it was far better than I anticipated.

Almond Chocolate Chip.

This looked like a protein bar.  No masking it, no adding a chocolate coating, no adding oats/nuts/seeds to make it interesting ... nope, it was a smooth, dense, chalky protein bar.  I assumed I'd take a nibble, and ditch it.

But ... it really wasn't bad.  Now, it wasn't good exactly, but it reminded me of a cookie dough flavor, a real surprise given that they didn't market it that way at all, and rather, called this "almond chocolate chip".  It did have chocolate chips, large size actually, melty, decent quality, and reasonably well distributed.  The almond I didn't notice nor taste at all.  I expected chunks of almond, but there were none, it was all almond butter mixed with the isolates.  Although sweetened with monk fruit, it didn't have a strange aftertaste or sweetness to it.

So, yeah, it was a dense, soft, old school protein bar texture, but, it reminded me of cookie dough, didn't have strange aftertaste, and had nice chocolate gems.  3/5.

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Pie from Ikeda's California Country Market

Update Review, 2024-2025

Back in 2016 I discovered Ikeda's California Country Market.  Well, not quite true, I had heard about Ikeda's for years, a common stop for folks when they drove to/from Tahoe, but not a stop I'd ever made.  And I still haven't.  Back then, a co-worker treated us to one of Ikeda's apple pies for breakfast one morning, and I declared it perhaps the best apple pie I'd ever had.  I was determined to try more of their pies, but ... I didn't really want to drive all the way to Auburn to do so.  And thus, I ordered online.

Ikeda's ships most of their pies (and muffins, granola, and a few other things) overnight on ice.  Note that this is just on ice (yes, big ice packs, and yes, in foil lined packaging, but NOT with dry ice as some places do, so if you aren't shipping within California, you might not want to get the cream pies for example).  Anyway, over the past few years, I've ordered quite a selection of pies, both fresh and frozen (thaw and serve).

Packaging

Safety First!

The packaging of the pies was honestly a bit excessive.  The individual pie boxes were all inside a bigger shipping box with ice packs.  The pies left Auburn in the evening, and reached me by the next night.  Strangely, they packaged ones that were supposed to be frozen, and ones that were supposed to be fresh, in the same box, with some ice packs that were fairly soft on arrival.  The frozen pies certainly didn't stay frozen in transit, even for <23 hour shipping time.

And then, inside each individual pie box, was each pie, bubble wrapped and taped up, which took some effort to remove.   

And then plastic wrapped!

... and then, under all the bubble wrap, the pies were plastic wrapped in several layers.  So, wrapped within wrapping in a box within a box.  So. Much. Effort.

The fresh pies stopped at that layer, but the frozen ones had an additional layer under all of that (a bag).

Each layer had its purpose: the plastic wrap to seal it from freezer burn, the bubble wrap from getting bumped around in transit, the box to protect, etc, but, wow, it took a bit of labor to actually reach the pies.

Clear Labeling.

The Ikedas website doesn't really have much information about the pies, no ingredients listed, or even descriptions.  "Tripleberry" is all it says for this one, not revealing what the three berries are.  Same with "razzleberry", no details.  Nor explaining the differences in the French and Dutch apple, just both kinds listed by name.  Luckily, the pies themselves do come nicely labelled with ingredients, so I was able to uncover the answers (although not nutrition info, which is probably for the best!).

Fresh Baked

For delivery, Ikedas has 10 varieties of fresh baked pie available - 2 different apple pie variations (both streusel topped), pecan, and a slew of different berry options (all double crust).  All are 9". Interestingly, their popuular cobbler topped options aren't available fresh, only frozen.  If you visit in person, they have all of these, plus all the of the frozen ones available fresh, and plenty of others that aren't available for delivery at all (e.g. banana cream).

"Pies are pre-baked and can be enjoyed upon delivery up to three days at room temperature! Tip - Preheat Oven to 350F and reheat pie for 15 min to make crust crispy!"

I had a really, really hard time picking one variety of fresh pie.  I love a good blueberry pie.  Or a cherry pie. Or pecan.  And although I don't love blackberry, marionberry, with its smaller seeds, was definitely appealing.  And then there was the "razzleberry" or "tripleberry", and I wasn't quite sure what the different berries in each of these were.  Honestly, the only one not tempting me was the strawberry rhubarb, just due to childhood dislike of rhubarb always "ruining" my mom's homemade strawberry jam.

Tripleberry Pie. $29.99.

I settled on Tripleberry. I wasn't sure what was included in the tripleberry when I picked it, it was mostly an act of indecision.  It turns out, the triple berries are marion berries, raspberries, and blueberries.  This sounded like a good mix to me, so I wasn't unhappy to learn this fact.

Like the apple pie I had from Ikeda's before, this is a double crust pie.  I wasn't impressed with the crust when I had the pie back in 2016, but I was still excited for it this time.  I do love great crust.  Unfortunately, I don't really consider this great crust.  It again just wasn't particularly flaky, wasn't particularly buttery.  It tasted fresh enough, but was just barely a notch about grocery store crust.  It really let me down flavor and texture wise, but it was a well constructed pie, nicely sealed, and sorta looked like maybe a machine did the "crimping"?  So sadly, crust, 2.5/5.  If it matters to you they use vegetable shortening and butter in their crust (and I think a dash of vinegar and egg, as those are the last ingredients in the pie too).

Tripleberry: Cross section.

The filling is where my first Ikedas pie shined.  I was eager for the filling of this too.  I tried it both room temperature, and warmed in a 350* oven, as instructed.  The filling was ... ok.  It was fairly thick.  Nice mix of berries.  It was however really a sweet pie.  I appreciated that they didn't add any odd spicing, no citrus, but it was really too sweet to eat without equal parts ice cream and whipped cream.   The warm filling, with big scoop of vanilla ice cream (or even tart frozen yogurt), was slightly enjoyable, but, really, just too sweet for me.  Good consistency, too much added sugar for my tastes. 3/5 filling.

Overall, this pie let me down.  Yes, it was better than a generic grocery store pie, but certainly not rave worthy, and not what I expected given the accolades Ikedas gets.  I certainly finished my portion (sans some of the lackluster crust, plus extra ice cream), but didn't really want more.  Low 3/5 overall.

Frozen / Thaw & Serve

If you prefer to have your pie shipped frozen, there are three styles of pie available, either "thaw & serve", "thaw in fridge", or "take and bake".  The "thaw in fridge" range is the cream/custard pies, the "thaw & serve" is cobbler/streusel topped, and "take & bake" is the double crust fruit pies that require you to actually bake them.  Clear instructions are provided for each style.  I didn't order any of the take & bake pies, out of laziness.

Fruit Pies - Thaw & Serve

The thaw & serve fruit pies are all cobbler or streusel (in the case of the apple option) topped.  I'm not sure why they don't offer the double crust in a frozen thaw & serve varieties.  The thaw & serve pies just need to be thawed overnight*, and are ready to serve.  They include full instructions in case you want to get more complicated:

"Cobbler has already been pre-baked! All is needed is to thaw on the counter until it reaches room temperature (Approximately Overnight). We do not recommend it but if you must reheat a cobbler (MUST BE FULLY THAWED), carefully remove and save as much topping as possible in a separate container. Reheat cobbler at 350 for 15 min then "re-top" with the saved cobbler. This is to ensure the cobble does not get soft and gooey. Cobblers will last up to three days at room temperature!"

From this category, I was tempted by all the berry options again, but I couldn't resist the cherry cobbler.  I also ordered both apple options, given how good the other style of apple (double crust) I had tried previously was (which they either no longer make, or don't do for delivery?).  I was very curious to see how the "dutch" and "french" versions compared.

* I say they "just need to be thawed", but, really, the, uh, extensive packaging makes it a bit more work than that.  They come bubble wrapped and taped up,  and then plastic wrapped with multiple layers of plastic wrap (like the fresh pies), and then in a bag.  It takes several minutes to reach your bounty, but I'll admit, the packaging is effective, the pies looked relatively unscathed.

French Apple. $27.99.

"White sugar crumb top."

The first one I tried was the French apple.  This one is topped with a white sugar crumb topping (as opposed to the Dutch, which has brown sugar, I soon learned).  The crumble topping was incredibly generous, quite a thick layer, and I loved that there were little balls that broke off - I got to take an early taste test!

The topping was indeed delicious.  Sweet and simple, again no spicing, just flour/sugar/butter, but I really enjoyed it.  Delicious topping.  4.5/5.

French Apple: Cross Section.

The filling too I quite enjoyed.  And again, I think it was the simplicity that worked here.  No additional spicing, not even cinnamon, let alone other warming spices.  Just apples, sugar, food starch inside.  The apples were nice size chunks, no skins left on, lightly al dente, just the right amount of bite.  The filling was sweet but not overly so, and when combined with the sweet topping, it all just worked in harmony.  4.5/5 filling too.

The bottom crust was substantially better than the crust from the fresh triple berry pie, which really surprised me.  It was a light blond style, soft, and flavorful.  3.5/5 crust.

This is a high 4.5/5 overall, and again, one of the best apple pies I've had.  

Even though they say not to warm it, I did warm up some the next day, and served it with vanilla ice cream, and thought it was even more glorious.  Don't get me wrong, it was pretty much perfect room temperature too, but it was fantastic warmed up as well.

Dutch Apple: Wrapped.

Next I went for the Dutch apple, that looked ... totally identical, although it had a clear "D/A" on it, so, I'm assuming they got this right ...

Dutch Apple. $27.99.

"Brown sugar crumb top."

I wish I had saved a piece of the French apple to do a side by side comparison.  Because, truly, these looked, very very similar.  I did expect to see a much darker crumble topping, or taste more of the depth from the brown sugar compared to the white.  I guess it is light brown sugar?  But hey, I loved the French Apple, so this is not a complaint.

The pie tasted much the same as the French apple, as you'd expect.  The apples had a nice to bite them, and I liked the big hunks, no apple goo here.  Mild spicing (not even cinnamon?), no other players like nutmeg that can so easily overwhelm.  I think this is why I like Ikedas apple pies so much, they just allow the apples to shine.  4.5/5 filling.

The crumble top was again good, but perhaps not as magical as I had remembered from the French apple.  I liked how much crumble there was, and the sweetness it added, but it didn't totally blow me away.  The crust was again fine, a blond style, but not otherwise notable.  3.5/5.

So overall, a fantastic apple pie, but I did prefer the French apple (and maybe the double crust?).  Still, the filling alone makes this the best apple pie I know of, and nets it a strong 4/5 overall.

Cherry Cobbler. $27.99.

Next up, the cherry cobbler, which is really crumble.  I'll give them one slight demerit for calling it a cobbler when its really a crumble ...

It did look slightly worse for the wear once I defrosted it, but I wasn't particularly worried.  The cherry cobbler I believe uses the same crumble topping as the French apple (white sugar crumb topped).  It did have less topping than the apple (or maybe so much absorbed the juices it was harder to detect it).

To start, yup, that topping.  ZOMG, love it.  Sweet for sure, but simplicity done well.  Sugar, flour, butter, check!  Another delicious topping, I wish it had more bigger hunks of rubble.  4/5.

Cherry Cobbler: Inside.

Next, the filling.  Again not much besides the cherries in there (and a bit of cornstarch to thicken).  No spicing.  It was however very sweetened.  Borderline cloying sweet really.  I love the sweet crumble top, but that combined with this sweet filling was really overwhelming.   It really required at least equal parts ice cream or whipped cream (or, yogurt if stealing a slice for breakfast!) to pie.  The cherries were super juicy, I liked how much liquid was in it too, even if it made it messy.  If they had just added less sugar, this really would be a fantastic filling.  I have to knock it down a star though, just because, wow, it was sweet.  3/5.

The bottom crust was also fairly "eh".  It was soft and soggy.  Definitely a victim of the "thaw and serve" format, and the very juicy nature of this pie.  2/5 bottom crust.

So, overall, as served, 3/5, but if I did pair it with enough ice cream/whipped cream/frozen yogurt/yogurt I truly did enjoy it, 4/5 that way.

Thaw in Fridge / Cream Pies

Cream pie options are coconut, chocolate, or key lime.  Sadly, their banana cream is not available for delivery, only fresh in their store.

"Thaw in refrigerator over night or until completely defrosted. Pie is now ready to be served! Store in refrigerator. Cream Pies will last up to three days in the refrigerator!"

I love cream pies (although not generally key lime or other citrus), so I got one of each of the others.  These have very easy instructions, just, thaw in fridge overnight.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Cream Pie. $29.99.

Well, this one was a mess when I got it!

It was packaged nicely, in a protective plastic shell, but cream had oozed out all over inside the plastic holder, had crust broken off, and really just looked like a disaster.  I was sure it would still taste great, and I didn't care exactly, but I was planning to serve at an event, and couldn't quite bring myself to attempt to put it on a platter and somehow make it look presentable without an apology to the group.  Luckily, it still tasted good!

Dark Chocolate Truffle Cream Pie: Inside.

The chocolate pudding was the star of the show.  It was extremely thick, extremely rich, and indeed quite chocolately.  Not a bitter chocolate, but not overly sweetened.  It was decadent, and a little went a looooong way.  It made up the majority of the pie.  

The whipped cream on top was rich, tasted fresh, and was just lightly sweetened.  It was absolutely necessary to offset the richness of the chocolate pudding below.  The ratio was right for a normal cream pie, but I almost really needed this to be 50/50 pudding to cream given how rich it was, so I found myself using extra whipped cream in order to finish a slice.

The crust was a pale shortcrust style, not a buttery flaky pastry crust like you'd use with a fruit pie, or a graham or cookie crust as is sometimes used for a cream pie.  I liked it, and it went well with the deep, rich chocolate filling as something a bit more neutral.

Overall, looks aside, this was a very good pie, and I didn't mind using extra whipped cream to round it out.  I think I would prefer to have some dark chocolate shavings or chips, or perhaps some nuts sprinkled on top, but, that's just if I wanted it absolutely perfect, it was quite good as it was.  4/5.

This is the only pie that wasn't $27.99.  I'm not sure why chocolate is more expensive than fresh fruit?  We served 8 people comfortably, with just about 1/4 of the pie left.  It was excellent overall, but, wow, even for me, eating a proper "Parent family slice" would be impossible, so you can definitely get 10+ servings out of this.

Coconut Cream (Thaw in Fridge). $27.99.

Next up, coconut cream. 

Another one that was a total mess when it arrived.  Again, packaged nicely, but just totally a disaster in looks, with broken crust, cream leaking out everywhere, etc.  Again, it still tasted great, but, wow.

Coconut Cream ... uh ...

"Filled with coconut pudding and topped with homemade whipped cream, coconut flakes and placed into our homemade graham cracker crust!"

There aren't really words for this.  I couldn't tell the top from the bottom, the crust was that lost.  It seemed to have a graham cracker crust rather than the blond crust of the dark chocolate truffle one, although it definitely was not a crust at that point, as it was entirely mixed in.

Could I serve this as a pie?  Absolutely not.  But did I just scoop it out into nice clear cups and tell folks I got "coconut cream pie pudding parfaits"?  Yep.  Again, if it tastes good, no problem right?  But, wow.  

Anyway, it really was tasty.  Strong coconut flavor in the pudding, much more of a traditional pudding rather than the thick nature of the chocolate one.  Lots of cream that tasted fresh enough.  Little bits of soggy graham throughout that added some pleasant soft texture.  One guest actually thought that was a cake layer.  It was all sweet, very sweet, but not cloying.  I liked it best with blueberries and chocolate chips added to cut the sweetness a bit.

Overall, tasty to eat, amusing to look at, and I'd get it again.  Low 4/5.

Original Review, 2016

When I first moved to the Bay Area, one early lesson I learned was about rituals different folks have for driving to/from Tahoe in the winter.  And by rituals, I mostly mean coping mechanisms.  For many, the answer seems to be a stop at Ikeda's California Country Market (with locations in Davis and Auburn).

Ikeda's is a "country market"with gourmet food products including all the snacks you may need to survive the journey, plus a bakery, and a restaurant.  While all aspects of the business are well regarded, it is the bakery that people swoon over.  And, in particular the pies.  The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and serves basics like burgers, sandwiches, and shakes.  Plus, the pie.  Oh the pie.

Ikeda's has 17 different pies on the menu, mostly fruit pies (with a pumpkin thrown in there too).   Most of the pies are available with full top crusts or with crumble tops, which they call "cobbler pie" e.g., cherry pie or cherry cobbler pie.  Apple pies get special treatment, with 3 different varieties: regular, dutch, or french (do you know the difference of all of these?)

Ikeda's has been on my radar of places to visit when driving to/from Tahoe for years, but, I haven't actually done that trip in a long time, so somehow I still haven't ever made it, even though for dessert loving me, this was high on my list.  But, this season, one of my co-workers stopped on their way home one Sunday afternoon, and brought us a pie Monday morning.  For breakfast.  I didn't object.

Apple Pie.

"Fresh Granny Smith and Golden Delicious Apples picked from our own orchard a mile away from our Auburn location.  They are peeled, sliced, and baked to perfection in our in house bakery."

As I mentioned, Ikeda's has three varieties of apple pie, and it is the classic that my co-worker selected.

I'll be honest, apple pie is one of my least favorite pies.  I don’t really like apples.  And I’ll be honest, usually if my only option is apple pie, I’ll get the pie, and mostly eat just the crust.  I rarely bother finish the filling, as soggy apples just aren't my thing.

Enter Ikeda's apple pie.  The filling was clearly the appeal, sky high.  I started with the crust though, double crust.  It was … fine, but not remarkable.  Not particularly flaky or anything.

But the filling?  That WAS remarkable.  The apples were thinly sliced, and perfectly cooked, still a bit crisp.  I think the mushy quality of most apple pies is one of the reasons I rarely like it.  And the apples were still tart, granny smith was a great choice of apple for this pie.  The tart apples  complimented the sweet sauce they were in perfectly.  Now let’s talk about that sauce.  Sweet and cinnamon-y.  Thick and a bit gooey.  It totally coated the apples and was really, really tasty.

All together, this was a fabulous pie, and probably the best apple pie I've ever had.  I'd love to try another one of their pies, ideally, a variety that I would actually pick!

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Empire Cake, NYC

Update Review, Summer 2025 Visits

I was in New York more than a month before I encountered extra Empire Cake in the office.  Perhaps a record for me, as that office is usually the mecca of extra cake from my favorite place.  I was nearly about to actually, gasp, purchase some myself to satisfy the craving, but luckily someone came through - on my actual birthday no less! (Now, granted, it was to celebrate someone else's 10th year work anniversary, but that didn't stop me from pretending the cupcakes were for me!).  I was late to the party and only snagged the last bits, but I was still thrilled.  I was able to try three cupcakes, all flavors I'd never had before.  And two days later?  A full size cake (an actual birthday cake, uh, for a dog). The next week? Two more cakes.  Finally!

As always, I adored the cupcakes/cake, and continue to think Empire makes the best classic American high sugar/buttercream style cake in NY.

Cookies & Cream.

"Chocolate cake frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate cookie crumble."

Regular readers know how I feel about Oreos, and yet, I couldn't resist trying this final hunk of the cookies & cream cupcake.

It was a good cupcake, very moist, deep chocolate flavor, open crumb structure.  Sweet frosting that was a very creamy consistency.  I barely noticed the bit of cookie crumble on top and integrated into the frosting.  I still would prefer not cookies & cream, but this was good.  My least favoritei though.  3.5/5.

Strawberry Fields.

"Vanilla crème fraîche cake frosted with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and a dab of strawberry preserves."

Next up, this pretty pink one, which turned out to be strawberry.  I adore Empire's vanilla crème fraîche cake base in general, and this was no exception.  So moist, so tangy, love it.  And the swiss buttercream frosting excellent as always, again, fluffy, sweet but not cloying, well balanced in the butter levels, and bursting with strawberry flavor.  The dab of strawberry preserves accented that strawberry flavor even more.  My first time having this flavor, very big fan.  My favorite of the flavors I tried, and one I'd gladly get again.  4.5/5.

Bananas Foster.

"Banana cake frosted with cinnamon rum Swiss meringue buttercream and topped with a caramel drizzle and walnuts."

The last one I got was brownish, and clearly had caramel drizzled on top.  I assumed it was dulce de leche, a flavor I knew Empire makes, but it turned out to be ... bananas foster!  The cake itself was mildly banana flavored, subtle but definitely there.  Moist, good cake as all of theirs are.  The frosting was sweet and enjoyable, but I didn't really taste cinnamon nor rum.  The caramel drizzle on top was super sweet, and definitely did make this more bananas foster like.

But ... this cupcake had more than the description said, and more than I realized it would have.  The center was a core of sweet dulce de leche adjacent gooey goodness.  Yes, it made this whole thing very sweet, but it was quite good.  My only criticism of this cupcake is that it really wasn't strong in the bananas department, which was fine, but if you were looking for bananas foster, you'd find it a bit lacking.  Low 4/5.

Very Vanilla.

"Our moist vanilla crème fraîche cake filled and frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

And then, actual cake!

The birthday cake was just the very vanilla, which, yes, is simple and very vanilla, but I do love their cake, and this was no exception.

The cake was moist, and had Empire's signature tang from the crème fraîche.  I adore their buttercream, yes, just vanilla in this case, but not too sweet, great balanced butter/sugar, and, very importantly, plenty of it.

4/5, a very reliable third pick for me.

Very Vanilla.

Another day, another slice of very vanilla.  The layers weren't particularly even (the cake or the frosting), so I'm sure a judge on a baking competition would seriously dock them for that, but I didn't mind.  Same great cake and frosting as before, and the ratios still totally worked, plenty of buttercream in every bite.  4/5.

Black Forest.
(Deluxe)

"Chocolate cake layered with kirsch brandy-marinated Morello cherries and crème légère, frosted with dark Belgian chocolate ganache."

I recognized this cake immediately, as I had it last year.  The only Empire Cake that doesn't have their amazing buttercream between the layers and on the outside, but rather, uses the crème légère within, and very thick dark Belgian chocolate ganache on the outside.  I gleefully took a giant slice of cake, and of course, lots of the debris hunks of that excellent ganache that fell off.  I don't understand the humans who leave all that goodness behind!

It was exactly as I remembered.  Moist, deeply chocolately, yet somehow light chocolate cake.  Insanely rich dark chocolate ganache, such a thick layer of it.  Plenty of crème légère to balance out all the richness.  I do really love Empire Cake's buttercream, but the lightness here is needed to combat the intense chocolate nature of the cake/ganache.  And of course fancy cherries on top as decoration AND within the layers.  They were super soaked in kirsche, and nicely boozy.

Put it all together, and this is a fantastic cake, and a great pick when I don't want buttercream.  4/5, maybe even 4.5/5, my second favorite I had this trip.

Update Review, December 2024 Visit

It used to be, without fail, that when I visited my NY office, some group would have an extra cake or cupcakes from Empire Cake, several times a week.  Literally.  But the past two visits I didn't encounter *any* stray Empire Cake goodies.  Yes, I had other cupcakes (like from Buttercup Bake Shop) and other cake (like from Mia's), but not from Empire.  So I broke down an picked up a simple vanilla cupcake myself.

It remains my favorite place for cake and cupcakes.  No question.

Very Vanilla. $4.25.

"Our moist vanilla crème fraîche cake frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

Love these damn cupcakes.  Moist, dense cake that is sweet and slightly tangy, and has such strong vanilla flavor.  Love the sweet but not cloying buttercream.  Love love love.  Simplicity perfected. ****+.

Update Review, August & October 2023 visits

Whenever I used to visit my New York office, I kid you not, I discovered extra Empire Cakes cupcakes or full size cakes in our microkitchens every single time. Usually this would happen on my first day there, and often nearly every day thereafter.  Everyone seemed to order from Empire Cakes (which, makes sense, it is right across the street), and everyone seemed to always be having celebrations, and copious leftovers.  I'm sure if I worked there normally, I'd get a bit sick of Empire Cakes eventually, but for me as a visitor, this was such a treat.  I really, really like Empire Cakes, definitely the best I've had in New York, and some of my favorite cake from anywhere really.  I've liked nearly every flavor, and every format, I've tried.  It is just my style of cake.  If you prefer a lighter, less sweet sponge cake and minimal or very fluffy frosting, this isn't the place for you, but for moist, dense, American style butter cake, it is perfection.  And, swoon, that buttercream.  

So when I recently visited New York for the first time since 2019 (damn that pandemic!), and I didn't encounter any Empire Cake the first two days, I was a bit sad.  But, my luck all changed by day 3, and then again on day 4.  And day 6.  And 7.  And the next week. Phew.  And, I was thrilled to see that I do still absolutely adore this cake!

Cakes

The most common goods I find are abandoned layer cakes, from a party of some kind.  I'm always thrilled the actual attendees don't seem to have great cake appetites.

Chocolate On Vanilla.

"Vanilla crème fraîche cake with our rich Belgian chocolate buttercream filling and frosting."

Oh, this cake.  Just as good as I remembered.  Even the simple chocolate on vanilla.

The cake was perfectly moist, dense, sweet, buttery, slight tang from the crème fraîche.  Exactly my style of cake.  I could almost even just eat the cake, no frosting nor ice cream pairing needed.  Which is really saying something for me, a person who usually sees cake just as a vessel for frosting.  ****+, simple cake, but, fantastic.

And then, the buttercream.  This isn't a light, fluffy buttercream, but rather, a more firm style.  Which might not sound great, but I really like it.  I even like it straight from the fridge, when it is super firm, although, letting it warm up a bit is best.  The chocolate flavor here was mild, and the buttercream was sweet but not cloying.  Again, simple, but just how I like it, ****+.  I also appreciated the ratio of frosting filling and topping to cake.

<3 this cake!

Liliko'i (Passionfruit). *Deluxe*

"Vanilla crème fraîche cake layered with passion fruit curd and frosted with a light coconut Swiss meringue buttercream."

Another day, another abandoned Empire Cake in the kitchen.  This time, a flavor I haven't yet tried: lilikoi!

This one had the same excellent moist vanilla cake, but also a curd filling and different buttercream frosting.  It was interesting that the passionfruit curd didn't go all the way through the layers, rather, it was in the center 60% of the cake, with buttercream around the outer part.  I've never seen a layer cake broken down that way before.  It made for some very fruity bites (any from the center) and some great buttercream bites (from the edges), and I liked being able to pick my own adventure that way.

Anyway, the curd was tangy but sweet, lovely passionfruit flavor.  No seeds though, I kinda wished it had those for some crunch or to make the curd seem more "real".  Still, quite creamy and enjoyable.   The buttercream was softer and fluffier than most I've had from Empire Cakes - maybe the host hadn't refrigerated this one at all?  I still quite liked the buttercream - as always with their buttercream, a nice balance of butter, cream, and sugar.  The coconut flavor came through well.  Together, this all combined to a tropical island feel.

This wasn't my favorite of the Empire Cakes I've had (I'm not generally one for fruity cakes, or coconut in cakes), but, it was well made.  Like most of the more interesting cakes with fillings other than just buttercream, this is a "deluxe" offering, so priced a bit higher.  ****.

Black Forest Cake. *Deluxe*.

"Three layers of chocolate cake filled with kirsch brandy-marinated Morello cherries and crème légère, frosted with dark Belgian chocolate ganache."

This is the first Empire Cake I had that didn't have their incredible buttercream frosting.  Instead, the exterior was covered in very thick, very rich, dark chocolate fudge.  I was thrilled to see so much extra "debris" left behind by others, as that fudge-y frosting really could make a dessert in itself.  It paired wonderfully with my afternoon coffee for a little pick me up!  But, beware, richness abounds in that fudge! ****.

The cake was the same as other Empire chocolate cakes.  Always a reliably good cake.  ***+.

And then, the filling.  I didn't know what cake this was when I tried it, and I was describing the white cream to co-workers as "it is sorta like whipped cream, just a touch thicker.  Not nearly as heavy as a pastry cream though, and definitely not buttercream.  It is lighter, than those, but more stable ...".  Turns out, it is crème légère, which is literally crème pâtissière that's lightened by folding through whipped cream.  It was exactly the contrast this cake needed against the very decadent and thick fudge ganache coating.  Perfect level of light sweetness too.  I really liked this element. ****.

And finally, the cherries.  Yup, a bit boozy, soft due to soaking.  I don't actually love black forest flavors in general, and at first I thought there was just the cherries on top, but I kept finding them throughout, so I think they were within the layers as well.  I'd rather not have these, but that is just a personal thing, and clearly what make it black forest in the first place.

Overall, I was happy to try something different from Empire, and as always, it is their frosting/filling that really shines.  ****.

Cupcakes

Less common to find are cupcakes, but they made several appearances as well.   I do prefer the layer cakes, as I think the cakes are generally a bit more moist, and the frosting to cake ratio even more in the frosting's favor (my style!), but, the cupcakes are still top notch.  

Chocolate on Chocolate.

"Our moist chocolate cake with a rich Belgian chocolate buttercream frosting."

I had this as a day-old leftover from someone else's party, so it wasn't particularly fresh.  That said, I did still absolutely love that buttercream - the texture, the flavor, everything.  I love it.  It is best soft at room temperature, but I do even like it when refrigerated and a bit hard.  <3.  ***+.

Chocolate on Chocolate #2.

A few weeks later, another party, more cupcakes, this time fresh.  

The cake was light and fluffy, great cocoa flavor.  <3 the buttercream.  A very good chocolate cupcake. ***+.

Very Vanilla.

"Our moist vanilla crème fraîche cake frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

This is the cupcake that shows you that vanilla on vanilla is not boring and basic.  The crème fraîche in the cake makes all the difference, giving it a slight tang. Truly great vanilla cake.  The cake is always moist and enjoyable, and, swoon, that frosting.  Sweet and perfect consistency.

I truly cannot fault a thing about this cupcake.  ****+.

Pistachio Praline.

"Vanilla crème fraîche cake frosted with pistachio Swiss meringue buttercream and a sprinkle of pistachio praline."

Finally!  The pistachio praline cupcake.  This flavor was at the top of my list of flavors to try when I finally ordered from Empire myself, rather than relying on the leftovers from other events.  This was for Chrome's 15th birthday party, and we had them customized with the Chrome dino game dino with a Google "Noogler" hat on.

I was slightly let down by the pistachio praline cupcake.  It was a very good cupcake, don't get me wrong, but, I wanted a stronger pistachio element.  The base of this was the regular (great, but plain) vanilla crème fraîche cake, rather than a pistachio cake.  Standard, very good, basic cake.  The toppingg is where the pistachio elements came in to play.  The buttercream had a reasonable mild pistachio flavor (and light green color), and the sprinkle of praline added a touch of crunch and of course a bit more pistachio flavor.  

I really did like the very sweet fondant custom printed topping too.  Mmm, sugar!

So, overall, good, quality Empire cake, but, not dramatically better than the very vanilla.  I think a pistachio cake, or maybe some pistachio paste filling, would really amp this up.  ****.

Gluten-Free Chocolate w/ Vanilla Buttercream.

"Our moist gluten-free chocolate cake with either a rich Belgian chocolate or vanilla buttercream frosting."

We also had gluten-free cupcakes available, and there were plenty extra.  I tried one, as it had been a few years since I had the gluten-free ones.

The gluten-free cake really was good too. Slightly lighter than the regular one, but, I liked it just as much.  Good cocoa flavor.  And of course, I just adore that buttercream.  This one sorta reminded me of cookies and cream, in a good way (I'm not usually a lover of Oreos or Oreo-adjacent things).

This is a gluten-free treat that gluten eaters will never notice.  ****.

Cookies

Most of my encounters with Empire Cake have been with, well, their namesake cake, but I also finally got a chance to try some of their cookies.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

This cookie might not look like anything special, but it was great.  Perfectly soft, slight chew.  Great peanut butter flavor.  Plenty of sugar and butter.  Little chips.

A very satisfying, totally normal size, unassuming cookie. ****.

Callebaut chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon.

A very standard coconut macaroon, with the bottom dipped in high quality dark Callebaut chocolate.  The coconut is shredded, sweetened, and bound together well.  Very coconut forward taste, which you'd expect, and overall quite sweet, a bit too much for without pairing with a black coffee.  The dark chocolate was fabulous.

Overall, good execution of a classic, albeit a touch sweet for me.  ***+.

Original Review, August 2021

It seems that every time I visit the New York office, I encounter Empire Cake.  Probably because it is located close by my office, and they make custom items.  Admins love it for easily getting special goodies for the team.  And because it is good.  Really good.

"Empire Cake brings you the best in American baking with a gourmet twist. We feature fresh-baked cakes, cupcakes, cookies, breakfast pastries, brownies and bars, and sophisticated versions of classic snack treats, including our own “twinkies,” “snowballs” and Swiss rolls."

Every single cake or cupcake I have had from Empire has been good.  Moist, sweet, flavorful cakes, and that buttercream!  Swoon, the buttercream.  I just can't get over it.  

Setting

The bakery is, literally, across the street from my office.  It was easy for me to go check out in person.

Store Front.

The front of the store is quite inviting, with huge cakes in the window, although, alas, those are not real.

Cupcakes.

However, there are plenty of real ones once you step inside!  Cases and cases of goodies.  The cupcakes are what seem to show up constantly in my office.

Other Goodies.

They also make standard cakes, assorted bars, and some fun novelty items, like snowballs and swiss rolls!

Cupcakes at the Office.

It still shocks me that, literally, something like 80% of the time I visit the NYC office I find cake or cupcakes from Empire Cake in a microkitchen.  I know the boxes now well.  This is a very normal sighting - extra cupcakes, free for the taking!

Cakes & Cupcakes

Given the name, Empire Cake, it should come as no surprise that cakes are their speciality.  Available in many sizes, many tiers, many flavors, all sorts of customizations, buttercream or fondant decorated, etc.  I'd love to see their wedding cakes sometime!

The cakes all feature one signature thing: buttercream.

"Buttercream is what you’ll commonly see on many traditional cakes.  It is made primarily of butter, egg whites and sugar.  At Empire Cake we make a Swiss Meringue Buttercream which has a silky, delicious taste and will allow for a nice, smooth finish on your cake."

Yes, most cakes have buttercream frosting, but ... the buttercream at Empire Cake, uh, takes the cake for being the best I've ever had.  The quality of their sourcing, local butter and cream, is apparent, as is the commit to quality throughout, like using fresh seasonal produce from the Union Square Greenmarket. 

July 2018

My first encounter was in July 2018 when I walked through a microkitchen and found a bunch of cupcakes, many only halves or quarters remaining.  I remember trying a few kinds, including a shockingly good gluten-free one.  I liked them enough that I paid attention to the brand, so I was rather thrilled a few days later when the event I was attending had cake ... from Empire Cake!

All The Cakes: Vanilla, Carrot, Red Velvet, Chocolate, and Raspberry Lemon.

The event was large, and our hosts went all out, ordering 5 massive, supersized, cakes.

These cakes had a huge diameter, and were 3 very thick layers tall.  Slicing off "just a small piece" of any of them was impossible, comical even.

We ... didn't come remotely close to finishing them.  I took some extra back to hotel and had it as midnight snacks most nights.

Very Vanilla:
"Our moist vanilla crème fraîche cake filled and frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

Carrot:
"Spiced organic carrot cake with pecans, layered and covered with cream cheese frosting."

Red Velvet:
"Our moist red velvet cake filled and frosted with cream cheese frosting."

Raspberry Lemon:
"Vanilla crème fraîche cake layered with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream and lemon curd filling, covered with raspberry buttercream."

Seriously so much cake!

I had them all, and didn't take notes at the time, but my favorite was the carrot, loaded up with goodies/nuts/raisins/pineapple/etc.  But I remember liking them all, and again, zomg, that buttercream.

October 2018

The next time I was visiting the office, my very first day, basically the same experience as in July.  Walking through a microkitchen and ...

Box for Cupcakes.

Yup, boxes of cupcakes!

And these ones *weren't* all cut up.  They did have only simple vanilla and chocolate left, but I was still pleased to find them.

Two days later?  Same thing.  Ones does not need to look hard for Empire Cake in this office.

Very Vanilla.

"Our moist vanilla crème fraîche cake frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

I started with a simple, classic "Very Vanilla".  It was a good cupcake.  Seriously, for a cupcake, this was great.  Sweet dense moist well made cake.  As good as a vanilla cake is going to be.  The creme fraiche clearly helps make it good.

On top?  Perfectly sweet fluffy buttercream.  And plenty of it.  That buttercream is really shockingly good.  But yes, sweet sweet sweet.

I really enjoyed this, enough so that I took a second cupcake (a different kind!), and I had literally just had other dessert before it ... thank you, random team, for having extra cupcakes!

Very Vanilla.

Two days later ... more cupcakes.  Another event.  More extra cupcakes.

I gladly snagged a vanilla, this time with blue icing and a different fondant topper, but still, the same cupcake essentially.

I again adored the frosting, and I think the blue color made me enjoy it even more.  I know that sound silly but ... I loved it!

Vanilla on Chocolate.

"Chocolate cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream."

Next I had the chocolate cake version, same incredible buttercream.

The chocolate cake was also good, it had an interesting flavor to it, a bit of a tang almost?  I think I preferred the vanilla though.

Vanilla on Chocolate.

Two days later, yup, more of the cupcakes.

This time, I preferred the chocolate to the vanilla.  But my preference is slight, as both versions are truly wonderful.

The blue buttercream was again just slightly more fun.

GF Vanilla on Chocolate.

"Our moist gluten-free chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting."

And finally, since there were plenty of these still left at the end of the day, I opted for the gluten-free one, remembering that the gluten-free cupcakes I tried before were actually quite good.

It too had the same great frosting, and looked almost like the regular chocolate, but was a darker brown.

It too was good, and honestly, I would have never guessed it was gluten-free.  Such good cupcakes.

Hazelnut Cake. (Oct 2018).

"Vanilla crème fraîche cake filled and frosted with hazelnut Swiss meringue buttercream and hazelnut praline, topped with a bittersweet chocolate glaze."

And then ... yes, that same visit, just a few days later ... a cake!  This was also very good.

Same moist tangy creme fraiche based cake, this time with the same style of incredible fluffy sweet buttercream, just, nutty hazelnut flavored.  Loved it.  The chocolate glaze complimented it well.

I first thought this was peanut butter and chocolate, but once I learned it was hazelnut it made more sense.

Very tasty cake, would gladly eat again.

July 2019

I can't make this up.  Seriously, every visit to the office, cupcakes.

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes.

These all had orange colored buttercream, but it was just plain vanilla, not flavored in any way.

I adored the buttercream as always, soooo generously applied, and sweet and buttery and tasty.

The vanilla cake was good, very sweet, moist enough, but not quite as magical as I had remembered.

The chocolate however?  OMG.  So very good.  Rich, dense, chocolately, and balanced nicely by the super sweet buttercream.  This place makes me like cupcakes!

Uh, congrats "Vector" team?  And thank you.

Classic Treats

"We are well known for our homemade, gourmet versions of classic American treats, which have been featured in such publications as The New York Times, New York Daily News, and Martha Stewart Weddings, and even presented by Whoopi Goldberg to Jimmy Fallon on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon!"

It was hard to stray from the cupcakes and cakes, but when I actually visited the bakery myself, in person, to purchase some goodies, I decided to expand my horizons and try some "classic treats". These treats range from homemade Twinkies, to Swiss Rolls, to Snowballs. or, you know, their take on them. 

My Goodies.

Since I didn't plan to eat them right away, I wanted something that would hold up ok a few days, although, I knew from plenty of experience, that the cupcakes do hold up absolutely fine for a couple days in the fridge.

Still, I wanted to branch out.

I went for a couple items, really just impulse shopping at this point.

Snack Cakes (Homemade "Twinkies")

The item I've been eyeing on Instagram is the snack cakes, basically, their version of Twinkies: cakes filled with a cream filling and covered in a white or milk chocolate coating.  I was told these would hold up even better than cupcakes.

The snack cakes were available in a few flavors, including Brooklyn Blackout, Red Velvet, and a Pride special Funfetti version.

Red Velvet.

"Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling, dipped in Belgian white chocolate."

I couldn't remember if I liked the red velvet before, but I knew I really liked the carrot cake, and that had cream cheese frosting, so, I mostly selected the red velvet to try the cream cheese frosting again.  Also, I wanted a white chocolate shell rather than milk.

The white chocolate shell was fine, pretty standard white chocolate, thicker than I expected, sweet.

Red Velvet: Inside.

Inside, the cream stuffed cake.

I was hoping for more cream cheese filling inside.  I realize now this is still a totally reasonable filling amount, but, I adore the frosting from Empire Cake so much, and I appreciate their usual ratio of very generous frosting, so, this was far less filling compared to the usual frosting, which left me wishing I had a cupcake.

The cake seemed more dense as well, and I wasn't really into the red velvet flavor.

I ... wished I had gotten a cupcake.  The snack cake didn't seem to be the thing for me.

Funfetti.

"Confetti cake filled with cake batter frosting, dipped in white chocolate & drizzled with rainbow colors."

But I also opted for the fun Pride themed snack cake, Funfetti!  Of course, I got this before I tried any snack cake, and didn't realize I wasn't a fan of the form factor.

I wasn't drawn in by the rainbow colors exactly, but I do generally like a good funfetti cake, and also, I really wanted to try the cake batter frosting.

The shell on this was the same thick white chocolate, this time drizzled with rainbow colors.

Funfetti: Inside.

The filling amount was pretty much the same as the red velvet too - the amount appropriate for a Twinkie, but, not nearly as much as I wanted.  The blue color was fun, and I liked the colors in the funfetti cake.  Clearly, this was a fun item.

But ... it was much like the other snack cake.  The cake was fine, dense, fairly standard cake.  The frosting amount was too minimal to really taste.  I can't say I tasted birthday cake. 

The snack cakes are cute, but ... I'm a frosting girl, so these aren't what I'd go for again.

Cookies

"Our cookie selection changes daily, but some of our most popular are classic chocolate chip cookies with Callebaut chocolate, walnut thumbprints with apricot or raspberry jam, Russian tea cakes, oatmeal raisin cookies, molasses ginger snaps, rainbow sprinkle sugar cookies, cinnamon sugar snickerdoodles, and the “8th Avenue”—our almond-flour cookies with dried fruit and nuts."

I'm not a cookie person.  You know this.  I know this.

Cookies Galore.

It wasn't until I visited the shop that I learned that, along with cupcakes and cakes obviously, cookies are a big focus of Empire Cake's offerings.

I wasn't drawn in by most of them, but on the bottom shelf were cookie sandwiches, filled with buttercream.  Swoon, that buttercream.  I almost went for one of those, but the cookies themselves really didn't look special.

Plus, I had read many reviews of the black and white cookies.  People love them.  Available in several sizes, including mini.  How could I not at least try a mini?

Mini Black & White Cookie.

"Our Pride inspired white chocolate covered "Black and White" rainbow cookies are available all month!! Come taste the rainbow!!"

The black and white cookies are normally, well, black and white, but for Pride, in addition to the classic black and whites, they had several different rainbow color choices.  I went for purple, just because.

This is the mini size, a regular size, and larger size, are also available.

It was ... boring.  It was much like the snack cake, but, without frosting at all.  Just plain cake, and white chocolate coating.  Very uninteresting, even though the white chocolate was good quality.

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