chocolate cake

Chocolate cake at Boucla – Subiaco

by Sab on October 8, 2011

The chocolate cake was so delicious – the slightly tart flavour of the berries on top helped to cut through the sweetness of the rich chocolate icing and chocolate cake beneath. The cake was slightly burned on the outside, however this was not a bad thing at all, the thin shell of caramelised crust along the bottom edge was delicious.

As usual, I ordered peppermint tea (not pictured), which helped to prevent the cloying sweetness that sets in with most cakes. I ate just over third of this portion with relish and would gladly return to try another cake there!

Quick summary of my visit:

What I didn’t like: Milk and chocolate spilled in the bottom of tea glass, cramped seating, staff very busy.
What I liked: What I ordered was good (chocolate cake and herbal tea), interesting decor and trinkets to look at whilst dining.

Just a random story - I went up to the two guys in the background of the first photo, told them I would be taking a photo but assured them that they would be blurred out and not to worry. One of the guys smiled and said “yeah suuure, we get that all the time.” Heh.

Have you been to Boucla? If so, what did you like about it? :)

See also: The Breakfast at Boucla post I made when I returned for breakfast the week following!

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Chocolate cake at San Churros – Subiaco

by Sab on July 5, 2011

I met up with Aimee at San Churros last week. The store was not too busy mid-Friday afternoon and the place had a very relaxed and pleasant vibe with people sitting alone reading the paper, or doing some work on a laptop in the window. I like places that are suitable for lone rangers to go and chill out.

I was slightly hesitant to meet at San Churros at first because although the churros there are well made (light and crisp), they are just not something I particularly like. I can’t stomach the hot chocolates at San Churros either, they are WAY too rich for my tastes. I don’t like to waste caloric intake on unhealthy foods that I don’t *really* want, however, Aimee assured me the cakes were delicious.

For my drink, I opted for a mint tea, as I wanted something warm and refreshing that didn’t have chocolate in it and I do not drink coffee. The tea was lovely and had a strong mint flavour.

Here is the latte that Aimee (with lovely hands) ordered – the bottom layer is sweet condensed milk, you mix it into the drink yourself, which is part of the fun!

I ordered what I think was called the Big Fat Chocolate Cake. I was taken aback when they asked what chocolate sauce I wanted with the cake. Does chocolate cake ever need chocolate sauce!? The friendly guy behind the counter suggested dark chocolate and although I was hesitant to add more chocolate into the mix, I tried it and it did taste pretty good with the cake. The cake was very moist, icing was also tasty (not overly sweet) and it wasn’t too rich – somehow I managed to eat just over half of the slice.

Water was a necessessity in spacing out mouthfuls of chocolatey cake. I usually carry bottled water with me to restaurants in case they do not provide it / only provide one glass / there is poor service but I was pleasantly surprised to find free self-serve water in the corner of the cafe. Beware of drinking too much water though, there is no toilet in the cafe and the nearest one is a little trek around the block.

The last time I visited San Churros, I had both a hot chocolate AND a plate of churros to share with someone, which resulted in major regret and sugar coma without much taste payoff because the chocolate overload becomes samey very quickly. I’m really glad that this time, neither of those items were part of my experience. I’m not in a hurry to go back because I rarely go out for cake, but if I wanted to indulge, I would consider it. I’d need someone to share the cake with though ;)

There is a growing number of San Churros in Perth – Fremantle, Subiaco, Leederville, Hillarys, Rockingham, and soon there will be one opening in Northbridge! They are all over the place and everyone I know seems to love that place a whole lot more than I do, so there is no doubt I will end up back there again soon.

What’s your favourite thing to order at San Churros?

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Little Miss Cupcakes – Kalamunda

by Sab on June 21, 2011

On our adventure to Kalamunda after visiting the Last Drop Tavern, Tom and I meandered across Haynes Street to Little Miss Cupcakes. We went in there intending to buy one cupcake each and somehow ended up getting five because they all looked so good.

From left to right: 1. chocolate butterfly cupcake, 2. chocolate sprinkle heart cupcake, 3. carrot and walnut cupcake (at the back) and 4. snickers choc mud cupcake.

Tom thought it would be a good idea to get vanilla butterfly cupcake (pictured bottom right) because there was a lot of chocolate in our box. I can assure you that a sweet vanilla cupcake smothered in luscious buttercream does not really provide much of a palate cleanser between mouthfuls of chocolate cupcake ;)

Vanilla butterfly cupcake (below): Very light and fluffy cupcake with airy buttercream that was sugary, but thankfully not too sweet. There was restraint with the sugar put into both the cake mixture and icing – as a result, the cupcake was much easier to eat.

The snickers choc mud cupcake (below): It was very rich, as you’d expect from looking at this vertically sculpted chocoholic’s dream. The cupcake was very rich and sweet and the icing (chocolate ganache?) was also very rich and sweet. Combined, it was too much for my tastes but I suspect that was the point of the cupcake and many others would enjoy this creation. It’s definitely worth a try, it was the most eye-catching cupcake in the store.

Carrot and walnut cupcake (below): Carrot cake base topped with sweet cream cheese frosting topped with a sprinkling of walnuts. I am a huge fan of carrot cake (and walnuts) but often find that carrot cakes from stores are too dense, almost fruit-cake in consistency. However, this cupcake was pleasantly light in consistency. The cream cheese frosting, albeit extremely sweet, was a delicious counterpoint to the cake.

Chocolate sprinkle heart cupcake (below): A light chocolate cake topped with a chocolate sprinkle heart, nestled in a swirl of buttercream. I did not eat this cupcake, Tom consumed it while I wasn’t looking. Tom said that the cupcake was a lighter version compared with the choc mud, which was a welcome change.

The chocolate butterfly cake (not pictured below because we got impatient with photographing and moved onto eating) has the same cake base and buttercream as the chocolate sprinkle heart cupcake. It tasted quite similar to the vanilla butterfly cupcake, the chocolate flavour was obvious but nice and light.

I took a few snaps of the beautiful store while I was there:

And some from the outside, of the front display!

This stand packed with pretty white cupcakes looked like they were waiting to be picked up for a wedding.

I’d eat here again if I wanted cupcakes and I was around Kalamunda. Particularly, I’d be keen to have more of the vanilla butterfly cupcake and carrot cupcake :)