This week I was asked to partake in a battle akin to that of David and Goliath: Connor’s Critic Cake vs. the Tart Tin Celebration Cake.
The clear Goliath of this pairing is the Tart Tin. The Tart Tin is a boutique bakehouse that overlooks Queens Gardens, revered for their use of fresh local ingredients and impeccable taste. Since opening in 2007, they have been a baked goods institution. Connor, on the other hand, is one of our resident video directors. He featured in the food column last year with his banging nachos recipe, so is theoretically on home soil. While the Tart Tin is described as an institution, Connor is self-described as an “aspiring baker with zero skills and no natural talent”. Whatever skills he lacks he sure makes up for in passion.
Connor looked nervous on the day of the tasting, and I was told he was avoiding being in the office for the event. Trying to ease his nerves, I mused that any cake I don’t have to bake is already a great cake. While the sentiment was nice, I later went on to eat my words – literally – and wish I had baked one for my colleagues myself.
The tasting began with our Editor Nina pulling out two pieces of cake. Connor’s on a napkin, and the Tart Tin on a plate with a gold fork. I’m serious – a gold fork.
First impressions were good: two pretty cakes, covered in icing and sprinkles. Can’t go wrong with something covered in icing and sprinkles, right? Wrong. The actual cake part of Connor’s cake wasn’t bad looking. It channeled a hue of pink that sang ‘retro is back’, and had a clear crumb with some pockets of air hopefully meaning a good fluffy cake. There was one major elephant in the room that I will just leave for a moment – the middle was sunken and raw. Now, back to icing and sprinkles! The sprinkles were fun, a nice pastel mix of colours that went great with the colour of the cake. Icing was a little on the grainy side (I later found out he misread the recipe and used normal sugar, not icing) but I guess it worked with the rustic, retro vibe of the cake. Upon closer inspection, there was very low icing to cake cohesion, while only mildly confusing at the time, proved to be a sign of bad things to come.
The Tart Tin cake was gorgeous. A beautiful golden vanilla sponge, covered in a bright buttercream icing, bordered with rosettes and absolutely covered in 100s & 1000s sprinkles. It was filled with layers of custard and a dark purple berry compote in the centre. The crumb of this cake looked very different to Connor’s. It was fluffy and consistent in its texture yet had a clear substance to it. It was clear I was dealing with a heavy hitter. Everything about this bake was pure quality.
First bite went to the Tart Tin, I couldn’t resist. The tasting experience was fantastic, a delicious vanilla flavour with a luxurious mouth-feel from that creamy thick custard. I went back in for bite number two, gunning straight for that berry compote and as much of that butter cream as my little golden fork could handle. Boy oh boy, that compote was divine, a nice tartness to offset the creaminess of the custard, yet not so much to make you squint. I found myself wishing for more of the berry compote in the middle and a little less custard to make it a bit fresher. My main criticism from the tasting was the sprinkles. While I appreciate the look of them, the crunch of sprinkle in every icing mouthful was a little much. It kind of reminded me of chocolate chips in ice-cream. I love the idea, but also just wish they would melt faster and stop getting stuck in my teeth. Overall, the Tart Tin Celebration cake was delicious and I was itching to finish the piece!
Next on to Connor’s. While I couldn’t wait to get into the Tart Tin cake I should’ve heeded the advice to save the best to last. As my golden fork got stuck in, it struggled slightly. There was a confusing combination of undercook in the middle and overcook on the outside. Nevertheless, I persevered and got a decent bite in. The texture of the cake itself was okay and tasted faintly of vanilla. Shockingly my highlight was the icing and sprinkles. The icing was sweet and gave the cake some much needed moisture, alongside sprinkles that didn’t overload the bite with crunch; Tart Tin, take some notes. While not a textbook bake, the care and time taken by Connor to celebrate Critic’s birthday shone through.
Despite the good sprinkle texture, pretty colour, and good vibes there wasn’t much else for me to do with Connor’s cake than to clean off my golden fork, push away the napkin and tuck back into my Tart Tin Celebration cake.
Happy Birthday Critic! And keep up the passion Connor, you'll crack the baking market one day.