So, yesterday, we head to my in-laws who always put a great holiday feast on the table. We had a tasty ham surrounded by a nice variety of sides (homemade applesauce, fresh veggies, casseroles, etc). As nice as dinner is, dessert is by no means neglected, no no no, plus there's always a pattern to it. My mom-in-law has a different cheesecake: this holiday was an Oreo cheesecake that was quickly devoured. Next, my dad-in-law always puts at least one fruit pie on the table: this time is was an excellent apple crumb pie (nice and cold, just like my ice cream). Does it stop there? Of course not! We also have the alternating dish: could be anything really, and this time it was the Strawberry Passion Ice Cream Cake.
Strawberry passion is one of the six Signature Cakes from CSC. It was an 8" round that supposedly serves 14, though it's marked off into 6 sections (don't ask me why). I took 2/3 of one of these sections and gave the other third to my daughter...who had no interest in it. I was shocked really. She had a few bites, then grabbed a few of the cookies that were infront of her, didn't like those, then ran off to sit with her auntie who was right next to a big plate of these powdery cookies. Apparently those cookies were good since all that was left was a little powdery face and a smile....but no matter, this is not a cookie blog, it's all about the ice cream! strawberry ice cream layered with red velvet cake! don't forget the strawberry frosting and a ring of graham cracker chunks.This cake looks fantastic! I just wanted to pull the whole thing in front of me and eat to my hearts content. That, of course, would probably be a bad idea in the long run. So, I went with just a slice and dug in. I like it, I don't love it, but I like it. There's a layer of strawberry puree in the middle and the consistency throws me off a bit when I bit into the cake. Maybe I should have let it thaw a little longer, but hey, that's something to keep in mind when you buy this cake. Sure, it's $27.50 (before coupon), but you have to try it at least once. I'd probably recommend it as a birthday cake, because whoever gets it should really be impressed since the presentation, at least to a die hard ice cream fan, it fantastic...Oh, I already said that didn't I?
So presentation is great. Taste is good. I think I'd almost like a bit more frosting on it. I think the last few bites, the ones with a great frosting to cake ratio, were the most enjoyable. I was just enjoying my cake, thinking it was good, then i had those last 4 bites and the little switch in my brain turned on and told me to cut another slice. I didn't though, I finished with a small slice of the apple crumb pie instead.
One side note: In the CSC picture, it looks like there are graham cracker chunks in the cake itself, but I didn't notice this yesterday.
Woohoo!! Post #250!!
While I'm a trained pastry cook, it's needless to say that times around here are difficult and one should take whatever job opportunity they should get. So I was considering a job at my local CSC as a decorator... until I saw their kitchen. It's true that the ice cream is churned in store, but everything else (even the cake layers themselves!) are shipped in frozen from "corporate headquarters." They also take zero pride in their product (the manager of this particular store told me that they purposely "dumb down" their designs so that children could do them)... so it's no wonder no one enjoyed the cake!
ReplyDeleteWhoa, who knew?! I certainly didn't, though it does make sense more or less. The simpler things are the less effort you have to put into training and what not.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify though, we did enjoy the cake, I'm sorry if that didn't come across in the post. I liked the cake, I just didn't LOVE the cake.
i worked for a cold stone creamery making cakes and what i seen go on in the back of the store would blow your mind away. cakes have to be dated for a 3 week expiry date,chocolate covered ones for 6 weeks. if it didnt sell in that period of time, they would take the sticker off and add another few more weeks on. berries and other fruits they use are set to be thrown out every 4 days, but i was always finding product in the fridge that was way past the dates, and the managers response would be, if it dont have mold on it .. then use it.the frosting sometimes would often have a sour taste because other decoraters were not washing the piping bags or tips before using them again. i have seen the frosting have a goldish tint to it because the tips would form rust on the inside. there was times the store would run out of bananas that they use to make the banana ice cream with, and they would just add some yellow food colouring to the sweet cream ice cream while it was in the churn so it would look like banana instead of just going to the store and getting more bananas. orange juice that was used in the smoothies would be so old it would have in alcohol smell to it and many customers complained about it. im not gunna lie their products do taste really good, i tried samples when i first had my training.my training was very good, they sent the head people from the first store in arizona to train me and 5 others but after what i had seen i would never buy a product from there.
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