My dad's birthday is on Saturday. I am in search of an impossibly beautiful extraordinary birthday cake. The two layer classic + frosting & piped roses is cool... but isn't quite what I'm going for. That said, here are some of the excellent options that come to mind:
Athans Bakery: This bakery always has a wonderful selection of French-style cakes and tortes featuring various combinations of creams, mousses, fresh fruits, and other elements. I LOVE the cakes here. But for once, this isn't about me. Will my dad love them too?
Tatte Bakery: This bakery is all about sensuous tarts, some featuring really rich fillings of almonds, pecans, or cashews with caramel and others on the lighter side with fresh fruits likes kiwis or figs. Very lovely to look at. I'd consider a fig tart, which looks and sounds pretty delicious. But it's not really cake. But does that matter? I'm not sure.
Burdick Chocolate: There's really just one cake here that's birthday style. It's got a raspberry chocolate ganache and is definitely quality but I've had it before (more than once!) and so has the fam, and I feel that we're all ready to move on to other things.
Truly Jorg's Patisserie: The first time I heard of Truly Jorg's was a few years ago when I saw this cake in the Boston Globe, which totally blew me away. Who knew cakes could be all slanted like that?? That might be a little much for this occasion though... I'm less familiar with Truly Jorg's than I would like, but I do know that I really enjoyed the napoleon I had there several months ago, and that they have a wide array of visually stunning tortes, tarts, and cakes, and there is a vanilla orange cake that sounds really delicious...
Sweet Cheeks Cake Company: I already know that these cakes are not an option, because they need to be ordered in advance, and apparently, I'm a big procrastinator. When I looked at their list of flavors, I saw one called Mom's Classic Birthday Cake... but nothing for Dad. However, the Orange Celebration Cake could be a strong contender (it's all about the orange flavors, really). But these impossibly cute, colorful little cakes might appeal more to the ladies... just a hunch.
Which cake will win?
My adorable friend Ariel drew the cake pictured above on my Facebook page using the graffiti application. See the little teacup sitting next to it? Hard proof that cake is best enjoyed with tea.
