ginger elizabeth

There is a famous Confucious saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." However, in our case, the journey was wasn't quite a thousand miles. It was about 90 miles each way but still it took over three hours which I think counts as extra miles.

Now, you may wonder why four fairly intelligent adults, (OK three), a quartet that included two surgeons would undertake a three hour trip from San Francisco to Sacramento. Your answer is because we all happened to be attending the San Francisco Tribal Arts show, because we are die-hard chocolate aficionados and mainly because of the Ginger Elizabeth Palet D'or Entremet Cake.

I came across this cake while surfing the web for new and exciting chocolatiers and was instantly spellbound. This chocolate cake had me at hello.

Among other things, the Ginger Elizabeth Palet D'or Entremet Cake was offered especially for Valentines Day as an "expression of fine chocolate" -- which is a terrific concept. I can definitely get my arms around the concept of a Valentine's Day cake.

There was the description, a "65% Maracaibo Venezuelan Chocolate Mousse, layered with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Dacquois, and Crunchy Chocolate Shortbread inspired by our popular Palet D’Or truffle and similarly garnished with gold leaf, this cake is made with a 65% bittersweet chocolate from the prized Maracaibo cocoa growing region in Venezuela."

And then to seal the deal there was the intriguing name Palet D'or which means disc of gold in French and I think perfectly romantic.

For all these reasons, I felt I had to have this cake and immediately campaigned for the side trip. (We had to pick up the cake ourselves because it's fragile, must be eaten immediately and Ginger Elizabeth does not ship the cake.) Surprisingly or not surprisingly, after everyone looked at the online picture and read the description it actually didn't take much convincing. I was honestly prepared for a much lengthier campaign.

The Ginger Elizabeth shop is located on a side street near the Sacramento Capital buildings (I wonder if Arnold comes by for a chocolate fix) with lot of nice restaurants around, not that you need any other type of sustenance when there is a chocolate shop nearby.

The minute we entered the store, we knew our decision had been a good one. The store is small but charming, complete with vendeuses dressed in matching white outfits and little white gloves. And, there is a wonderful selection of chocolates and gifts that could keep any chocoholic engaged for hours if not days.

Our cake was waiting for us as promised and looked "just like the picture." While we were torn about whether we would eat it right there on the spot in a completely uncivilized manner, we decided it would be best to take the cake back to our hotel and enjoy it after dinner.

After dinner, some of us were daunted by the quantity of chocolate so we invited a friend and her daughter to share the Ginger Elizabeth cake, which ended up giving us all the perfect amount of cake.

The cake as you can see in the picture is exquisite. The ganache is perfectly smooth, with an artistic ribbon of chocolate and an artfully placed foil of gold. When a cake is this beautiful, you don't want to make a mistake slicing it, so we enlisted the surgeons to cut the cake into six neat pieces. Then, we took our first mouthfuls. As we experienced the creamy mousse, the silky ganache, the texture of the dacquois and the buttery, and slightly salty crunch of the shortbread, so light and airy you feel you could eat a thousand cakes, a silence descended in the room. The Ginger Elizabeth Palet D'or Entremet Cake is easily the best cake I and everyone else had ever had: a cake to end all cakes; a cake that when you look up "cake" in the dictionary, you see its picture next to it; a cake where, if you love chocolate, you truly must have one slice in your lifetime.

After the last slice had been eaten, and the plates literally licked clean, our friends said they would be happy to drive back next year for another Valentine's Day cake. I think a new tradition has been born.










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cake monkey cakewich

There might be better things than a Cake Monkey Cakewich but if there are, they don't yet exist in my plane of reality.

Just the name - "Cakewich" fortells good things. I mean when you hear the word "cake" alone - you know that it's going to be pretty good. Then you hear the "wich" part which tells you that it is going to be better than pretty good and believe me it is better than pretty good. Much, much better. Phenomenally, "I am not going to share this with you not even a bite, even though I honestly love you and you are my life partner" better.

Let's start with the fact the Cakewich comes in a little foil package with a sticker of Cake Monkey's adorable logo on top. This allows you to peel all the crinkly foil away to reveal this perfectly sized bittersweet chocolate coated cake. Can you say anticipation? I mean say it without drooling.

Then you get to taste the Cakewich. When you bite the cake you get this mouthful of rich, fresh, chocolate cake - not too sweet, filled with real vanilla cream. And you can see the layers - the top chocolate layer, the filling and the bottom chocolate layer, all encased in bittersweet chocolate - (did I mention that yet?) I don't know why but visually it is extremely satisfying - like you accomplished or discovered something important. This already sounds pretty good, huh? But it doesn't end there. Inside the cream are Valrhona Crunchy Pearls, kind of like of a Rice Crispies but chocolate. They give the Cakewich some crunch. And something about the mix of different textures - the bittersweet chocolate coating, the soft rich cake, the crunchy pearls - tells you a higher power really does exist.

Cakewiches come in several flavors, Black & White (my personal favorite), Raspberry Red Velvet and Peanut Butter and Marshmallow. There is much chocolate goodness at Cake Monkey: Yo-ho's, Inside Out S'Mores, 'Nuff Said Chocolate Crumble Cookies and adorable mini Cakes - perfect for weekend indulgences - Must Love Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Caramel Cake, Monkey Crunch Cake...and more, enough to keep you in Chocolate Nirvana for a while.

I discovered Cake Monkey Cakewiches last year at Unique LA, and have been addicted ever since.

Cake Monkey Cakewiches are so amazing, I pre-order and drive a two hour round trip - and I hate driving, to satisfy my addiction - but good news is on the horizon for Cake Monkey fans - owner and master pastry chef Lisa and Elizabeth will be opening a storefront soon!


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