Thursday, February 08, 2007
Review: Bake Me A Wish! chocolate cake
Another review product came in from Bake Me A Wish! (oh, how I hate exclamation points). Using "an award-winning family-run New York bakery," the company ships cakes around the country and, for a year (time is up by August 2007), will donate 5% of online cake sales (guess phone sales at the 800 number don't count) to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with a special Make-A-Wish Foundation cake giving a 30% cut.
Although the company's PR firm says the cakes "are elegant and sophisticated, yet taste homemade," I'd only agree with some irony. Yes, the chocolate cake looked nice, and, yes, the crumb was good and notably moist, the chocolate taste was lacking. If we're talking home-made equivalent, it would be out of a box. At first I thought it was because the cake had just come out of the FedEx-ed container, so I let it warm. No difference. My wife got home and tried it. "Really moist, nice crumb," she said. I asked about the flavor. "Uh ... but it's done by the Make-A-Wish people." Nope, I answered, that's just a temporary donation, and the 7-inch cake costs $39.99. "Forty dollars?? Oh, forget it then."
My teenage daughter came home, who had originally opened the box and put her eye on the thin heart-shaped chocolate decorative piece on the top. "Have a bite," I said. "Happy to," she answered. And what did she think of the cake? "Not a lot of flavor."
My preteen son came home. "Eat cake," I said. "Sure!" he said. And how did he like it? "Really good!" And how about the chocolate taste? "Not much there!" Ah, the enthusiasm of youth.
All I can suspect is that they're either saving money on the chocolate or relying too heavily on cocoa for flavor. My recommendation: get a better cake near to you and make a direct donation to Make-A-Wish. That way you even get the tax deduction.
Although the company's PR firm says the cakes "are elegant and sophisticated, yet taste homemade," I'd only agree with some irony. Yes, the chocolate cake looked nice, and, yes, the crumb was good and notably moist, the chocolate taste was lacking. If we're talking home-made equivalent, it would be out of a box. At first I thought it was because the cake had just come out of the FedEx-ed container, so I let it warm. No difference. My wife got home and tried it. "Really moist, nice crumb," she said. I asked about the flavor. "Uh ... but it's done by the Make-A-Wish people." Nope, I answered, that's just a temporary donation, and the 7-inch cake costs $39.99. "Forty dollars?? Oh, forget it then."
My teenage daughter came home, who had originally opened the box and put her eye on the thin heart-shaped chocolate decorative piece on the top. "Have a bite," I said. "Happy to," she answered. And what did she think of the cake? "Not a lot of flavor."
My preteen son came home. "Eat cake," I said. "Sure!" he said. And how did he like it? "Really good!" And how about the chocolate taste? "Not much there!" Ah, the enthusiasm of youth.
All I can suspect is that they're either saving money on the chocolate or relying too heavily on cocoa for flavor. My recommendation: get a better cake near to you and make a direct donation to Make-A-Wish. That way you even get the tax deduction.
