What causes nasty cake?

Lately I've had a jones for cake, and while I can make quite good ones, I definitely don't want a whole cake sitting around. So I've been stopping in at bakeries and trying out the offerings. Now, I am not particularly picky when it comes to sweets - I'll eat a Twinkie or Oreo or whatever if it's in front of me - but I have encountered "treats" that are damn near inedible.

Dinkel's, Ace Bakery, and some other place I forget the name of - all provided cakes that tasted of metal and acid and bitterness and sorrow. And I know I've run into this problem at other bakeries in the past. I'm really curious - what exactly are they putting in their baked goods to make them taste so bad? It's a strong chemical bitter taste that overwhelms any other flavor. And how do the purveyors stay in business? Do other people honestly not notice the foul taste?

Might want to give Dinkel's another shot. Many years ago I thought the place was on its last legs and had mediocre at best baked goods. I'm really enjoying their stuff now and the place is packed. Their donuts are solid but their danishes and, especially, kolocky are exemplary. Anything with custard, also. They tend to have good coffee too. Has been Intelligensia and, I think Asado. Believe it's currently Metropolis. Not certain. I'm not much of a cake eater, but their German chocolate, which is served at Laschett's, is pretty damn tasty. Are these chocolate cakes that you find so repulsive? Sometimes chocolate doesn't taste like Oreos

The chocolate cakes didn't taste of chocolate, they tasted of battery acid. And the cake was dry.

Their donuts are very good, but the cake was inexcusable.

Every once in a while, Dinkle's sells single slices of their yellow cake with what they call "Wedding Frosting". I find those to be some of the most outstanding slices of cake in the city and consider it a bonus every time I walk in there and those slices are available. Maybe you hit them on a bad day?

You should let them know. But it sounds like a bad one sample experience. I recognize hyperbole, but you did say the place's "baked goods" are so bad as to be inedible and you asked how the place could keep its doors open. The secret might well be their very good donuts. Again, their German chocolate sells like hotcakes at Laschett's, according to the servers there. I thought it was pretty good, but then I'm not a cake afficianado. More of a pie man.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:The chocolate cakes didn't taste of chocolate, they tasted of battery acid. And the cake was dry.

Their donuts are very good, but the cake was inexcusable.

Which exactly was the Ass Cake you mentioned in a previous post?

I haven't been to Dinkel's since I was wee and I never heard of Ace.

The Ass Cake came from Ace, and was white and chocolate cake with vanilla custard, strawberries, and whipped cream frosting. I figured that given the variety involved at least some part of it wouldn't suck. Wrong.

I still want to know what the source of the awful taste is. What exactly is going into cakes (and more particularly, the frosting) that makes them taste like that?

Maybe you're sensitive to aluminum sulfate which can be found in some baking powders? However, if the taste is in the icing, it could be from cornstarch in powdered sugar.

I definitely second Fujisan about the baking powder. Maybe they used too much?

I wouldn't think shortening would have the metallic taste you mention, but I know I hate most commercial "butter"creams because they don't actually use butter and the shortening doesn't melt at body temperature, so it leaves a film in your mouth. My brother calls margarine and shortening "food lube".

The bitter taste seems to live in the frosting, mostly, so that makes sense. Like Jewel's loathsome "bettercreme", although I have to give them props for the sheer cheek involved in coming out and saying, yes, our frosting has no recognizable food ingredients, and that makes it SUPERIOR!

It could also be a sensitivity to the food coloring used in frostings. Even white frosting usually has color added to make it pure white (titanium dioxide, I think).

rickster wrote:It could also be a sensitivity to the food coloring used in frostings. Even white frosting usually has color added to make it pure white (titanium dioxide, I think).

Now that's a real possibility. The Chow Poodle brought home some red frosted heart-shaped cookies from Happy Foods for Valentine's Day and they tasted very bitter to me. The Chow Poodle thought they tasted fine. I wrote it off to an aftertaste from something I had eaten earlier, but now I'm not so sure...

stevez wrote:

rickster wrote:It could also be a sensitivity to the food coloring used in frostings. Even white frosting usually has color added to make it pure white (titanium dioxide, I think).

Now that's a real possibility. The Chow Poodle brought home some red frosted heart-shaped cookies from Happy Foods for Valentine's Day and they tasted very bitter to me. The Chow Poodle thought they tasted fine. I wrote it off to an aftertaste from something I had eaten earlier, but now I'm not so sure...

I have a real sensitivity to the bitter taste in red food coloring-especially commercially. I have found Wilton red "tasteless" food coloring which I use now at home.

I have had the German chocolate cake at Dinkel's. I thought it was very good. I have to say most cake (bakery, restaurant or store bought) do not impress me much. Oftentimes I found them bland and tasteless. I haven't tasted any with a funky taste to my recollection anyway. Although I did have a cake for my husband's aunt's 80th birthday that was supposedly baked with Splenda. Ick!

After searching for some sponge candy in Ontario for a day, my brother decided to make me a 12x16x3 piece of sponge candy. It was an excellent gift.

BUT ...

Some of the baking soda clumped up on him. There were about six small pockets where some of the baking soda clumped. If you bit into one. it was nasty. The Solution ... eat more sponge candy.

stevez wrote:

rickster wrote:It could also be a sensitivity to the food coloring used in frostings. Even white frosting usually has color added to make it pure white (titanium dioxide, I think).

Now that's a real possibility. The Chow Poodle brought home some red frosted heart-shaped cookies from Happy Foods for Valentine's Day and they tasted very bitter to me. The Chow Poodle thought they tasted fine. I wrote it off to an aftertaste from something I had eaten earlier, but now I'm not so sure...

My own experience in making iced cookies is that when you add enough food coloring to get a bright color rather than a pastel, the unpleasant taste of the food coloring becomes very noticeable.

Diane wrote:I have a real sensitivity to the bitter taste in red food coloring-especially commercially. I have found Wilton red "tasteless" food coloring which I use now at home.

Me too. I didn't know Wilton made such a thing; I'll have to look for it.

jlawrence01 wrote:...
eat more sponge candy.

Words I live by...especially after my friends come back from Buffalo with a bag of sponge candy for me.

rickster wrote:

stevez wrote:

rickster wrote:It could also be a sensitivity to the food coloring used in frostings. Even white frosting usually has color added to make it pure white (titanium dioxide, I think).

Now that's a real possibility. The Chow Poodle brought home some red frosted heart-shaped cookies from Happy Foods for Valentine's Day and they tasted very bitter to me. The Chow Poodle thought they tasted fine. I wrote it off to an aftertaste from something I had eaten earlier, but now I'm not so sure...

My own experience in making iced cookies is that when you add enough food coloring to get a bright color rather than a pastel, the unpleasant taste of the food coloring becomes very noticeable.

I find that if you use the gel type of food coloring (as opposed to the liquid) you can generally use quite a bit less to get the same brightness, which means less bitterness/food coloring taste.

I use the gels and still notice the taste.

Last night I had a cupcake from Crumbs. It was too dry and overly sweet, but it lacked the acid bitter taste. Could it be they use actual butter or something?

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Lately I've had a jones for cake

Try Sweet Mandy Bs. We just ordered birthday cakes from there. Yowza! Yellow cake with vanilla frosting. Best "regular" cake I've ever had - really can't say enough good things. And this comes from someone that generally doesn't like cake at all.

all those conversations make me drooling As for me I used to spoil a couple of cakes by adding too much bakery powder in them. The dough grows fast but turns out to be too dry and tastes like rubber