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| - NOOOOOOOPE!
I am, what I would consider, an expert dessert eater. Meaning... I eat a lot of sugar. I love sweets.
So, I was super excited on my most recent trip to Vegas to finally try something from this bakery. I had already tried Sprinkles cupcakes on my previous visits, so this was next up on the list. I have seen the show, of course, and based on how busy his local bakeries always seem to be, I was really hoping the dessert quality, and ingredient quality, would be stellar.
Unfortunately, I was duped, once again, by the general publics' overall acceptance of anything pretty as a delicious, worthy treat. You see this type of 'herd' behavior with anything deep fried, as well.
I only ordered ONE item. It is an item that can be ordered at almost any bakery, or purchased at any grocer, and a delicacy I have made myself several times. It is my comparison item; Based on this single item alone, you can tell a whole lot about an establishment. The item? The Red Velvet Cupcake.
Red velvet cakes originally contained a delicate smattering of cocoa and possibly buttermilk or vinegar and sometimes coffee. A result of this mixture, and un-stabilized cocoa at the time, resulted in a soft mahogany/reddish coloring to velvet cakes. The original frosting was a simple, sweet boiled milk concoction. After several decades, businesses capitalized on the intriguing cake and started selling loads of red food coloring with the recipe, etc. Somewhere along the way, in the late 40's, the cream cheese frosting was first mentioned. The subtle, soft chocolate cake with the rich cream cheese frosting have been a winning pair ever since.
When I sample a red velvet cake, I look for the soft 'velvety' texture, the delicate cocoa flavor, and a tangy, luscious frosting to set off the soft flavor of the cake. That, IMO, is what red velvet was in the past, and what it SHOULD be if you're in the market for real red velvet. When you've had a good one, it's something you never forget, lol. Thus, a well established, long lived and excessively popular bonafide bakery would have a great example of the treat.. or so I thought.
Carlo's Bakery sells.. a poor impostor of red velvet. The cupcake was tough, almost flavorless other than sugar, obviously dyed bright red, and the frosting was atrocious. I LOATHE hydrogenated vegetable oil frostings, but clearly, that is what was piped on the top in place of what should have been there. I have a strong disdain for Crisco mixed with powdered sugar, since that is what my mom's 'buttercream' consisted of, and it always made me feel dizzy when I ate it as a kid. I would literally scrape all the frosting off of any cake she made for me growing up. Bleh!
Hydrogenated plant oils are in no way beneficial for you, despite what advertisements may claim. Yet, in Buddy's own published red velvet cake recipe, off Oprah's website, it calls for "1 1/4 cup vegetable shortening." Not only does blasting hydrogen particles at oils at a high temperature severely reduce any potential vitamins or 'good' fats, but the resulting white, oily paste tastes nasty!! Furthermore, vegetables don't make oil. Fruits, like olives and coconuts, and seeds, like flax seeds, produce oils. Corn? A grain. So what the heck is a hydrogenated vegetable oil, anyway? Just saying.
To be fair, in Buddy's posted recipe, it lists only cream cheese and butter as the fats in the frosting recipe. However, I seriously doubt that is the recipe he uses in his establishments. If you've made cream cheese frosting at home and can pick out the cheese-iness of it, and then you taste a 'cream cheese frosting' that is not only firmer than it should be, but off in color, and has ZERO cheese flavor, you know something is amiss.
My husband also sampled the cupcake and immediately stated "That's not red velvet." I had to convince him that that is exactly what it was sold as and that it was simply another poor excuse. We threw half of it away.
As for the venue itself - The employees are pretty unprofessional. Several people were there lazily leaning on the counters, flirting and chatting with each other, barely talking to any customers perusing the cases. We got a short "Let me know when you want something," and that was about it. We asked for our cupcake, walked to the cashier who gave us a large handful of nickels as change (Annoying!!), and were on our way.
For the record, the employees in the bakery section did appear to be hard at work, rolling out fondants, decorating things, etc. It was the employees at the counters who need some training.
I did not try any of the other pastries, and it's possible that some of the other items may be more authentic and flavorful. My experience is based on that alone = MY experience. Based on the cupcake I had, I would not advise my family or friends to go out of their way to visit this establishment.
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