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It's a rough job, sampling birthday cake

By KATHY SAUNDERS
Published June 29, 2005

I live for birthday cake. I like layers of sweet buttercream icing slathered so thick it becomes crusty. I was always the child at the party begging for the corner piece or the one with flowers.

The Taster's Choice panelists weren't ready to wrestle me for a corner slice, but they did back me up when it came to picking the best birthday cake. An 8-inch cake from A Special Touch Cakes by Carolynn on Fifth Avenue N in St. Petersburg was the favorite. It met all of my criteria for a perfect cake and then some. To begin with, it was beautiful, decorated with bold purple flowers that held their shape in the box and on the plate. At $14, the cake baked at Carolynn's also was the most expensive of the six sampled.

We don't normally taste food from independent businesses; the goal of Taster's Choice is to find out which widely available products taste best. However, we wanted to see how grocery store cakes stacked up against an independent bakery. The independent won by a landslide.

Carolynn received 85 of 100 points. All panelists said they would pay the extra money and make a special trip for the cake.

"This cake looks like it came from a fine French patisserie" said one judge. More than one panelist described it as elegant.

A couple of judges said they would have preferred the cake a bit more moist, but the sweet frosting made up for it.

All cakes tested were white or yellow and frosted with buttercream icing. They were ordered a couple days before the tasting.

The Publix cake ($11.59) was the second favorite, receiving 52 points. Three of the five judges said they usually order cakes from Publix and will continue to do so.

"This is a classic birthday cake, just what you would expect," said one panelist.

Judges said the Publix cake was a bit dry, but the decorating was beautiful.

"I'd have a second piece," said one panelist.

Third place went to Sam's Club ($9.87) for a cake that looked hideous but tasted great. It was also huge. We ordered the smallest cake that each bakery offered. At Sam's, that was a two-layer, 12-inch round cake. The cake was decorated with royal blue balloons and what looked to be confetti. The icing also was all over the place. The blue frosting was practically tattooed to our hands when we tried to remove the fitted plastic cover on the cake. It took more than one washing to get the color off our fingertips.

But the cake was good. It received 42 points. The texture was moist and the icing was hearty and sweet.

Also tasted were 8-inch cakes from Kash n' Karry ($6.99) and Albertsons ($6.99) and a 7-inch cake from Wal-Mart ($3.47).

Honestly, I wouldn't push away a piece from any of the cakes sampled. But, as one judge said about the cake from Carolynn's, "This is what birthday cake should taste like."

Panelists were Jim Yockey, aesthetician, Tierra Verde Salon & Day Spa; personal chefs Julie Overton and Marc Easterman; Bob Devin Jones, artistic director of Studio@620 and Nan Jensen, registered dietitian with Pinellas County Extension. All products were tasted blind.

Send suggestions for product testing to Taste section, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731 or e-mail them to krieta@sptimes.com Please put TEST SUGGESTION in the subject line. To read past Taster's choice columns, go to www.sptimes.com/food

No. 1: Cakes by Carolynn.

No. 2: Publix.

No. 3: Sam's Club.

[Last modified June 28, 2005, 09:23:15]