LEO/LHB: Cake Flour buzz

[Robin Garr]

LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes.com

Claudia Delatorres loves to bake, and it shows. When Delatorres and her husband, Rafael Veraslavsky, moved here from New Jersey last year, it didn't take her long to turn her professional baking skills into a small retail shop - Cake Flour - that is already luring both walk-in and drive-in crowds to its small but spick-and-span take-out-only quarters on East Market Street.

A large selection of cupcakes, cookies, tarts, homemade marshmallows, muffins and scones are made with organic ingredients. Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees and espresso drinks and FairTrade Certified hot teas are on tap. Quality ingredients made with loving care and served up by people who seem to really enjoy what they do make this one a winner: Local foodies are already comparing Cake Flour's pastries to Blue Dog's breads as a local gold standard.

Cake Flour
909 E. Market St.
719-0172
http://www.cakeflouronmarket.com
Robin Garr's rating: 93 points

Tried Cake Flour tonight and I was sadly disappointed. I tried the brownie and limoncello cupcake and both were horribly dry. Both the brownie and cupcake had great flavor but were far from the perfection I was expecting. There wasn't an once of moisture in either of them. At a $10.60 price tag for 2 brownies and 2 cupcakes, people deserve better.

[Robin Garr]

Tried Cake Flour tonight and I was sadly disappointed. I tried the brownie and limoncello cupcake and both were horribly dry. Both the brownie and cupcake had great flavor but were far from the perfection I was expecting. There wasn't an once of moisture in either of them. At a $10.60 price tag for 2 brownies and 2 cupcakes, people deserve better.

I'm extremely sorry you were disappointed, Justin. I'm also very surprised, as I've visited Cake Flour anonymously repeated times before my interview visit, and many forumites have also reported ecstatically. Bad day? Bad batch? No clue ... but I regret that.

I think I will walk down there tomorrow and buy a bag of goodies for the guys at work. If I spend the tip money left from Monday night's BLT challenge on a locally owned, independent it's considered recycling isn't it?

Tried Cake Flour tonight and I was sadly disappointed. I tried the brownie and limoncello cupcake and both were horribly dry. Both the brownie and cupcake had great flavor but were far from the perfection I was expecting. There wasn't an once of moisture in either of them. At a $10.60 price tag for 2 brownies and 2 cupcakes, people deserve better.

I'm extremely sorry you were disappointed, Justin. I'm also very surprised, as I've visited Cake Flour anonymously repeated times before my interview visit, and many forumites have also reported ecstatically. Bad day? Bad batch? No clue ... but I regret that.

Robin, I hope so. I was looking forward to a great sweet shop close to work. I am going to give them another shot in about a week. Both just seemed old or over baked.

Please, give them another try! I have gotten something from there every weekday morning since they opened and have NEVER been disappointed. Every cupcake I have tried was rich and moist. Not sure what could have happened???

[Robin Garr]

Not sure what could have happened???

Maybe the LEO mention slammed them? It was just a little blurb, though. Huh.

This was our selection a few Sundays ago. The owners were very friendly and explained each item...with obvious pride!

The Banana Muffin (center) was excellent. The cake was moist and had a strong banana flavor. The crumble topping was very sweet, but extra crunchy.

The Ladybug must be their pride and joy. It was outstanding. They should get Corbett's to carry it...

Now, just keeping it honest. The cupcakes were dry for me. It seemed like maybe they got too cold?
I'm also very, very picky about my sugar cookie. These are just ok for me. Good sugar ratio, not too sweet. But, also dry.

I'm rooting for this small business & will try them again soon.

I got a small box of goodies from there on Monday. 4 cupcakes and 1 blueberry muffin - $13.25

The blueberry muffin was EXCELLENT - even the next day. The banana cupcakes with chocolate ganache (pictured above) were very good. The chocolate cupcakes with the chocolate buttercream - meh. The cupcake itself was a bit dry - and I'm not the world's biggest fan of buttercream I discovered. It was just too much so we ended up both taking it off and just eating the cake. But that is completely our issue - not the bakery!

I will DEFINITELY go back though - might skip the cupcakes though.

I think Shannon hit the nail on the head. The cupcakes are kept too cold and end up with a too dry and dense texture. I've been for cupcakes twice and that's been my impression both times. I found the brownie to be a bit dry as well but it had a really deep, intense chocolate flavor that almost completely made up for it. The flourless chocolate torte was fantastic though, I had no complaints on it. When I go again I'll try a cupcake but let it solidly come to room temperature to see if that improves my experience.

I guess I get my stuff early enough in the morning that they never have a chance to get too cool and dry out. I hope Claudia and Rafael are reading the forum and will have a chance to see this feedback! They are always interested in getting feedback and very gracious and accomodating, so I'm sure they will address these conerns.

I did pick my brownies and cupcakes up at 4:00. It might be they just dry out over the course of the day.

I have been there at least 5 times since opening, and have yet to get a good scone. They have been much too wet and seemed as if they were taken from the oven too early. I too have found the cupcakes very dry. I am going to take a break and let them have some time before I return.

I went a couple weekends ago and brought home both the scones and muffins. The muffin was chocolate and cherry and was fantastic. It was still a little warm in the center and the flavors worked together really well. Best muffin in ages. They had two types of scones available - one was sweet (peach) and one savory (herb and cheese?). While I thought both tasted great, they seemed more "cakey" than "sconish". I really preferred the savory scone because the peach was just too moist. Maybe there was too much juice in the fruit for the scone to dry out properly. Scones are tough to do well. I think the best one I've had in this town is @ 211 Clover Lane. I always have to order extra when we go.

I had the carrot cake cupcakes this past Friday during the First Friday Trolley Hop and they were amazing. I was talking about them all night. Apparently, all they had left though were samples so I couldn't buy any to take home, but I am planning on stopping in tomorrow and grabbing a couple for the weekend. They were so moist and had these huge shreds of carrots in them and were just incredible. My girlfriend and I were tasting different things and she's a chocolate nut were as I could take it or leave it, but I was in heaven with the carrot cake. I tried to buy the rest of their samples, but they wouldn't sell them to me. If you ever have the means, I highly recommend them.