Cake and Bonbons for Lunch – NYC
A few days ago it was my birthday. Usually for me, a birthday means cocktails, dancing, and a wretched hangover the next day. This year, as appealing as a hangover sounded, all I wanted was cake, specifically the Coconut Cake from L.A. Burdick that I read about on SE:NY. I’m not usually a cake person (give me a jalebi over a slice of cake any day), but when I saw the post, I made a mental note: Coconut Cake = Birthday Cake Pour Moi.
A day before my birthday, I couldn’t wait, and left the salad I had brought to work in the refrigerator, and headed downtown for a lunch of cake. When your birthday is around the corner, you’re allowed to do things like that.
The Coconut Cake ($4) — chocolate coconut cake layered with coconut meringue, frosted with lime butter cream, and covered with toasted coconut flakes — was almost as good as expected. The chewy coconut meringue was delightful, as was the beautiful toasted coconut flakes, but the lime butter cream was more sweet than tart as I had hoped, and the chocolate coconut cake was dense and had neither a strong coconut or chocolate taste. I ended up eating around the cake, and left half of the cake behind. Yes, very bad of me I know.
In between bites of frosting and meringue, I took sips of my Maple Latte ($3.50). A light coffee sweetened with maple syrup, it’s perfect for those who want gentle cup of Joe. Me, I prefer a rich dark roast with a killer caffeine punch that will have me seeing stars, especially when I need to go back to work.
The handmade chocolates, however, did not disappoint. It’s a better deal to get a box of already prepacked chocolates, but I created a box of my own. (The single bonbons are $1.10, the double $1.65, and the triple $2.15.) From the assortment, highlights were the Honey Caramel Truffle and Lemon Pepper Truffle pairing, the Sesame Cashew, and the Caramel Trio. My absolute favorite, however, was the Salted Cardamom from the the pairing of Salted Caramels. (It was paired with a Salted Vanilla.) The cardamom flavor wasn’t very pronounced, but covered with dark chocolate and topped with sea salt, it was an intense bite of bitter chocolate and salty caramel. This is what will have me returning, even when it’s not my birthday.
L.A. Burdick
5 East 20th Street (betw Broadway & 5th Avenue; map)
NY, NY 10010
212-796-0143
I’m in love with the appearance of cardamom in pretty much anything… have you tried the Kerala at Death and Co.?
Happy Belated Birthday!!!
Chocolates looks like heaven. They have Lunar New Year boxes!
@James – I had a bad experience once at Death & Co; candy-like cocktails and inedible snacks from the bar menu. Perhaps it was bad night or it was too late in the evening, but I never went back. If I ever do, I’ll try the Kerala. I love cardamom also.
@someguy – Thx! Yeah, I thought it was pretty funny they had Lunar New Year boxes. Tiger chocolates would be cute this year.
Happy Belated! and that sucks that you had to leave half of the cake behind. There’s nothing more sad than uneaten cake. Cake is so good… although I’ve not had this one. My measuring stick for cake is so low that I really could eat ’em all.
@Danny – Thx, yeah, I left it behind because I wanted to save room for bonbons and truffles. But no worries, I stripped it of all the delicious meringue and frosting. 🙂
Amazing pictures and oh how I want that cake so bad. Love the flavours of lime and coconut.