I recently had a a birthday: a day to spend in pure, unfiltered self absorption — or potentially a sugar coma — and Saltadena Bakery & Cake Shop is one of the few bakeries in the area offering fresh cake by the slice.
Located at 111 W. Holly St., Saltadena is a quiet little space — a far cry from competing bakeries, like Pure Bliss and Avenue Bread. I’d never have thought of Saltadena as a space to come and sit with an espresso and a pastry, which makes it an ideal place for someone trying to avoid the bustle of downtown cafes.
Alongside the expected cakes (also available whole to order), you can find cookies and cupcakes, with macarons, cream puffs, cookie sandwiches, cheesecake, tiramisu and coffee available on rotation in the store. I opted to treat myself (and the lucky few members of the newsroom still at their desks at 5 p.m.) with a 6-inch “naked” brown sugar pecan cake ($28.50) — ”naked” referring to the lack of frosting on the exterior — along with a six pack of cupcakes ($20). I chose classic chocolate cupcakes with an espresso Swiss meringue buttercream.
Finally, I brought an assorted dozen cookies for $33.50 and let the bakery choose the flavors. Letting them include whatever they feel like is an excellent way to see what they’re most proud of.
At my allotted pickup time, I was in and out in less than 60 seconds, laden with branded boxes of cake and cookies. Back at the CDN newsroom, the tasting commenced.
I started off with a cupcake: These have a density about them, filling the hand in a way that your cheap grocery store cupcakes could never do. The cake itself was as chocolate-y as one would expect, moist and toothsome. The buttercream was a knockout for me — chocolate and coffee go together like peanut butter and jelly (which is also a criminally underutilized cake flavor).
The assortment of cookies provided some room for creativity. Salted chocolate chunk, white chocolate macadamia nut, spiced molasses, Dulcey chocolate and oatmeal and spumoni — where to begin? Every one of them was good, with the spumoni standing out to me. Maraschino cherry, chocolate and pistachio are a great combination.
All the cookies had that barest bit of chew in the center — the mark of a well-baked cookie — and all were intensely rich. A box of these served alongside a fresh pot of coffee would make for a great late morning meeting.
To my tooth, the cookies were all slightly too sweet to eat more than one in a sitting. A little bit more dark chocolate, or perhaps added spice in the molasses cookie, could have helped — but no one else seemed to complain about it, so perhaps I’m just nitpicking.
Last (but absolutely not least) was the naked brown sugar pecan cake. I’ll lift the description directly from the website: “Two layers of vanilla bean cake with light condensed milk syrup soak, brown sugar molasses buttercream, salted caramel sauce, and butter-roasted pecans.” With pecans on top and betwixt the layers, cutting a picture perfect slice is a bit of a feat (one which I failed).
The salted caramel and the brown sugar molasses buttercream set each other off perfectly. The pecans are roasted lightly, not to the candied level so many pecan cakes and pastries go. They retain a great deal of crunch and provide some excellent texture to this cake.
The “light” in light condensed milk syrup soak does a lot of heavy lifting. I got only the barest sense that the cake had been soaked in any fluid of any kind. While this did leave the cake a bit dry, it retained its structure, and the buttercream and caramel sauce combination provided enough moisture that I didn’t miss the condensed milk. An unexpected perk is how deceptively filling it is. Served after a meal, you could very easily turn this into 10 slices, and you might still have bits and pieces left over.
Eating this much confectionery in one sitting really did bring me back to childhood birthday parties, slices of cakes served alongside ice cream and washed down with full-sugar soda. The difference at Saltadena, of course, is their quality.
I came into this review anticipating that I would find these treats good, but not good enough to justify spending $33.50 on 12 cookies. But you get what you pay for — and it’s worth noting Saltadena’s prices are comparable to other boutique bakeries in the area (and even if that wasn’t the case, I still would have found them worth the money).
I’m not one who gets cake often, but going forward, I can honestly say Saltadena will be my bakery of choice.
Saltadena Bakery & Cake Shop is open at 111 W. Holly St. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday–Satuday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Info: saltadena.com.
Mark Saleeb is a frequent enjoyer of food. Find him at instagram.com/eats.often.
