Monday, December 19, 2011

Cake on a Hot Tin Roof (Part 2)

(NOTE: Jennie is selling the cart as f early summer 2013.)

(Original Review -- October 2011)

I received a request from Jennie Goodrich, owner of "Cake on a Hot Tin Roof," to come back and give her desserts another go. One day in mid-November, I had a craving for some dessert, so I figured this was a good time to take her up on her extremely generous offer.


Jennie is no stranger to food carts. A foodie herself with six children, her husband and one of her sons run Cheesesteak Nirvana in the same Cartlandia food pod. I think it's fitting that you can get a great cheesesteak and then literally walk 50 feet to get a gourmet dessert!

Menu (mid-November 2011)
First up, another go on the chocolate mousse that I heavily criticized on my first visit ($3). This time, a much more successful mousse. Besides a larger portion, the mousse itself had more structure. The whipped cream on top still lacked the airy, extremely light qualities I'm used to seeing, but in all fairness, even that was still an improvement from the first go-around.


Chocolate Mousse (Cake on a Hot Tin Roof)

Mousse has more structure this time!
Just when I thought my meal was done...not so fast! Jennie went beyond the call of duty and presented me with two more dishes for consideration.

I got to try Jennie's Creme Brulee ($3). A well-executed brulee, with perfectly torched caramelized sugar sealing a lovely custard underneath. I found the custard light and pleasant. Breaking through the fragile sugar was like opening a present on Christmas day. Best of all, it was not overly sweet. A wonderful dessert.

Creme Brulee (Cake on a Hot Tin Roof)
Breaking through the hard caramel shell!
Half was gone mere seconds in....
Lastly, one of Jennie's rotating specials, the Almond Cream Bienenstich ($4), a German pastry with puff pastry (or sweet yeast dough), Bavarian cream, and what really amounted to an almond brittle-like topping. The various texture contrasts (a chewy puff pastry, smooth cream, and nutty, crunchy almond brittle) made this my favorite of the three.

"Bienenstich" means "Bee Sting Cake." Legend has it that the inventor of the dish got stung by a bee. Another possible story involves people who threw beehives to stop a group of raiders from entering the village, then celebrated by making this dish (yeah, I used Wikipedia).

Almond Cream Bienenstich (Cake on a Hot Tin Roof) 
Cartlandia's Facebook page has more pictures of Jennie's desserts. Warning: you may get hungry (again) after viewing them.

I'm very happy that I gave Cake on a Hot Tin Roof another shot. I got a chance to see what truly comes out of this food cart. I noticed several people stopping by Jennie's cart, contemplating what to order. Yes, it's quite a selection. Honestly, just close your eyes, point to a menu item, and order whatever you pointed to (barring any allergies, of course). This is definitely a cart that people should try! 8.5/10

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