Sweet treats need not be expensive all the time. Sometimes the best treats are found in unlikely places like small Cafés or food stalls that offer low cost goodies from home grown recipes. However, there are also instances when these sweet temptations lead to bitter disappointments. This happens when you go hunting for budget goodies from quaint and unknown bakeshops or bakeries.
Most of the time my budget baked goodies expeditions lead to disappointments. I often see cakes that look appetizing on the outside but fall short of your expectations once you taste it.
Two of my recent finds turned out to be disappointments. The first one was a carrot cake I got from a bakeshop in the mall that offer attractively designed cakes and cookies for kids. The whole cake really looked enticing at a glance. But upon closer inspection you could see that the icing was the only thing moist in the cake. It tasted a bit bland and the texture resembles crumbly bread. The icing wasn’t too bad with just the right sweetness and consistency. It would’ve helped if there was icing in the middle to make the cake more appetizing.
The second one was an Almond Choco-Hazelnut Cake. It was a combination of a vanilla chiffon cake, caramel syrup in the middle, thick choco-hazelnut icing and almond slivers for the toppings. The combination of thick icing and light chiffon cake did not go too well. It would’ve gone better if the cake was more solid and less spongy.
Once in a while I get to chance upon good buys like the meringue cookies from a corner bakery, egg pie from a roadside stall and frosted cupcakes from a food fair stall. There are small bakeshops or bakeries that have surprisingly good cakes and pastries which is why I never tire of going on my budget treats expedition from time to time.
