SusieCakes Review!

Thanks to Corey for the shoutout on her blog - I'm so glad she liked the treats.  Recipe to come soon, promise!

There is just something about freshly-baked cake that calls out to me.  Ever since I was a little kid I've loved sweets and my mom was nice enough to treat me to bakery desserts every once in a while.  She now uses me as an excuse to go to bakeries when I visit her and my dad, but hey, I'm not complaining :)

Enter SusieCakes - one of my not-so-new faves.  It's a gourmet bakery chain based in SoCal and fortunately, there is one not too far from my parents' house in OC.  Over the Thanksgiving long weekend my dear friend Audrey was in town visiting her parents, and having visited her in Seattle a few weeks before I kept raving about SusieCakes' red velvet cake to her.  Audrey LOVES red velvet cake so, of course, we had to have a pre-Thanksgiving SusieCakes date :)

One thing I love about SusieCakes is their all-American, homestyle décor and concept.  You walk into the store and you immediately feel transported back to the 1950s - gleaming white walls, sparkling display cases, and all the employees wear super cute bandannas as part of their outfits.

How cute is the "Eat Cake" sign?  Of course I will! :)

I bought a slice of their Vanilla Celebration cake.  SusieCakes offers a variety of HUGE layer cakes made to order and by the slice, and this beauty had been calling my name the past several times I'd visited.  I went for it this time :)  SusieCakes describes it as "6 layers of vanilla cake filled and frosted with SusieCakes signature retro-blue vanilla frosting".  I call it funfetti cake on steroids :)

Lord have mercy, this cake was awesome.   I've had funfetti cake a million times before and the boxed version is usually really light and almost spongy, if I remember correctly.  Not this baby.  It was rich, moist, and dense.  I loved how many layers of cake and frosting there were - the flavor was bursting through in the best possible way.  There was plenty of frosting on top, too - no skimping around here!   I ended up eating about one third of the cake and taking the rest home to share with Hubby and my parents.  My dad especially (who enjoys his desserts indeed) commented, "This is good cake."  He couldn't stop raving about it :)

I had also mentioned to Miss Audrey the gloriousness of SusieCakes' whoopie pies, so I bought one for us to share.  This is the whoopie pie to top all whoopie pies, let me tell you.  Their website describes it as "two thick, chewy chocolate cookies sandwiched with vanilla and buttercream".  Yes indeedy!  These puppies (or whoopies, rather) are incredibly rich.  They're not quite the size of a bagel and about 2 inches thick.  The picture makes it look quite demure, but I guarantee you, it's not :)

Ahh, the inside of the whoopie pie.  We each had a quarter of it, and I took the rest home.  It's SO rich!  The cookies are perfectly chewy and just chocolately enough, and the vanilla buttercream is thick and sweet.  YUM.  I couldn't stop raving to my dad about these before we went, and of course he was trying to be cool and said, "it's just a whoopie pie, how good can it be?"

He took a bite when I got home, looked at the rest of it in his hand, and said, "This is GOOD!"

So there :)

Om nom nom.

Now you didn't think I'd say so much about the red velvet cake not to show you a picture of it?  This is Audrey's slice.  I had a few bites and it is DIVINE.  It's SusieCakes' bestseller: "deep red, moist cake lightly flavored with cocoa, filled and topped with traditional cream cheese frosting."

I couldn't describe it better: rich, dense, perfectly balanced flavor.  It's easy to see why this is their bestseller - it's sweet without being too sweet, and the frosting is just right.  Just thinking about it makes me drool (in a good way) :)

Thanks, SusieCakes - y'all can do no wrong.  I'll be back!

SusieCakes
2043 Westcliff Dr. #104
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949)646-6881
Check out their other locations here