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The Taco Temple Carrot Cake Wedge

Written By Peter Reinhart
Wednesday, 17 August 2011 Webisodes

You are about to see a big ol’ wedge of moist carroty goodness, the carrot cake from Morro Bay’s Taco Temple, made by their pastry queen, Donelle Pollard. This is a short little dessert of a video, a fun, happy transition piece between our visit to California’s Central Coast and our upcoming series in San Francisco with Tony Gemignani (which begins on September 1st). As I say on the video, my wife Susan’s carrot cake is my personal benchmark and Adam Pollard, who we met in the Taco Temple webisode, feels the same way about his wife’s version. What struck me was how different each of these carrot cakes actually are and how easy it is to love them both. Donelle’s version is moist and dense, loaded with carrots that are still bright orange and al dente, proudly on display in two big layers surrounded by plenty of the requisite and delicious cream cheese frosting. Susan’s version also has lots of frosting; the two versions of frosting are very similar — let’s face it, cream cheese frosting is one of the wonders of the world and is no need of innovation — but Susan’s cake is also is loaded with what I think is the true secret ingredient of carrot cake: raisins.

Regardless of the differences, what you will see on the tape is how hard it is stop eating good carrot cake. At first I had to wrap my mind around the fact that this one was so different from Susan’s version but then, the more I tasted, and as the sweet flavor of the carrots began to shine, I fell under its charm. At the end I’m mumbling something in the van, still nursing that wedge and refusing to share it with anyone else. I can’t even recall what it was I said because my mouth was so full of carrot cake and cream cheese that I could barely speak. And that, ironically, says it all.

 

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Summer Wathen

We are so thrilled that you are visiting our neighborhood! Thank you for highlighting the things we love too.

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Pizza Quest is a site dedicated to the exploration of artisanship in all forms, wherever we find it, but especially through the literal and metaphorical image of pizza. As we share our own quest for the perfect pizza we invite all of you to join us and share your journeys too. We have discovered that you never know what engaging roads and side paths will reveal themselves on this quest, but we do know that there are many kindred spirits out there, passionate artisans, doing all sorts of amazing things. These are the stories we want to discover, and we invite you to jump on the proverbial bus and join us on this, our never ending pizza quest.

Peter’s Books

American Pie
Artisan Breads Every Day
The Bread Bakers Apprentice
Brother Junipers Bread Book
Crust and Crumb
Whole Grain Breads

...and other books by Peter Reinhart, available on Amazon.com