CARROT CAKE REVIEW No 26 - Unadorned by Greatness

Sheringham, Norfolk.

It's one measure of the effects of the lock down on the supply of carrot cakes to review. I'm now reduced to reviewing a loaf!  So here goes. Can a carrot loaf be thought of as a cake anyway? Isn't it just a tray bake by another name? Because if it is I refer you to the Golden Rules, they are not a cake. So I'm struck with the force of a mallet ie not that subtly - that this loaf off the Market is not one either. Plain and naked, without any decoration, no marzipan carrot facsimiles, thankfully. Its a loaf that is sliced vertically, so its certainly not a wedge. Cakes are cut in wedges. Therefore this loaf is not a cake. Move on.

I'm going to proceed as if I've not just said that, and just take this review as an exercise in culinary largesse.  The texture of this 'loaf' was the correct colour - 'Burnt Sienna'  and certainly in the right ballpark texture wise - a soft rubble. The base had the appearance of being slightly under cooked, darker and wetter looking, a bit depressed as if it had sunk from being sat on for a short while. Either that or recently defrosted and the moisture from the thaw degraded the robustness of its texture.

The loaf slice was actually quite substantial, they weren't being ungenerous with it at least. You could see the carrot stranding still and felt the moistness of it between your thumb and finger as you proffered it to your mouth. And when it went in? Well the first sensory impression was of...coconut!...and then banana!!....followed by an after taste of mixed spices. But none was worryingly long lasting. Their fleetingness indicates the flavour balance was not too queered by any one of them. It was a carrot loaf. The texture on the tongue was about right, except for that bit at the base where the unfortunate doughy quality spoiled its rubbling effect. It was fifty fifty between under cooked or defrosted, probably the latter by a whisker.

I can't review any frosting, inner or outer because there wasn't one. But for something that wasn't a cake in the first place, that was OK. Plain, but not offensive....for a loaf.

CARROT CAKE SCORE - 3/8