This weekend I was visiting relatives and friends in Milwaukee for graduation parties, birthday celebrations, and Memorial Day festivities. In my downtime, I frequented a number of local bakeries searching for unique desserts to review here on the blog. I found just what I was looking for at C. Adams Bakery, located downtown in the Milwaukee Public Market.
Lisa Crum, owner and baker extraordinaire of C. Adams Bakery, has developed over a hundred different desserts, ranging from decadent butter toffee brownies to coconut cream pie to streusel bars to turnovers and so many more. But when I came across her four different varieties of cake truffles, I knew I exactly what I would be walking away with. I was so taken with these cake truffles because if you’ll recall, I featured peanut butter cake truffles here on the blog a few months ago–which were a complete hit among my taste-testers (i.e. my roommates and my Badger Herald colleagues).
There were four different varieties available and I decided, as I am wont to do, to try one of each: the all-American, the red velvet, the Butterfinger, and the S’mores. The all-American was a dense, fudgy, deep dark chocolate (yet not at all bitter) cake covered in milk chocolate and topped off with chocolate sprinkles. This was the first I tried, and it ended up being the one I liked the best because it had the most intense flavor. The red velvet was a much more mellow butter cake–nothing all the special, save the deep red color of the cake. The Butterfinger was delicious, but I’m biased, considering my obsession with any and all peanut butter and chocolate combinations. The S’mores seemed to be all butter to me, a white cake base with bits of graham cracker. As much as I love S’mores, this cake truffle retained few qualities of its namesake, but could easily be improved with a few tweaks.
These cake truffles are easy to replicate because the principle steps for making them are so basic. The cake base can be made from any recipe or boxed mix and topped with chocolate ganache or white chocolate or anything else you can dream up.
If you happen to be in the Milwaukee area, I highly suggest you stop by C. Adams Bakery, pick up just about anything there, grab some of the legendary coffee from Alterra (to temper the sweetness and decadence of the desserts), and enjoy them at any of the excellent locales along the lakefront.
