The Vienna Bakery does it again for Lincoln's Birthday!

The Vienna Bakery in Barrington, RI makes many different kinds of cakes and we have had a lot of them. They do not rest on their laurels, however, and come up with something different and good every now and then.  Today we had a variation on a fruit tart. This one contained apples, pears and peaches which turned out to be a great combination!

Multi-fruit tart!

Great whipped cream decoration - always a plus.

This consisted of a basic pastry/pie crust which they always do a good job with.  Then there is a thin layer of custard to support the fruit. Finally it is topped with generous amounts of the three fruits mentioned.  They are covered with a dusting of powdered sugar and some white chocolate shavings.  Finally a ice decorative ring swirl of whipped cream and white chocolate adds a decorative touch.  This cake was very good and quite a treat for all. Despite the title of the post, it had nothing to do with Lincoln's birthday.

Apples, peaches and pears - great combo!

Good solid crust!

Custard and lots of fruit!

They're ba-a-ck during a snowstorm!

The white paper wrapped item was found in my office with the following note: Saw these and thought of you!  What could it be?  The first appearance in 2015 of Cadbury Mini Eggs - the Easter candy that is probably the best there is.  They are a step up from M&Ms with a harder candy shell and better mild chocolate.  As you can see by the picture of the bunny on the package they are intended for Easter and we take this as a sign that the year is moving forward and Spring is on the way.

What's in the wrapping?

Is that time of year upon us already?

For Cadbury mini eggs - apparently so!

Just look at the cute little bunny for Easter!

A more deluxe version of M&Ms!

 We had these for cake hour on a day that was anything but Spring like. A blizzard had begun.  Right outside our building is a road newly opened on the site of the old I195 trestle.  The only problem is that when they opened the road they did not activate the traffic light at the end of the street. So it is constantly red. We are getting very amused at motorists stopping at the light for minutes waiting for it to turn green until the finally run it.   Today the snowstorm made the situation worse as there was some gridlock.  A whole line of cars piled up behind the lead car and a few trucks that went nowhere.  Finally the bunch of cars behind the trucks turned around and went back the way they came. We doubt they found an easier road that day but at least they tried.

Note to the guy at the head of the line - it won't turn green!

The line gets a little long!

Nobody moves so they turn around and leave!

Grant Cake

Being in academic research, we are always trying to get funding. Ideally you would like a long term grant from the NIH that will keep you going for years into the future. For various reasons they have been hard to come by but we had cause for celebration today.  One of our investigators got a five year R01 grant from NIAID - the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases.  This is indeed cause for celebration. Many other labs that have not gotten funding have been sent packing. We are happy we don't have to worry about that for our colleague.

We expect nothing but the best!

Their version of a chocolate mousse cake!

Celebration of success and relief at getting funded!

To celebrate be brought in a cake from one of our favorite places, the Vienna Bakery in Barrington, RI.  The cake was their version of a chocolate mousse cake.  It was very well constructed and nicely decorated.  The florets on top were chocolate whipped cream with chocolate leaves as garnish. The top was a layer of frosting and underneath a layer of cake. The bottom was also a chocolate cake layer. In between there was a thick layer of choco mousse! The sides were some kind of chocolate crumble and there was a decorative band of whipped cream along the bottom edge.

Looks great from the top!

A pretty thick layer of mousse was the filling!

This was a nice looking cake that was not all that sweet and not all that heavy. Mousse contains a lot of air after all.  It tasted great and we were thrilled to celebrate the success or our pal.  We also got two days out of it which was a bonus!

Day two and still enough to go around!

Someone went to Costco!!

It is not unusual at all for us to get repeat cakes.  We've had the specialties of several Providence bakeries on many occasions.  Also cakes from supermarkets like Whole Foods have return engagements.  There is one cake that comes from Costco of which there are none in the area.  But one of our colleagues paid a visit to family in New York and stopped by Costco and picked up their version of a tuxedo cake.  We don't know why it is called a tuxedo cake. If you search for one you will see lots of pictures of cakes that are made to look like a tuxedo.  

This is a tuxedo cake!

And a nice round one - boy what you can do with fondant!

But you will also find a number of pictures of what we had today from around the country and all of them make reference to coming from Costco.  Indeed there is a whole image category Tuxedo Cake Costco. Apparently it is a stock cake item, if there is such a thing, and they sell a lot of them!

Looks like a tuxedo cake nursery!

The official name!!

As you can see our cake matches the pictures from the stores so we know it is the real thing!  It is a good cake with many layers with different color fillings - white chocolate mousse, milk chocolate mousse and dark chocolate mousse, we presume. It is usually moist but not heavy.  Like most American products it tends to the sweet side but it is not overwhelming. 

Fresh from the shelves of Costco!

Long and rectangular is their version!

White chocolate droppings - er, shavings and a spear to match!

Stratified layers of cake and mousse!

Three different types of mousse make a nice effect!

We are happy to have this again and since there seem to be plenty on the shelves of Costco we'll look forward to another one sometime in the future!

Half a Mocha Icebox Cake is better than none!

We've had Tate's cookies many times. They are sold nearby and every now and then they are a fall back cake hour treat.  Today was the first time we had them as part of a cake!! This time of year people go to parties and bring something like a dessert.  To prevent the host from ending up with a bunch of half eaten desserts at the end of the night, savvy party givers will send the stuff back with the folks who brought it for their own enjoyment. I suppose if you go to a lot of parties like this YOU end up being the person with a bunch of half eaten desserts.

What if they don't like it and I have to take it home?

Our cake bringer today had gone to a party and brought with her a Mocha Icebox Cake courtesy of a recipe from Ina Garten.  It can be found here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mocha-chocolate-icebox-cake-recipe.html

We presume this is what it looked like!

This is the type of cake we like because it is filled and frosted with a whipped cream base.  In this case it is a mocha whipped cream that also has mascarpone cheese - a little tira misu touch. Once you prepare that, instead of a baked cake base you use Tate's chocolate chip cookies to make the layers. What a great idea!!

We can see the resmblance!

Half a cake is better than none!

Tate's Cookies make the layers - genius!!

It assembles pretty quickly and then it is chilled and you are done.  We like this a lot as the cookies get a little soft and go very well with the mocha whipped frosting. It might not have been finished off at the party, but we killed it at cake hour!

It went away pretty fast!

The Glühwein flows again!!

One of our yearly cake hour events is when we have the traditional Christmas Glühwein.  This is the hot spiced wine that is a big treat when trolling around the Christmas markets in the cold weather. This year we made a trip to Germany and visited quite few of the markets in Munich including their pink or LGBT Christmas market. There wasn't much going on there but still it was fun to see.

Entrance to the pink market!

It wasn't as bustling as the others but it was pink!

We hit two of the popular Glühwein stands - the one outside the Frauenkirche in Munich and Omas Glühwein stand in the thick of the market. Both are good and fun to see. While tasting the Glühwein at Omas another patron passed around a tin of Christmas cookies which was a nice touch. It get you right into the holiday spirit. Oma does not mess around with Glühwein. The card at each bar table says: "Our Gluuhwein is prepared fresh daily with much love, exquisite spices and unsprayed Oranges and Lemons. Also with no flavor enhancer."  Sound like you have to give it a try!

Notice the twin towers of the Frauenkirche on this stand!

A perennial favorite is Oma's or Grandma's!

Oma takes Glühwein very seriously!

One of the most famous Christmas markets is in Nürnberg.  I happened to see some Glühwein from the Nürnberger Christkindlmarkt in a local store so I bought some to bring back to the States for our lab celebration.   On the back of the bottle it explains : For over 40 years, people at the Nuremberger Christkindl market have enjoyed this delicious Glühwein specialty together with Lebkuchen or roasted bratwurst. The balanced and harmonious spice mixture, only from natural spice extracts, for example blueberries, anise, cardamom, mace, nutmeg, cloves, orange and lemon zest, allspice, and cinnamon among others, has allowed it to become the most beloved Glühwein in Germany.

Straight from Nürnberg!

This is the human embodiment of the Christkind at the Market!

The most beloved Glühwein in Germany!!

As mentioned before, in Germany at the holidays they feature Plätzchen - their version of holiday cookies. These tend to be more bite size but very varied in what they are made of. I brought some back to go with the Glühwein but did not have to serve them.  We had an intern - sort of - from Germany who baked a bunch of Plätzchen in anticipation of our cake hour. Since we had the real thing I didn't have to break out the commercial stuff although they are very good.

The full spread!!

The oranges go with the Glühwein.

Some American "Plätzchen"!!   Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!

Brought this stuff back but it was unnecessary!!

Our baker from Germany, on the left, did some baking!!

Some Linzer type cookies!

Half moon shape butter shortbread and Italian almond cookies - homemade!!

 So our Glühwein cake hour was especially authentic this year though we still should be standing out in the cold some where for it to be truly genuine.

He got his citizenship and brought in a pie!!

One of our colleagues originating in Hungary has been with us for over a decade. You can safely assume he is in no rush to get back there. Over the years he has gone from work visas to a green card. Finally the time for citizenship came so he can vote in elections and go through the quicker lines at airport immigration...among other things!  He passed his citizenship test awhile ago and yesterday was the swearing in ceremony.

Take that Viktor Orban!

To celebrate his becoming a full fledged American citizen he brought in an all-American Cranberry Orange tart from Pasticeh.  An apple pie might have been even aller-American but we are not complaining. Cranberries are uniquely American and this is a very special treat.

Partially eaten by the time the photographer arrived!

The layers of pastry cream and the glaze cut the tartness of the berries!

A sophisticated American treat!!

This tart, which we have had before, is delicious and hard to believe that the sourness of the berries is not at all overwhelming. The pastry cream layer and the glaze probably offset the tartness.  We were very happy to eat some and welcome our former Hungarian into the American fold!