17 Sortir [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: 17 Sortir
Address: Grandagarður 19, Reykjavik
Website: facebook
Style: Cakes 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Telling myself I've done every bakery in 101 Reykjavik, I kept forgetting about this fancier (cup)cake shop. Rather, though I might have seen it before, I was really made aware of it the previous year (while trying to save my dripping ice cream cup from the place next door ^^) and almost immediately, its presence slipped my mind. I think the main reason for that was that it is first and foremost -- at least in terms of the items available in-store -- a cupcake shop. Yes, yes, I know; if you've been tracking the hints I drop every now and then, you'd know I am... not fond of the over-hyped cupcake, gourmet or otherwise. However, while cupcakes are indeed a focus, without a doubt they have some of the city's prettiest, albeit simply assembled cakes, though the selection is far from the "17 types" mentioned in their name.

In some ways, I feel like the store itself has seen better days, though it's far from old; while there, it seemed a little forlorn, with most items on the drinks menu crossed out and neither customers nor workers in sight. Perhaps it would be better to actually move the sign with the cake/cupcake prices to the front? I only noticed it was there on the side by the door on my way out... While there, the selection consisted of four types of cake (695kr), about a half dozen varieties of cupcakes (595kr) and one passion fruit square (495kr).

The slice of cake was more than I planned to spend, but it was my last day and hey! I thought I deserved it. :P I went with the strawberry-blueberry cake: two layers of vanilla sponge cake dotted sparsely with blueberries and interspersed with strawberry buttercream icing. Upon opening up my little container, I was greeted with the amazing smell of fruit. Yes, so often strawberry-flavoured products are just pink without having any distinct flavour. The icing -- and there was certainly a lot of it -- had the taste, texture and aroma of fresh, homemade ice cream; it was irresistible. Topping that off with fresh blueberries was a nice touch. Personally, for so tall a cake, I would have liked to see a little complexity, maybe some sort of cream instead of just icing everywhere? Not sure. Still, I know I had to have picked the best cake in store: a flavourful treat on my last day in Iceland (at least for this particular trip...).

Rating: ***