Bakery?:
Menntaskóli Borgarfjarður Bake Sale
Address:
Borgarbraut 50, Borgarnes
Website:
n/a
Style:
Icelandic
Price:
$$-$$$
I should consider it the ultimate compliment that people in the small town of Borgarnes (where I'm perhaps a little infamous) not only know of my love of cake and baked goods, but keep me posted on insider events such as this one. A purely local event, one Saturday in the fall, the high school hosted a bit of a bazaar including a bake sale organized by the graduating class to help fund their graduation. Hearing this, I knew I had to check it out!
Upon arrival, I realized that the bake sale would actually be considered a
cake sale. Entire tortes, lovely homemade creations (most, if not all involving chocolate, licorice, or a combination of the two) that you won't find in any bakery, were wrapped in cellophane and offered for sale. For me, it was kind of a disappointment, because I, as an individual, didn't want to purchase a whole cake for ~2500kr for myself and my "cake parties" always involved home-baked goodies... I would have liked at least one cake cut up into slices. Even the bags of kleinur were just so big. However, I couldn't just leave a bake sale and not buy anything. That's downright scandalous.
So, in the end, I went for one of the very few (two) items that were under 1000kr. That was the vinarterta (700 kr). I've always wanted to try a vinarterta, being from Vinland myself ^^, but have never actually had the chance to do so. I keep telling myself that I'll order the ones sold online by a lady in Toronto when I have something big to celebrate, but other than that, I have yet to try one. Of course, the ones sold online and the original recipe I snagged in an Icelandic Christmas cake magazine are more torte-like (with whole prunes and vanilla cardamom icing) than the ones I've seen in Iceland. The latter are universally pieces of unadorned vanilla cake, somewhere between shortbread and sponge cake, layered with jam. I liked the dough in this one, but the jam layer was so generic that I can say with confidence I could bake a better vinarterta. And, one day, I will!
Walking around, I also spotted the sheep cupcakes (400kr) for sale again! I say again because the previous year, I had gone to see the sheep herding festival, or at least, the last part of it and these absolutely adorable sheep cupcakes were being sold. I hadn't brought my money with me so I ran back to my room to get it and when I came back, the festival had packed up and left in a matter of five minutes. :/ It took a year for me to get my chance and I didn't pass it up: available in either white or "black" (chocolate), with little licorice heads, these are... brilliant. The icing on top had gone a little hard/stale, but unwrapping the muffin cup, I found the chocolate dough soft and spongy. I'm probably the oldest customer who actually bought these for myself, but I don't care!
Also, the next day, I got a lovely gift from the lady who had so kindly informed me of the event: a slice of the cake she had bought! This was a rich chocolate cake with mint and decadent ganache topping; very dense, moist, almost brownie-like in texture, this was well, better than my vinarterta, though a little too rich and sweet. Still, I was very thankful for this donation to my research. :)
Rating: **1/2
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