17th July 2010: Birds the confectionists - Swiss tart
Rating: 8.5/10

I'm not a big fan of cream cakes, something that Birds is renowned for. Instead, I tend to choose the 'dry lines', a term my boss uses for the non-cream cakes. One of my favourites is definitely the swiss tart- a mini version of the classic cherry bakewell tart. I often ate the Mr Kipling cherry bakewells throughout my childhood, along with other supermarket versions. It's not a cake I've been a huge fan of as I did think they were actually quite boring. I also once tried making my own bakewell tart and it turned out to be rather dry, which again has put me off. However, since tasting Bird's version I have certainly changed my mind!

This cake may be small but it surely does not lack in taste. A crisp, sweet pastry shell encloses a thin layer of jam, moist frangipan filling and a decent layer of glace icing. The tart is, of course, topped with a ruby red glace cherry- a definite must for a cherry bakewell tart!

The swiss tart is one of my favourite cakes at Bird's and is perfect when you fancy a little something sweet.

Lemon fondant fancy

6th July: Waitrose Lemon fancy

Rating: 7/10

I've developed quite a fond liking to Waitrose recently. We didn't have a store in Nottingham until the end of 2008 and up until then I had an assumption that Waitrose was posh and over priced. However, since actually going in I found that their prices were disimilar to Sainburys and I discovered that they have an in store bakery with delicious looking products. I couldn't resist having a taste of some of their cakes and now I feel I'm on a mission to try everything!

After a lot of thought and consideration I decided start with one of their lemon fondant fancy cake which looked exactly like the Mr Kipling version only bigger-brilliant! 

I found that when I bit into the cake it consisted of two layers of sponge sandwiched together with a thin layer of raspberry jam and butter icing. This was quite a nice suprise as I was expecting it to be plain inside. The cake was topped with a blob of that lovely vanilla cream just like the Mr Kipling ones and coated in tangy lemon fondant icing. It tasted lovely and sweet and brought back childhood memories of those shop bought birthday cakes I used to get at parties when I was a young.

I enjoyed this product but I didn't think it was anything too special and just didn't compare to the homemade cakes my mum used to make! I also found that although this was bigger than the Mr Kipling version, I just didn't feel satisfied after eating it and was left wanting more! I've decided I'm better off buying a box of the Mr Kipling ones as one is never enough!