Pastry: Golden colour, but sadly not fresh 6/10
Presentation: Neat, half sized rectangle. Heavily dusted sugar 7.5/10
Value for money: $3.50 - Small portion, not fresh but enjoyable in the sun 6/10
Overall score: 6.6/10
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Filling: Light, fluffy vanilla cream 7/10
Pastry: Golden colour, but sadly not fresh 6/10 Presentation: Neat, half sized rectangle. Heavily dusted sugar 7.5/10 Value for money: $3.50 - Small portion, not fresh but enjoyable in the sun 6/10 Overall score: 6.6/10
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Filling: Pleasant, lightly vanilla flavoured custard 8/10
Pastry: Well defined, compact layers but not enough crunch 6/10 Presentation: Mille-feuille construction, neatly decorated icing 7.5/10 Value for money: $4.80 - decent portion and relatively fresh. Not as satisfying as predicted 7/10 Overall score: 7/10
I rarely traipse into areas like Toorak, so I was interested to see how a European themed bakery in the high street would hold up. I was pleasantly surprised that the price of this well presented vanilla slice wasn’t exceeding $5 which is common for a Mille-feuille in French patisseries. The slice seemed quite fresh, maybe not ‘just baked’ but perhaps the night before my morning visit. The custard was the highlight here; smooth and somewhat eggy, with a light vanilla taste coming through. I wish there was more of the custard rather than three layers of the pastry. The pastry itself promised more than it delivered. Although the layers were well compacted and a decent colour they didn’t deliver in crunch, flakiness or salty savouriness. Having said that, they did cut easily enough with a sharp knife, so all was not lost. Finally the icing; interestingly swirled cocoa pattern and a nice sweetness when combined with the not so sweet custard. Altogether, not bad, not overpriced and a good start to the weekend.
Filling: Tasteless, overly sweet, whipped mixture 4/10
Pastry: Underbaked, soft and lifeless 4/10 Presentation: Proprtionally OK, pale pastry layers, butreasonably well assembled 5.5/10 Value for money: $3.90 - Pocket sized portion, not very satisfying 5/10 Overall score: 4.6/10
A drive out to the Macedon Ranges to observe the stunning autumn leaves falling took me through picturesque Riddells Creek. I called in at their bakery, especially loving their old school wooden display cabinets filled with vintage bakery items like jam tarts and raisin biscuits. I took away a slightly smaller than average vanilla slice and chomped it whilst watching the world go by. What lets down the slice the most is the ingredients of the pastry and custard. The pastry tasted like it contained margarine and was very pale and was already starting to absorb moisture from the filling, though clearly freshly baked. There was a distinct lack of puff, crunch or resistance to the bite. The custard too tasted like packet mixture that I have found in numerous slices throughout my journey. It was light and fluffy but offered no richness and overall a lack of meaningful flavour. The icing was the best element if truth be told; millimeter thin, sticky to a finger grip and not overly sweet.
Filling: Vanilla whipped cream custard 8.5/10
Pastry: Nicely puffed, starting to go soft inside. 6/10 Presentation: Proprtionally sound, neatly iced with passionfruit flavour icing 8.5/10 Value for money: $4.50 - Average sized portion, relatively fresh, tasty 8/10 Overall score: 7.75/10
With Milleara Bakery sold out of vanilla slices I stumbled upon The Long Macc Cafe inside the arcade selling three different varieties in their cake cabinet. With a hard decision to make, I settled for the passionfruit topped slice rather than the dusted sugar and vanilla icing. I’m certain that the Cafe buy their cakes in, so I was pleased to see that the slices were at least fresh. It reminded me a lot of the Zouki Cafe passionfruit slice I had on the day my son was born at the Royal Womens Hospital, so maybe they provide the cakes? The slice in question was tasty; creamy, light, vanillery and the passionfruit icing was very subtle and not overly sweet. The pastry was well puffed and still crisp on the underside, but starting to soften up on the inside after being exposed to the moisture of the custard. Overall, a rather nice find. Coincidentally, I ended finishing Mrs B’s tiramisu as the richness and heavy cream was just to much for her heavily pregnant-self!
Filling: Thick, heavy duty bakery custard 7.5/10
Pastry: Delightfully fresh and flaky 8.5/10 Presentation: Joe average square with dusted sugar 7/10 Value for money: $4 - Large portion, fresh and almost finished me off 7.5/10 Overall score: 7.6/10
Having already eaten my body weight in brunch across the road at Backyard Cafe, I crossed the road to test out Sammy’s vanilla slice. A pretty unassuming venue, stock is limited by baked freshly. For $4 I was handed a larger than average portion, filled with thick, creamy custard mix with a distinct vanilla essence flavour. The highlight of this slice was the pastry; with its lighter than air, crisp and flaky makeup. My maple pulled pork Benedict was sitting heavy in my stomach already, so this slab was touch and go for being eaten in one sitting. You’ll be glad to know that I powered through regardless of my levels of discomfort.
Filling: A ludicrous serving of thick, heavy vanilla cream 8.5/10
Pastry: Sadly lacking in quantity and freshness 5/10 Presentation: A real spectacle in its entirety, but a slither looks odd 5/10 Value for money: $7 - Half sized portion based on the original Flinders offering - not fresh 6.5/10 Overall score: 6.25/10
I’ve waited a while to get my hands on a piece of the famous Flinders vanilla slice, managing to finally locate a close(ish) supplier in Sunny Brighton. I drove in anticipation of seeing this monster and was not let down by its skyscraper proportions. Unfortunately North Point Cafe have let themselves down by their need for profit; charging $7 for a half sized portion when the original cut lines are visible in the slab. To make matters worse for them they also served me the last piece of the old slice (pictured bottom right), sadly containing some withered pastry. They also annoyed an 8 months pregnant Mrs B who was charged 50c for cream on her tiramisu, only to then find none in her takeaway box - what are they playing at?!
The slice in question is undoubtably huge, even at a half size portion it took me two sittings to get through it. The sight of the slab was mesmerising, but I feel a thin, cross sectional slither just looked a bit daft. Proportionally the amount of filling to pastry is way off and the item itself is basically one large dollop of vanilla cream. It’s heavy, rich, gloopy cream too, not light and fluffy. It tastes great, with plenty of vanilla and an aftertaste of coconut - was there a secret ingredient in there somewhere? As mentioned, the pastry wasn’t fresh, but even if freshly baked it was not golden brown and rich in its makeup. The icing peeled off with the top layer of pastry and became obsolete pretty quickly, proving impossible to break down with just a plastic fork. I’d be keen to try the Flinders slice again - at full size and maximum freshness, to really put it through its paces. But as for North Point Cafe - they should really evaluate their value for money and customer service in future.
Filling: Thick, slightly gelatinous but tasty vanilla custard 7.5/10
Pastry: Fresh, crispy and up to the task 7.5/10 Presentation: Commanding stature, overkill on the icing 7/10 Value for money: $5 (estimate) - Huge portion, fresh and mostly fulfilling 7/10 Overall score: 7.25/10
Driving through Wallan gave me an opportunity to swing by Pretty Sally Bakehouse for a takeaway coffee and brick sized vanilla slice. The slice looked intriguing in the glass cabinet, a deep yellow mound of custard topped with a thick layer of whiter than white icing and heavy chocolate lines. I anticipated the icing being overly sweet and somewhat unnecessary, and my estimation was indeed correct. The sheer size of the slice made it hard to wrap my mouth around in one cross sectional bite, so I had to nibble tentatively to avoid total collapse. The custard had a slightly more set texture than I was expecting. But having said that it was very creamy and sang with sweet vanilla. The pastry also held the filling very successfully, and broke apart in flaked sections with each bite. I feel that a dusting of icing sugar would have made this monster so much more rewarding. Clearly the bakery take time to deliver freshly made goods, so in my opinion they should ditch the 1cm thick icing. Also, decent coffee if driving through.
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January 2022
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