Serious Eats: New York
Sugar Rush: $1.25 Sponge Cake at Hon Cafe
Serious Eats dessert goddess Kathy Chan and I didn't plan on getting anything when we visited Hon Cafe on Saturday, but then one of the employees pointed out the bags full of end cut cake pieces—too ugly to be sold at full price, but with the same composition as the uniformly nicely shaped cakes.
"Each bag is only $1.25! And it's perfectly good!"
Kathy and I looked at each other. And then we looked at the cake. And then we grinned. How could we not get it? For less than 75¢ each, we could be the proud owners of way more light, spongy cake than any normal human would think of buying.
Each giant, fluffy cake chunk was just made to be shared as the layers could be easily pulled apart along the central smear of nearly flavorless, shortening-based frosting. The cake's lightness, hint of sweetness, and lack of crumbs or other residues makes it dangerously easy to wolf down, which we did while dodging shoppers on Mott Street.
Hon Cafe
70 Mott Street, New York NY 10013 (b/n Canal and Bayard Streets; map)
212-219-1431