CAKE A DAY : DAY III - August 17th, 2005
SOURCE: Monarch Cakes, Acland Street, St. Kilda
CAKE NAME: Rygor Delight
APPEARANCE:
5″ high mousse cake, book-ended at the top and bottom with a thin strip of chocolate cake mix and topped with dark chocolate.
EXPERIENCE:
Each of the cake shops along Acland Street offer a Rygor Delight, i was up for a challenge as the previous 2 cakes this week had been quite easy to plough through in one sitting. I picked the largest of the offerings which was wrapped slowly and delicately by an Indian man in the store. The cake was slightly too large for the protective cardboard container and so he wrapped some paper around it as if it was his favourite cake in the shop, or a child that he was giving away.
The delight towered a good 5 inches high and i was impressed by the soundness of its structure. I decided to tackle the sweet while it stood, resisting the temptation to sit it down for a more stable attack and again, even whilst cracking through the top layer of chocolate and through the cake layer below the structure stood tall and strong, my fork then slipped into the thick mousse where i was presented with a decision, i could keep pushing and remove a traditional slice from top to bottom or whittle away at the mousse with no discernible order. I chose to whittle away bit by bit, sometimes taking some top coating, sometimes just digging straight into the side of the mousse and ignoring the cake and chocolate end pieces. As i did so, i noticed two things which in my opinion, stepped this cake up a notch;
1. Scattered throughout the mousse were small chunks of chocolate. This very technique is what makes Homer Hudson Ice Cream one of my favorite variations, and it was no difference with this mousse.
2. The strong structural nature of the Rygor delight leant itself to making shapes in the mousse. Sick!
I decided to extend this idea and try to tunnel from one side to the other to really test the strength of it’s manufacturing. Indeed i made it without any difficulty.
After a while the mousse started to get to me. I thought perhaps one of the smaller delights would have been enough and as i drudged through the seemingly never-ending mousse jungle i tired. It is not oft that i tire whilst finishing a plate, but this was really starting to get to me. I went a little dizzy and every mouthful got heavier to bring to my mouth.
The end was painful, but i did receive the challenge that i so desperately sought, which eased the pain (a little).
COST: $3.75