Chocolate raspberry birthday cake or torte in Seattle?

[RandyB]

After decades of relying on the B&O Expresso in Seattle for their chocolate raspberry torte for major occasions, I fear I may have to look elsewhere. Several reports on a diminishment in quality and loss of their main pastry chef have me concerned.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative that could satisfy a very serious and finicky chocoholic? The only one I can think of myself is Fran's. But I haven't sampled their chocolate raspberry cake (a custom order) in 12 years.

[tsquare]

Empress of Desserts has chocolate cake with raspberry curd as an option:

flavors

[tighe]

Empress of Desserts has chocolate cake with raspberry curd as an option:

flavors

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I'd second the EoD rec. Seriously good cakes. If you want to do something special, I'm sure they'd work with you.

[RandyB]

Empress of Desserts looks interesting, and they have a tasting coming up. What is odd is that they show cake sizes, but say they charge by the number of guests. I could understand that for a caterer doing portion control, but a 3-layer, 12 inch cake is what is is, whether 20 for 40 people eat it.

Of course, I see many surprises as I look into the world of catered events. The last time I did one, they charged an hourly fee for servers and the tips were up to us. Now many just add 18% or more of the total food & beverage cost to the bill, as if this were in a restaurant with individual orders being served, rather than a buffet in my home. Depending on the cost of the food and whether the caterer is supplying liquor, this could end up costing over $40/hour per server, plus sales tax on top of that.

[laurel]

I've had good experiences ordering from Macrina. Here's their cake list:

http://www.macrinabakery.com/Cakes.htm

They have something that looks like it might fit your requirements:

Bittersweet Chocolate Gateau

A velvety flourless chocolate cake with swirls of raspberry. Dusted with Powdered sugar.

$25.00 (serves 10 - 12)

[tighe]

Empress of Desserts looks interesting, and they have a tasting coming up. What is odd is that they show cake sizes, but say they charge by the number of guests. I could understand that for a caterer doing portion control, but a 3-layer, 12 inch cake is what is is, whether 20 for 40 people eat it.

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I think you're misinterpreting the information on the web page. The page that tsquare linked to pretty clearly states that a 12" round with buttercream costs $55 (serves 24-30). The other price sheet on the site is specifically for wedding cakes, which are typically price per person, as is everything else for weddings.

[RandyB]

Thanks for the clarification, tighe. You're right.

And thanks Laurel for the Macrina suggestion. I love a lot of what they make. I'll definitely talk to them, along with a couple of others.

[RandyB]

Macrina's is the choice. I spoke directly with a pastry chef who was very accomodating with my special requests. We decided on custom, 4-layer chocolate sheet cake, with two raspberry and one ganache filling layers, and a chocolate butter cream frosting. All bittersweet chocolate, of course.

Fran's no longer does custom cakes, or even large ones.