Introduced: September 2019

Distribution: National

Suggested Retail Price: $21.99

Product Snapshot: Gourmet cakes and grocery stores don’t typically go hand-in-hand, unless you are specialty grocer The Fresh Market. The bakery team recently completed a six- month quest to find the best cakes across America. The benchmark was that the cakes had to rival any local bakery in taste and quality. Two hundred cake tastings later, the team unanimously agreed on their top five cakes from specialty bakeries across North America.

“We focused on smaller bakeries who specialized in European-style desserts, and ones who could customize for The Fresh Market while delivering a consistent, high-quality, elegant cake for our guests across all 161 of our locations,” said Jay Mandrillo, director bakery sales and merchandising for The Fresh Market. “You will not find these specific cakes anywhere else; they are truly signature cakes for The Fresh Market, and ones you can be proud to serve at any special occasion.” 

Boston Cream Cake 

What had our cake tasters swooning was the lighter Chantilly custard filling in-between layers of moist yellow cake, finished with a decadent layer of chocolate ganache. This cake is a huge departure from a traditional Boston Cream Pie that is typically filled with dense, heavy custard and topped with a chocolate flavored (not real chocolate) coating. It is a “Brooklyn bakery twist on a Boston dessert,” as one taster put it.

Triple Chocolate Truffle

A true chocolate lovers’ cake, with layers of rich Devil’s food cake, decadent milk chocolate truffle and white chocolate truffle made with real whipped cream, all covered with a chocolate ganache and white drizzle. “It is rich without being overwhelming, with a complexity of flavors,” said one of our experts.

Red Velvet

There is nothing artificial about this traditional Red Velvet cake, that contains only natural flavors and colors. What makes it signature is a real buttermilk cake, with a touch of cocoa, that imparts a rich flavor and velvety texture (hence, the name). The icing on this cake? Real cream cheese frosting.

Pineapple Brown Sugar Cake

Our bakery curator’s top pick for its standout flavor and uniqueness. This moist, spongy cake is filled with a pineapple brown sugar mousse, and a brown sugar streusel. Pineapple is truly the first ingredient for this cake. 

Carrot Cake

If you eat with your eyes, the elegant appearance of this cake will stop you in your tracks.  For carrot cake connoisseurs, this specialty cake contains the perfect combination of carrots, raisins, toasted coconut, chopped walnuts, and spices generously layered with a rich, real cream cheese icing.

The cakes will make their debut in mid-September in all 161 The Fresh Market stores and will be sold from the bakery department gourmet cold case. An all-store sampling event of the Pineapple Brown Sugar and Triple Chocolate Truffle cakes will take place on Friday, September 27th between 3 and 6 PM. The eight-inch cakes sell for $21.99 and serve eight generous slices.