HAL Cakes and Desserts

[Banditswife]

1 hour ago, REOVA said:

We had carrot cake in a jar on various days for in the daily dessert displays by the ice cream on Eurodam. 

Thanks, dh will enjoy that

[durangoscots]

Looks lovely and it is one more thing to tempt me which I don't need but will enjoy.

 

Susan

[syesmar]

On 11/19/2023 at 3:28 PM, Banditswife said:

…I am wondering: is this usually held on a sea day?  During lunch?  Later afternoon? 

Appreciate those who have chimed in on this question and look forward to hearing more. 
 

Is this announced in the When & Where daily program, Navigator App, advance signage in the Lido and/or MDR, or by the Cruise Director?

Edited November 20, 2023 by syesmar

[catarazzi]

The new “Cake Me Away” dessert celebration sounds like a promising development. My husband is a huge sweet hound. We are taking our first HAL cruise over the holidays on the Koningsdam.
 

We have been on Celebrity a number of times, as well as Princess and Carnival. The cakes were all gorgeous—like mouth-droolingly gorgeous. However, they all tasted basically the same but with different toppings, food coloring, frosting, etc… The base cake was very disappointing—kinda like wet cornbread consistency without the yummy cornbread flavor.
 

It all ends up being a distracting visual tease, and my poor husband is then forced to find some way to cope, often suffering silently with his chocolate chip cookies, vanilla ice cream, and the occasional brownie. It is tragic to watch, and he often sulks until the next opportunity to be visually tantalized, yet disappointed. It’s a vicious cycle, and I need to prepare myself (and him) for the level of dismay we will both have to endure… 
 

So, tell me—how are HAL’s cakes and desserts in general? 🙏🏻 

[OlsSalt]

From consistent past experience, the free HAL room service  chocolate cake is one of the best we have every had. HAL knows how to deliver tasty cakes.  Moist, nice crumb and the "good" chocolate flavor. Holland is a specialty chocolate country after all. They have a tradition to maintain.

 

We came only a the end of the gorgeous  cake display on our last Noordam cruise, and found what we were still able to sample was very tasty and not dry or bland. I hear you though about ship board desserts that only look good, but are not worth the calories taste wise. 

 

Your husband can order room service chocolate cake as often as he wants, and I guarantee he will be a happy man if all else fails.

[Sea42]

I have been disappointed many times by beautiful yet tasteless desserts. But I do soldier on in my quest and am eventually rewarded.

But the worst for me is having a perfectly wonderful chocolate dessert completely ruined by someone sneaking coffee into it! That is just evil and should not be allowed!

[whogo]

8 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

That is just evil and should not be allowed!

That is not as bad as finding that your spoonful of chocolate chip ice cream is actually rum raisin.

[Mary229]

I have had the cakes.   They are a good cake but I was not a big fan of the frosting.  Instead of a rich buttercream it is more of a whipped cream based frosting.  

[OlsSalt]

Took a cake decorating course a long tome ago we made our decorative frostings with Crisco! You could build beautiful designs, as long as you never wanted to eat them.

 

The Pinnacle restaurant special occasion complimentary cake has always been very good too - rich fudge frosting.Even better when leftovers got chilled in the cabin refrigerator.

[Sea42]

22 minutes ago, whogo said:

That is not as bad as finding that your spoonful of chocolate chip ice cream is actually rum raisin.

Life can be so unfair 😪

[0106]

You may find this thread helpful.

 

[cbr663]

We are just off the Koningsdam yesterday and we sampled the Cakes offering in the lido.  They were surprisingly good.  Not fresh from a bakery good, but I was surprised.  I tried the carrot cake and it was moist and I could taste orange in it.  My DW tried the red velvet and unfortunately the frosting was a tad on the sweet side.  Of course, this all depends on your personal sweetness preferences.

 

The cakes showed up on the last sea day of the cruise, in the lido in the Sweet Spot location during lunch.  The cakes aren't replenished so once they are gone, they are gone.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Holland American does a great job.

[iflyrc5]

We had this on the Eurodam in October - outstanding - looking forward to it on the Rotterdam in Jan/Feb

 

[RuthC]

For those other days, when the specialty cakes aren't served, I highly recommend the Warm Flourless Chocolate Cake. 
Once upon a time, HAL served something called a Chocolate Purse. If you ever see that on the menu---grab it! 
Believe it or not, the No Sugar Added desserts are quite good. 
Panna Cotta is tasty and smooth. 
Check out the desserts in the Lido at lunchtime. Usually there is something very good offered. 

[Crew News]

58 minutes ago, RuthC said:

.....Once upon a time, HAL served something called a Chocolate Purse. If you ever see that on the menu---grab it! 
....

 Chocolate Purse - when cut open, warm chocolate flows slowly onto the plate.