Sherman's Food Adventures: 812 Cake & Dessert

812 Cake & Dessert

For a fairly big international city, Vancouver doesn't boast a wide range of dessert spots (specifically cake).  Let me rephrase that, Vancouver does not sport many late-night cake spots.  Yes, we have the usual shaved ice, bubble-tea and other Asian dessert joints, but for actual cake, we normally find them closed by dinner time.  However, there is a new place called 812 Cake & Dessert, located in Burnaby no less.  The 8 represents the steps required and the 12 is the selection of cakes available.  Recently, I made 2 separate visits and came away with a good sampling of their wares.

Probably one of their best cakes, the Tiramisu was certainly light and creamy.  I found the flavours mildly sweet with only the background essence of coffee and cocoa powder.  For some, this would be too understated, but for me, it was perfect as I got my tiramisu hit without having to down a glass of water with it.  With all of the creaminess, the sponge cake (not lady fingers) was relatively moist.  The same couldn't be said about the Blueberry as the sponge seemed a bit drier.  With that being said, I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was a deal-breaker.  Once again, the amount of airy fresh cream was light and made up for any dryness.  I could get the blueberry in it, but with anything blueberry, it was muted and not very sweet.

Probably the sweetest cake we had was the Salted Caramel for obvious reasons.  However, once again, it didn't go beyond the threshold of sweetness for me personally.  I got a smoky buttery salty sweetness that was aromatic and pleasant.  It was especially true when I got an extra dose of the caramel from the top of the cake.  I found the sponge to be similar to the blueberry cake, yet the texture worked better with the caramel in my opinion as it stood up to the robust flavour.  To change it up a bit, the Blueberry Cheese was a light version of a cheesecake.  It was creamy and full of cheesiness accented by a nice tang and once again, only a purposeful amount of sweetness.  The blueberry was in the background except for the sauce on top. 

Our last item was the Matcha Roll filled with matcha cream.  The roll itself was not as light and airy as I would've preferred, but it wasn't too dense either.  I liked how it held up without being crumbly.  Inside, the cream was light where the matcha didn't have too bitter of a finish.  They exercised restraint in that regard.  On another visit, we ended up trying a few items that we weren't able to fit in last time.  The Strawberry Cheese Tart caught our eye immediately and it turned out to be a good choice.  From the firm buttery tart crust to the smooth cheese filling, this was balance in flavour and sweetness.  It was texturally on point.

The best thing we ate was the Sweet Potato cake, even though I had my initial reservations.  As much as the description would imply a heavy concoction, it was far from it.  Rather, the filling was creamy and fairly light.  The sweetness was very mild, yet still apparent.  Overall, I found the cakes at 812 to be attractive and fairly good.  Sure, the sponge could've been a bit more moist, but for a dedicated cake spot in Burnaby that is open late, it did the job and more.

The Good:
- Balanced flavours
- Not too sweet
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Sponge could be more moist
- Not sweet enough for some people

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