Mark's Quality Cakes

Mark's Quality Cakes

10/1 Akuna Drive, Williamstown

(Ph) 9397 4677

(and various places around Melbourne..)

The first time I came across Mark's cakes was at Joe's Garage in Fitzroy - I fell in love with the cakes they had in their dessert cabinet <3 I kept going back to Joe's Garage for their cakes, but then later realised the cakes weren't made by them but were actually from Mark's Quality Cakes! We realised we also saw the same cakes at Crown - at one restaurant with all the cakes in their cabinet and at one of the shops at the food court. We used to always buy a piece of cake from either places and bring it the the movies to eat - would have cost ~$10 a slice so was pretty pricey, but was totally worth it! <3

For our one year's anniversary, P bought a whole Mars Bar Cake for me from Mark's and lugged it on the train/tram, and hid it on our little college fridges... wow he used to do so much for me =P he said it only cost ~$60 and was MASSIVE!

I was so soo in <3 at both him and the cake =P We ate the cake in about a month, and boy, we were so sick of it by the end =P it was seriously the most delicious cakes we've ever had.. I guess a combination of sweetness and love =P

I hadn't had Mark's cakes for a few years, but last week when I went out with E and really felt like a cheesecake, but that restaurant selling Mark's cakes on Lygon St wouldn't let us go have cake unless we came back at 10pm (see Koko Black), I was really craving some good quality cake!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was finally off the No Free Tickets List at IMAX so we decided to use our Entertainment buy-1-get-1-free voucher. I was dying for some cake still so we went past the restaurant on Lygon St and picked a slice of cake each beforehand.

They didn't have any Tim Tam Cheesecake left =( So I got a slice of Honeycomb Cheesecake and P got a slice of Mark's Cake. We didn't even bother asking how much it cost 'cause we were in a rush for the movies - ended up to be $9.50 each =O We expected it to be expensive at Crown, but $9.50 on Lygon St as well?! E said they used to give icecream with it as well but we didn't get any - dunno if it's 'cause we took it away =(

Turned out the movie was still on the No Free Ticket List, but was off it the next day (August 1st) even though on their website, it was off the list already. The sales person refused to budge even though it really would mean nothing to them to let us in that day. We were so pissed off that we walked away and had our cake at the park. (We ended up complaining and they gave us 2 free tickets =P)

Honeycomb Cheesecake

My honeycomb cheesecake wasn't as good as I thought it'd be =( Even though it was fresh (my slice was the first slice from the whole cake), the cheesecake felt a bit dry, and the crust was so crunchy and hard that I couldn't break it apart with my spork - in the end I took the edge crust off and bit into the whole piece instead of eating it with the cheesecake. The cheesecake was kinda plain - they should have put more honeycomb within the cheesecake, or made some layers or something. I was slightly disappointed - if I had known the inside looked like this I probably would have chosen something else.

I went home and looked on their catalogue and saw the Honeycomb Crunch Cheesecake looks totally different to the one I actually got! And it's only 3/5 for popularity rating =(

Honeycomb Crunch Cheesecake on Catalogue

That looks so much tastier! =(

P's Mark's Cake was fantastic - it's their most famous cake so it's gotta be great =) 5/5 popularity rating! It's actually the same inside as the Mars Bar Cake he got me 4 years ago, they realised it was their most popular cake so made it "Mark's Cake" instead of "Mars Bar Cake" and stopped putting bits of caramel and chocolate on the surface so it doesn't look so much like a Mars Bar anymore =P

Mark's Cake

The inside is the same as we remembered it - caramel and chocolate malt fudge layered into a chocolate cake, iced over in chocolate ganache waves and curls. Super delicious - chocolatey but not overpowering (eg. Chocolate Mud Cake), and the layers makes the cake super <3!

P didn't finish the cake at the park, and decided to leave some for the next day. The next day he finished the cake without leaving me any! I was quite bummed at him =( That day I randomly walked into the Gloria Jeans downstairs on my way to work - I never walk inside it but I saw from outside a glimpse of what looked like a Mark's Cake! =O I walked inside and saw they sell the Mark's Cake here for $6.50 a slice! They call it Mars Bar Cake here =P A few days later, we were deciding what cake to order for mum for her birthday and were looking up the Mark's website, and we were craving some cake again (we are soo getting diabetes at this rate =/) It was nearly closing time for Gloria Jeans so I went downstairs and bought a slice - $6.50 it was but it was about 2/3 the size of the piece we got from Lygon St. So I guess it works out to be about the same.

My parents are coming down to Melbourne for my graduation, and mum's birthday was a week ago, so I decided to buy a surprise cake for her. P called Mark's and they said their 9" cakes serve around 20 and are ~$55, while their 11" cakes are ~$68. So much cheaper if we buy a whole cake! But I don't think my body will be very happy with that =P

P and I took soo long deciding which cake to get - he doesn't like cheesecake or tarts so that rules out like half the cakes. We didn't want to get Mark's Cake again (even though it was the best) but we didn't want to try something too risky 'cause we'd have to finish the cake off afterwards =P We were tossing up between the Chocolate Coconut Truffle Cake (steeped syrup chocolate cake bound together in layers of coconut cream filling and garnished over with marbled chocolate) or Chocolate Ripple Cake (a chocolate cookies and cream cheese filling set into a chocolate cake then ganached and garnished with spears of black and white chocolate). Both had 3/5 popularity rating, but P said he wanted something that had more cake than cream. I really wanted the Lemon Meringue Pie (a short crust biscuit base shell filled with lemon curd then topped with peaks of golden Italian meringue) which had a popularity rating of 4/5 but P refused =(

I ended up ordering a 9" Chocolate Coconut Truffle Cake for $52 which I thought was a pretty good deal =) Then I asked if they can do a plaque on it - I wanted "Happy Birthday and Congratulations" on it (for 2 occasions =P) and they said they'll probably need to use a bigger plaque and will cost about $9 o_Oa $9 I can buy myself another slice of cake! So I said I didn't want it, and decided to try make my own plaque - we'll see how that goes =P

Will be picking it up later this week - I'll post photos up of it then! =D

C.
xo


Friday, August 12, 2011

So I bought some white chocolate, melted it, and made a plaque =D then wrote my message with my chocolate fudge pen..

Turned out pretty well =D

P and I drove to their Williamstown store and picked up the cake.

The store is in a warehouse area amongst all these other factory like buildings. I guess since they mainly produce cakes for restaurants and cafes and not for the general public, it doesn't really matter.

The cabinet of cakes looked soo delicious! They sell slices of cakes here too for only $5.90!

The specialty cakes looked beautiful! One day =)

Tada! Our 52 inch Chocolate Coconut Truffle Cake =)

We saved the cake for when my brother came (it was actually the only night we could have cake ><) so we were super full and it was so late already by the time they came home but it was still super delicious!

Happy Birthday Mum and Congrats to us! =D

This cake was delicious! So chocolatey and coconuty wheee! If only they had something else instead of the 2nd layer of coconut that would have been even better. Omg the truffle was sooo sweet it was slightly unbearable =P And their icing is so rich and thick! I think I still like Mark's Cake the best but this one is pretty damn close!

We only had about a quarter of the cake that night, we were soo stuffed and I didn't want a tummy for my graduation the next day =P In the end I gave 1/3 of the cake for my family to take back to Brisbane - afterall, I can have Mark's cake here anytime =)

10/10!

<3<3<3

C.
xo