Delicious Old School Cakes That Will Give You Serious Nostalgia

It seems every cafe these days are all about American style cupcakes, macaroons, cronuts and so on but it’s far from macaroons and cronuts that most of us were reared. Whatever happened to the creamy eclairs, custards slices, viennese whirls and chester cake of our youth? When I was younger this was the stuff that was always sold in our local bakeries and cake shops, but most of these cakes seem to have fallen out of fashion as we all become gripped with each passing food trend. If you also get food nostalgia then you need to check out this bakery which has you totally covered…

I’ve heard loads about Manning’s Bakery on Thomas Street and it’s often recommended to us. We decided to walk up there today for elevenses and see if it lived up to the hype. Upon entering my head immediately started spinning around as I was overcome with choice, the counter was heaving with all the kinds of amazing cakes that your granny would be weak for. Eclairs, cream slices, raspberry sponge slices, apple tart, Viennese whirls, gingerbread men, scones, bakewell tarts, jammy cream donuts… I could go on.

After much deliberating we went for a spiced raisin and apple strudel slice, a custard cream slice and red velvet cake. The thing I was most dubious about was the red velvet cake because it seemed a bit out of place amongst all the other old-school favourites. Despite me not being the biggest fan of red velvet cake, I thought it was absolutely delicious. It was really moist and the tangy cream cheese icing on top went perfectly with the sweet red velvet sponge.

I went for the custard cream slice because I had been craving one for the last few weeks but didn’t know any places that sell them. They give me serious nostalgia as it makes me remember all the times I used stop at our local shop on the way home from school for a custard slice, back when being young meant you could eat whatever you wanted without suffering the consequences. The custard slices I’m used to are stuffed with fresh, soft custard. The one in Manning’s was a cream slice with custard icing. The puff pastry was really flakey, the centre was filled with nice thick whipped cream and the top was layered with the custard icing. It was so delicious and definitely hit the spot. Despite it being tasting amazing I couldn’t finish it, it was just so filling.

The best of the bunch had to be the apple and raisin strudel. It was like a apple tart but had loads of warming Christmas spices in it and the pastry was perfectly crispy. I will definitely be ordering it the next time I go back. The coffees were great, our resident coffee buff raved about their cappuccino. Overall it was just a great spot for a comforting tea and cake without all the hipster frills. The crowd was really mixed in there, young and old, friends and family… Just a great spot. I can see why it’s so popular and I’ll definitely be back for my next sugar hit!