SnackTime With Jen— Number One Neapolitan, July 5th

Welcome to my newest feature, SnackTime With Jen. This midweek morsel is a small taste of something fun. Topics range from food (of course) to fashion, amusing little discoveries both locally and abroad, and a variety of interesting intel too tempting not to share. So let’s get snacking…

Did you know that Neapolitan ice cream colors were traditionally brown (chocolate), white (vanilla), and green (pistachio) to honor the Italian flag? Yeah, me neither! Today as we all know, the common flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Red Gate Bakery in the East Village of NYC honors this Neapolitan triumvirate with a must devour twelve-layer cake that has to be seen to be believed. With two layers of dark chocolate cake and complementary chocolate buttercream, topped by two layers of strawberry cake and corresponding fruity strawberry buttercream, and finished by… yep, you guessed it, two layers of fluffy vanilla cake covered with mild vanilla buttercream, this cake is pure madness. The layers themselves are so rich and moist and each band of frosting is whipped to a super light cloud-like consistency. One row seems better than the next until you taste all three again. And then it’s impossible to pick your favorite. All are fantastic. Cookies, loaves, and bars round out their delectable menu so go crazy and take a few home.

Three cheers for the Neapolitan Celebration Cake at Red Gate Bakery. I give this cake twelve enthusiastic thumbs up and a guaranteed spot in the Black Book Buttercream Bible that bears my name.

I’m dishing it out each week in my newest feature, SnackTime With Jen cause everyone I know just loooves a little snack. Especially me.