There is coffee syrup soaking the sponge, a milky custard between the layers and a light coffee buttercream on the outside. The Flat White Coffee Cake is a flat white rebuilt as four layers, and it solves the same problem a good flat white solves: coffee that tastes of coffee without tipping into bitterness, held in balance by milk.
If you are the one who takes visitors somewhere and wants the place to do the talking, this is the cake to put on the table. It is recognisably local, it needs no explanation, and it gives a guest something to ask about.
How the cake is built
The base is a delicate vanilla sponge, generously soaked in coffee syrup so the flavour runs through the crumb rather than sitting in the icing. Between the layers sits a smooth, milky custard, which is the part that does the flat white impression — it softens the coffee the way steamed milk does in a cup. The outside is a light coffee buttercream rather than a heavy one, so a slice eats cleanly at the end of a meal.
It is one of ten flavours in the specialty layer cake range, all priced alike from $95, and it turns up again in our New Zealand classics beside the Apple Crumble and the Jaffa Orange Chocolate.
The coffee behind it
Our espresso is C4 Coffee Co, from Christchurch, and their Terra Nova blend is 100 percent fair trade and organic. Hot coffee and iced coffee are both on the menu, and the long black is a 33ml shot. If you want the shortest possible version of coffee and cake together, the affogato is espresso over vanilla bean ice cream, nothing else. The rest of the drinks list runs from Zealong tea to thickshakes.
Sizes, and counting heads
- 15cm, serves 12 to 15
- 20cm, serves 20 to 25
- 25cm, serves 30 to 35
Four layers means tall, narrow slices, so these counts are higher than they look. A 15cm handles a household gathering comfortably; a 20cm covers most office farewells and family birthdays without a second cake.
The rest of the coffee menu
For a smaller version of the same flavour, the Tiramisu mini cake is a vanilla sponge soaked in coffee syrup, with whipped mascarpone cream and a dusting of cacao, and each mini cake is a single serving. The Tiramisu dessert box serves four. From the cabinet, the Ferrari Rocher, flourless chocolate and hazelnut under a dark chocolate and almond shell, is built to sit next to an espresso, as is the Pudim caramel flan. Cake slices are there if you want to try a layer cake flavour before ordering a whole one.
Why to bring someone with you
Order one slice, two forks and two coffees, and you have an easy hour in the central city. The patisserie sits inside The Welder, an 1880s building on Welles Street, one block south of the Bus Interchange and about seven minutes on foot, with parking across the road and behind the building and bike racks at the side entrance. The kitchen is open-plan, so your guest can watch cakes being finished while you talk. Tables move to seat groups of four to eight, there are two low tables and high chairs for children, and dogs are welcome — there is a water bowl, and the tables have metal legs for clipping a lead. It is a straightforward place to take someone who has not been before.
Ordering and collection
Layer cakes need two days' notice, and the date picker at checkout only offers dates the kitchen can meet. Cabinet items and drinks need no notice at all. We are pickup only from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street, with no delivery or courier for any order, and cakes are handed over already boxed — collecting the day before is fine, as they keep in a fridge in our packaging overnight. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday, and Afterpay is accepted.
