Thursday, January 23, 2014

Silk Cakes Grand Opening This Saturday

Judy Lai
Silk Cakes, a premier customized wedding and specialty cakes bakery based in Manhattan, today announced its newest location will open this Saturday at 98-14 Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens. The 1,500 square feet Queens location will join Silk Cake’s flag ship store in Manhattan, but while the Manhattan location is by appointment only, the Forest Hills store will be open to the public and will include items for sale on site.

Silk Cakes is known for Asian inspired designs and unique flavor combinations. The new location will feature some of its most popular flavor combinations such as chocolate cake with green tea butter cream and semi sweet chocolate truffle, black sesame cake with yuzu butter cream with green tea truffle and Thai tea cake with condensed milk butter cream and white chocolate truffle.

The store will also offer premium coffees and teas.

“We are very excited about our new location” said Judy Lai, owner of Silk Cakes and renowned pastry chef. “For years, people have stopped by our Ludlow St. store in Manhattan, hoping to sample our cakes, and we are so happy to be able to finally offer this option to the public. The Metropolitan Ave. location is the perfect spot for us, and we are looking forward to becoming part of this vibrant community.”

 Lai brings to Silk Cakes her classical training from the French Culinary Institute, and her experience as a cake chef instructor in that school. Silk Cakes have been featured in countless media and wedding publications, including NY Weddings Magazine.

Location: 98-14 Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Hills, NY
Business Hours: 8am-7pm Tues-Sun; Closed Mondays

24 comments:

  1. Hopefully the weather cooperates on Friday so we can all go and check out this place. So excited for the opening!

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  2. I hope sampling the cakes means being able to buy by the slice. Let's also hope the prices are affordable, I'm thinking slices should be about the price as Martha's on Austin St, or maybe less since the rent here is considerably lower.

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    1. You can't compare this place to Martha's. That place uses artificial flavorings and fillers and silk cakes is more gourmet. It would be like comparing cheeburger to bareburger. Oh wait, I forgot people don't see a difference.

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    2. WOW! I never knew that Martha's used artificial flavorings and fillers. I know they are kosher, and I thought that using artificial ingredients is not kosher...I guess I was wrong. Where did you get this info, if you don't mind sharing? I'm trying to stay away from artificial ingredients for health reasons so I appreciate you posting this.

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    3. Of course Martha's uses artificial ingredients. How do you think their red velvet cakes got their coloring? Unless they are boiling beets for natural color (I assure you they are not, otherwise you would taste it) that would be man made food coloring. You may want to ask exactly what is in their buttercream and if the cream cheese icing is actually cream cheese or if it's buttercream with cream cheese flavoring. Also, the question of Kosher or non Kosher pertains mostly to ingredients from Kosher animals or animals slaughtered in Kosher fashion. Provided that the machinery is Kosher, artificial ingredients would more likely be Kosher than organic ingredients. All that aside, one can hardly call Martha's gourmet. It looks like silk cakes is going to be more like Lady M in Manhattan and cakes from there should not be compared to Martha's in terms of pricing.

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  3. Martha's is the McDonalds of cake shops.

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    1. totally agree, went there once and never again. The syrup that they put in the coffee is horrible

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    2. MArthas is a poor excuse for a bakery. The only thing it has going for it, is that it offers place to sit . I went there once and that was enough.

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    3. MArthas is a poor excuse for a bakery. The only thing it has going for it, is that it offers place to sit . I went there once and that was enough.

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    4. I completely disagree with your opinion of Martha's. I was there this evening, and had to wait almost 30 minutes for 2 seats to open up, that's how busy they were. In fact, they're busy just about every night, and there is a good reason why. I had a reasonably priced slice of cake that was very good, nice size portion too. Even better was their Nutella hot chocolate, delicious and highly recommended.

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    5. Chain stores like Martha's share common suppliers, thus they are in business to feed the masses, not to be culling unique ingredients or an upscale feel. You could say the same about Magnolia Bakery, though, now that they have several locations.

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  4. Agreed in regards to comparisons of Silk versus Martha's. There's shouldn't be any. Silk Cakes offers customized wedding and specialty cakes by a CIA trained pastry chef. Martha's is a more traditional bakery with a coffee bar.

    Both places are fine, but serve different purposes.

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    1. Well, based on the reviews of those that stopped by for the Grand Opening ... I stand corrected. I'm surprised that they're serving coffee and individual servings. Not what I thought it was going to be. I'll likely stop by once the weather warms up to check it out.

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  5. While Silk may be "gourmet" I'm sure they use artificial ingredients in order to color their cakes and frostings as well. To my understanding, Silk is more about aesthetics than taste. Meaning, cakes from there are ordered for their looks when celebrating special occasions, mostly weddings. I believe the taste is not as important a factor, and that often the cakes are somewhat dry and less flavorful than everyday typical bakery offerings. In any case, the only way to decide is to take a taste, assuming they will offer samples, and decide for yourself.

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  6. Review: so I stopped by Silk Cakes today and wasn't at all impressed. Even though it was the grand opening, there were no free samples whatsoever. The small display case had teeny, tiny cupcakes, priced at $3.50 each and more normal sized cake slices for $5.50. They also serve Stumptown coffee, don't remember the price though. The cupcakes have a very thin layer of ganache, and then topped with a little frosting. They come in varieties such as green tea cake, with semi sweet chocolate frosting, and are slightly dry. Unfortunately, this is not a place I plan on patronizing again, but best of luck to them and I hope others like and can afford them.

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  7. We took a look today. Nice store layout. Not keen on the prices considering the size of the cupcakes and sliced portions. And we thought Amore Patticeria was overpriced! Surprised there were no samples or coupons as it was a grand opening. Wish them luck.

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  8. Ok ok enough yapping about prices and portions...get over it, don't go if it's too much dough for you, no one is forced to eat their cake

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  9. If the owner of Silk Cakes were to read the comments left here, perhaps it could be used as constructive criticism and lead to changes which could help attract more customers and increase business. It is also my opinion that the prices of the cupcakes and cake slices are too high, relative to their very small portion size. It would also be nice if ingredients used to make these baked goods were clearly listed. Many Asian bakeries, like Paris Baguette, do just that, which is very helpful to those of us looking to making educated choices about what we eat.

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  10. We stopped by over the weekend and agree with most of the posters in that the prices did not justify what you received. The cupcakes were good, but they were not amazing, and the prices were rather high for the neighborhood. We will give it another chance, though. A nice addition would have been some seating. Even counter seats near the window would have been nice.

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    1. Seating? Where? The place is so small, I don't think they could fit more than a little table and two chairs in there painfully. I believe this place was meant to be take out only. Let's hope they decide to revise and lower their prices very soon too.

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  11. Hey it looks like there's enough interest in this place based on the more than usual number of complainers. No need to lower prices now. Thanks for the feedback.

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  12. I just visited today and I enjoyed my cake slice. The frosting is a meringue buttercream and the primary ingredient is butter so if it's cold, the consistency will be a bit stiffer and the full flavor won't be experienced just as when you're eating butter. I'm guessing the cakes must be refrigerated for sanitation reasons but they should be enjoyed at room temperature. That being said, the consistency let me know immediately that it was a real butter meringue as opposed to butter with confectioners sugar or, even worse, crisco with butter flavoring and confectioners sugar (a surprising number of bakers think that is acceptable) . There is more effort involved in making a meringue buttercream and it can be more costly because of the amount of butter and eggs that go into it. That alone justifies a higher price than Martha's. I thought it was a bit pricey because I've had tasty beautifully decorated cakes that sell for $5-$8 per slice and these are lacking fancy decorations so I'd assume they would be cheaper but the with the little extras and more exotic cake flavors, it's not way out of the ballpark either. I think a small table and chairs could fit, though tightly, and maybe a bit more decor like pictures of some of their cakes could liven the place up. It's a good addition to the neighborhood and I'm glad this neighborhood now has a place to get lovely cakes.

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    1. Thanks for a balanced and informed review of substance rather than one that focuses on superficial or secondary qualities such as portion sizes and whether they offer coupons on opening day. It's entirely possible it was a calculated decision to uphold a perception of quality and target customers who are different than those who loiter Fay Da all day and have the nerve to complain about the fillings in their their $1 pork buns. No joke, I've seen that first hand - one of those rare moments I rolled my eyes.

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  13. I think the cakes are nicely decorated, but out of the 5 we tasted - 4 were very dry and lacked flavor. The carrot cake was moist. I. think the price of $5.50 is not going to go over well here...

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