No matter how many times it happens, it’s still a thrill to stumble across vegan treats when you least expect it.* This time it’s at the downtown Palo Alto farmer’s market. I was moseying along the various booths, when I came upon Notable Bites and their display of crumb cakes and shortbread.
As usual, I automatically ask, “is it vegan?” All of the crumb cakes are, sadly the shortbread are not, they’re still working on veganizing that recipe. I got the orange crumb cake, piled high with a sweet crumb topping that was a 1/4-inch thick. The cake itself isn’t overly sweet but nice, fluffy and light. And it was a pretty good size too, at 3.5-inch x 2-inch x 2-inch for 5 bucks.
They also have gluten-free crumb cakes as a diy baking mix for those with allergies, it’s also egg, dairy, nut and soy free. Turns out the already baked gluten-free version dried out by the time it got to the farmer’s market. Rather than serve a less than optimal product, they offer the baking kits complete with its own baking pan.
I don’t really eat crumb cake all that often, but something about it seemed vaguely familiar. It took me awhile to remember since it was so long ago. But before I was vegan, I loved the coffeecake at Hobee’s, a small SF Bay Area chain restaurant known for their world-famous blueberry coffeecake. They had a location in San Luis Obispo way back when I was in college (since closed). But what a nostalgic treat to have stumbled across Notable Bites. Now I can have my crumb cake and eat it too.
* Remember when this happen with the spinach bolani?
