National Cake Day is November 26, 2023, and pastry chefs across Holland America Line’s fleet are ready!
Holland America Line’s 189 pastry and assistant chefs are bringing their favorite recipes and creations to the entire fleet during the new “Cake Me Away” dessert celebration in the Lido Market. The team comes from India, Colombia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines and will be showcasing their local tastes and recipes. The celebration will present more than 22 mouthwatering five-layer cakes in 16 flavors. Sweet Spot in the Lido Market will also offer a selection of mini-jar cakes as part of its daily dessert rotation.
“Our pastry team has some of the most talented chefs in the world, and Cake Me Away allows us to bring flavors from their home countries to our guests,” said Michael Stendebach, vice president of food, beverage and guest services at Holland America Line. “The culinary team is always developing new ideas, and Cake Me Away gives them the opportunity to share their favorites and introduce new original cakes for our guests to enjoy.”
Guests can enjoy Cake Me Away in the Lido Market once on a seven-day cruise and multiple times on a longer voyage. Guests with dietary needs will have the pleasure of choosing gluten free, vegan and no sugar added cakes as well.
Some of the Cake Me Away flavors are: Heaven and Hell cake, which layers angel and devil’s food cakes and then tops them with peanut butter frosting; a gluten free Concorde Cake made from chocolate meringue; Sans Rival Cake, which is from the Philippines and layers buttercream, meringue and chopped cashews; and a traditional Carrot Cake with warm spices, chopped nuts and a cream cheese frosting.
Flavors of the bite-size, mini-jar cakes will rotate between Black Forest,Carrot, Cookies and Cream, Key Lime Pie, Red Velvet, S’mores and Strawberry Pavlova, a chopped meringue layered with white mousse, fresh strawberries and a strawberry sauce.
Holland America Line’s pastry chefs and assistants attend am exclusive pastry training course before joining the cruise line. Upon completion they are placed on a pastry team aboard one of the fleet’s ships. The pastry team on each ship prepares between 25-30 different desserts and up to 1,000 cookies daily.