One Great Dish: House of Fine Chocolates Coffee Cake

By Melissa Wiley in Food on Jul 30, 2012 6:00PM

Let’s be honest: coffeecake isn’t a glamorous pastry. Personally, we associate it most readily with breakfast with the senior population. But the fact remains that good coffeecake is hard to beat. Brioche, baguettes, and croissants may suggest lamp-lit Parisian alleyways and the more overt charms of the Riviera, but coffeecake proudly says Des Moines. It’s patently unfashionable, still wearing Christmas sweaters without a trace of irony come January, but admiring its reflection in the mirror all the same. And in perhaps its very finest form it comes in a thick, sturdy ring cake at Lakeview’s House of Fine Chocolates.

It’s worth mentioning that the only cacao product we’ve ever sampled at this unassuming little establishment is that found within the coffeecake itself, which comes in other fruit-filled varieties as well, including an apple cake worth robbing an orchard for, though we prefer to stick with chocolate. Sure, there are wedding cakes to be ordered for overwrought nuptial felicitations and boxes of chocolates for mending post-nuptial fall-outs, but sticking with the coffeecake is always a sure, potentially less drama-laden bet.

The House of Fine Chocolates’ anything-but-innovative take on the classic coffee cake is simple marbled goodness. It’s sugar, flour, and little else, except expert baking savvy. It’s where Main Street America meets Le Cordon Bleu, and there’s more than enough to share. One cake makes for about 200 (okay, maybe 10) dainty mid-afternoon servings, so have enough plates on hand for a room full of friends. Plus, it only costs about six bucks. Wow them with simple Americana. Grandma’s six pastry sense still knows best.

The House of Fine Chocolates is located at 3109 N Broadway St. and is open Tuesday - Saturday 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., and 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday.