Bakery Review: Prolific Oven

Prolific Oven - visited July 31, 2013

I first heard of Prolific Oven over 15 years ago when I brought my Chocolate Caramel Brownies to work.  One of my coworkers said she brought one home to her husband and came back to me the next day with "he said he would divorce me and marry you for your brownies."  And that those brownies could put Prolific Oven out of business.  Huh.  Brushing aside the facetious marriage proposal, my ears only heard "Prolific Oven" which translated in my brain as "new bakery I must try".

Back then I only found them in Saratoga but, 30 years since their start, they're still a family-owned business and now in four locations.  The expansion is well deserved as the first thing I discovered about Prolific Oven is they make really good cakes.  I haven't tried a brownie in recent memory as I rarely buy anyone else's brownies since I prefer my own (okay, that sounded vain but I can't help it) but I couldn't beat Prolific Oven's cakes even if I tried.  Rest assured they're not going out of business due to my baking anytime soon.

I recently went there with one of my coworkers to get a dessert to go.  What I like about them is you can buy any individual-sized desserts, even a slice of cake.  The cakes in the display case always look so mouthwatering and unlike some other bakeries where I'm leery of having something that's been in a refrigerated display case for too long (which means they can be dry), I've never had a bad cake slice from Prolific Oven.

For this particular trip, I chose the Chocolate Mocha Cake.  The cashier took the partially sliced cake out of the display case, cut a piece for me and packaged it up in their plastic to-go container.

Unfortunately, the paper sleeve she used to situate the cake inside the container smushed the frosting so this isn't the best picture so in this case a picture might not say a thousand words but a forkful of this cake does and they all start with "yum......."  I love the soft texture of the cake and it was moist with a perfect mocha flavor enhancing the chocolate.  More importantly to me, it was just a simple, no-frills, all-goodness mocha cake: blend of coffee and chocolate with a reasonable amount of frosting.  That meant I didn't have to scrape off piles of frosting and waste it and there was no jam or jelly or fruit to interfere with my enjoyment of a good mocha cake.

Their bakery cafes also offer savory items and entrees for lunch but I'd rather save my calories for their cakes.