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By Amanda Southhall and Sheila Talley
 AMANDA: If you ask me, dinner is essentially a necessary prelude to dessert. I consider my sweet tooth to be experienced but not at all picky so I approached the search for the best dessert in Hanover as both a challenge and an opportunity, and one I took on with enthusiasm, ready for a serious sugar high.
SHEILA: I’ll admit it. I also have an absolutely ridiculous love of sweets so my approach to this assignment was that it’s a rough job, but I’m pleased to make this sacrifice for you.
O’Banks Café & Grill
10392 Leadbetter Road, Ashland. 550-3888
Key Lime Pie
AMANDA: If I learned anything while I was in the Florida Keys, it’s that a good key lime pie is never green and the consistency shouldn’t be gelatinous. The pie at O’Banks looked the part, and tasted even better. It was like a delicious bite of spring with a light creamy texture complemented by a tart flavor, all atop a crumbly pie crust, served with a dollop of whipped cream. It all came together and made this my favorite of all the desserts we tasted.
Chocolate Stout Cake
AMANDA: Leave it to the Irish to bake a cake with beer. O’Banks’s Stout Cake is a dark chocolate concoction of smooth, moist cake and a thick topping of deliciously smooth dark chocolate icing. The chocolate on chocolate cake is rich but never sickeningly sweet, maybe it has something to do with the secret ingredient: Guinness stout beer.
Riverbound Café
8005 Creighton Parkway, Mechanicsville. 559-3663
Buttermilk Pie
SHEILA: Despite my love of key lime pie, Riverbank’s buttermilk pie with its rich, extraordinary taste was my overall favorite of all the desserts I tasted. The rich texture and crispy crunch is worth the trip to Mechanicsville.
Blackcreek Country Store
4348 Fox Hunter Lane, Mechanicsville.
www.blackcreekcountrystore.com. 781-1786.
Thalhimers recipe cakes
SHEILA: If you grew up in the Richmond area you already know the taste of the Thalhimers’ Department Store’s famous six-layer coconut cake and its companion the six-layer chocolate cake. Many memories can be found and discussed as one bites into these delicious cakes. For you newcomers: You just have to try them to understand the incredible goodness of these old-fashioned comfort desserts. They always came in the sweet black and white boxes and going downtown in the old days meant a stop at Thalhimers to have a piece of your favorite.
AMANDA: Unlike Sheila, I don’t have memories of Thalhimers’ cakes, so I tasted Black Creek’s reproduction with an objective palate. The six-layer chocolate cake was made of chocolate icing that seemed to melt into soft, yellow cake that, in turn, melted in my mouth. I have a hard time believing Thalhimers did it better.
The Williams Bakery
8084 Mechanicsville Pike, Mechanicsville. For additional locations, check www.thewilliamsbakery.com. 746-8370
SHEILA: There probably isn’t anyone in the area that doesn’t know about Williams Bakery. They have been in business since 1911 and specialize in wedding, birthday cakes, pies, donuts and coffee treats.
SHEILA: The carrot cake is dense, moist and flavorful. The icing is creamy and delicious. As for the Radar Bars, with devils food cake, marshmallow crème and dark chocolate icing, who could not like these? And, I really enjoyed their spice bars, especially as a good alternative to chocolate. They are my favorite treat at Williams, maybe because the spicy taste is a little different.
AMANDA: The Williams Bakery’s wedding cookies were melt in your mouth morsels of crispy shortbread coated with powdered sugar. Carrot cake counts as a vegetable right? This carrot cake was a sweet, nutty mixture topped with smooth cream cheese icing.
So, after sampling Hanover’s best, is my sweet tooth appeased? Well, maybe for a while. That is, of course, until the next time the dessert cart comes by.
SHEILA: To say I got my fix of sugar in doing this tasting is an understatement. Just one favor, please don’t tell my Weight Watcher’s consultant what I’ve been up to. |
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