Restaurant Thu Oct 16 2008

Help Deciding on Vegan Chocolate

By Chris Brunn

I had strolled into Blind Faith looking for a treat and was pretty sure of my selection once I saw the display case, but it was too easy bait. I asked for help, and the cashier steered me another way. A certain vegan cappuccino brownie was looking right at me from behind the glass. A whole troop of them were there, all in formation on a tray, and all luring me over with the thick chocolate bases that I imagined to be luscious, fudgy experiences. Each also had a lighter-looking layer, both in color and density, which must have been the cappuccino. This made me think of some ultimate creaminess, under a topping of a thick, soft chocolate. Still, I doubted the brownie, perhaps because I had now loaded it with enormous expectations that would be hard to fulfill.

I asked the cashier for help. Shall I get the vegan cappuccino brownie or the vegan peanut butter chocolate cake? He wasn't shy about his preference for the cake. But what was the vegan cappuccino brownie like? I don't think he answered that follow-up question directly, but expressed that in his opinion the vegan peanut butter chocolate cake was the best of all the vegan options. Perhaps he was right, but I left wondering about the other vegan treats. There's a thick round dessert labeled vegan chocolate mousse, vegan chocolate cake, a vegan vanilla cupcake that is a toasty looking cupcake topped with swirls of chocolate frosting, a vegan chocolate cupcake with plenty of white frosting, and vegan cornbread. Of course, there are plenty of non-vegan choices, too. But I have my focus.

The vegan peanut butter chocolate cake is decadent, just like I remember from previous tastes, thick but not too dense, with a slight pudginess. This time it wasn't overly sweet like I remember it. There are layers and layers of creamy ganache. Peanut butter frosting cuts through the chocolate cake, maybe four times, and continues on part of the backside. On the outside, chocolate ganache thickens as it curls from the back to the top of the slice. A lighter frosting is piped onto the bottom edge of the cake. I took a seat in the self serve area with wood tables each topped with a vase of live flowers, and a cozy photo of a forest on the wall, with rays of light beaming down on the ground through the trees. I ate the slice and called it a snack before dinner.

525 Dempster St., Evanston. (847) 328-6875. El: Purple to Dempster.