The icing on the cake Black Forest carrot cake chosen best in the Berkshires

NORTH CANAAN — There’s a new celebrity in town, one that’s rich, perhaps a bit sinful and very sought after.

The only thing it doesn’t have is attitude — unless you believe cake can have a personality.

At Black Forest Bakery and Café on East Main Street, across from the Stop & Shop, carrot cake is in the spotlight.

Those exotic European éclairs, cannolis and croissants can step aside. It’s  the little all-American round guy with the cute orange icing that’s the king.

In the April/May issue of Berkshire Living magazine, the cake is featured as one of the top five desserts in the Berkshires region. Already, folks are coming to the cafe in search of the luscious confection chosen to grace that issue’s cover.

It all began last September, when freelance writer Christine Hensel Triantos came in with her dad, saying the cafe had been recommended.

Cafe owners Sheryl and Scott Harper offered them samples of all sorts of goodies (baked by Scott Harper and decorated to mouthwatering perfection by Dawn Kelley). Triantos and her dad took some with them.

“It wasn’t until well over a month later that she called me and said she was coming back to do a story,� Sheryl Harper said.

When they learned their cake was a winner, the Harpers gave an interview and then... it was time for their close-up: a photographer spent two-and-a-half hours photographing the soon-to-be-famous cake.

A white cloth was hung behind a table at the cafe to create a backdrop. The photo crew cut slices of cake and then tried all sorts of angles and approaches. Eventually, they tried a shot of a morsel of cake on the tines of a fork. That shot was the winner and helped earn the coveted cover spot for the Harpers’ carrot cake.

On the cover, the words, “Eat me,� made famous by Alice in Wonderland, were splashed across the cake.

Sheryl Harper also noted that the other four winners each got a page, but the carrot cake was given two.

Harper was a bit miffed that Kelley, who trained with an award-winning cake decorator at the former Truffles in Canton was not mentioned in the brief article. But the story did make note of one special, regular customer: Weatogue Stables in Salisbury orders a carrot cake for each horse’s birthday. The birthday honoree gets a taste of two of a horse’s favorite things: carrots and sugar.

The Harpers said there are no secrets to their baking success, other than that they use excellent fresh ingredients. Carrots are bought fresh from a local produce supplier. There are no raisins or nuts in the cake.

“People tend to prefer it without them. And then there’s the allergy thing,“ Sheryl Harper explained.

Whole cakes have chopped nuts on the frosted sides. Mini cakes are available with no nuts at all.

What was it about the cake that impressed the writer and judges? Triantos noted that the traditional raisins and nuts are missing but said “the flavor is deeply satisfying nonetheless, with a dense consistency and a hint of zesty spice in each savory bite.�

Also earning top slots were the creme brulee at Brix Wine Bar and the cheesecake from Sarah’s Cheesecake and Cafe, both in Pittsfield, the chocolate stout cake at Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, and the mud pie from Hobson’s Choice in Williamstown, Mass.

All this fame is coming at a good time for the Black Forest bakery, which is suffering an economic downturn (its fifth anniversary is coming up in July).

“Winter was tough. It was all that bad weather. People heard there was going to be 15 inches of snow, and they stayed home.�

Harper said the shop’s reasonable prices help, and spring is bringing an increase in business. And the new renown of their carrot cake can only help.

Blackberry Forest Bakery and Café is open every day for breakfast and lunch and bakery purchases, Tuesday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Monday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Orders can be made to go. The full-service bakery takes special orders. Call 860-824-8275 for more information.