Celiac Road Trip, Part 5: Birthdays, Coquette's and Cake

In my house, June and July are the tastiest sequential months of the year, mainly because my parent's birthdays are two weeks apart. That means lots of cake and little time to eat it - not that we have a problem with that.

So, when we scheduled our Colorado vacation around Mom's birthday, we knew we had to find something special and sweet to celebrate. Cue our second visit to Coquette's! 

We're back!

We popped by the bistro after chowing down on our Boriello pizza and, even stuffed with Italian goodness, the dessert display had us drooling. Mom and I decided to stick to cake for the birthday theme and we ordered a slice of White and black, Carrot and New York style cheesecake. To balance out our order, I also bought their Angel Salad with a chicken upgrade. 

Meanwhile, my sister was drooling across the street at Poor Richard's Bookstore. The small, brick exterior hides the endless rows of books that seem to span miles into the store. When we met up with Hannah, our dessert and salad in hand, she boasted a heavier (but not by much!) bag bursting with reading material. A sweeter afternoon has never been spent!

Never ending!

By the time we made it home, our stomachs were grumbling so we dug into our goodies. To put things in the proper order, I'll start with the salad (even though I really tasted all the cakes first!). 

The Angel salad is composed of mixed greens, red onions, carrots, tomatoes, goat cheese, apples, candied walnuts & Coquette’s croutons. I also ordered some grilled chicken to up the protein. First off, this salad was huge! I nearly laughed when I saw that they sliced up a whole apple for my meal! 

My delicious dinner! I love GF croutons!

I was skeptical of the fruit and veggie mix at first, but my taste buds were pleasantly surprised. The apple joined with the onions, walnuts, carrots and croutons for the crunch factor while the goat cheese added a nice creaminess. The chicken was equally delicious - fresh, juicy and slightly charred. 

Now, though, for the real superstars: the birthday cake(s). At first, the typical candle celebration seemed out of reach. Literally, considering we forgot our candles back in California. Matches to the rescue! 

The sad match candle...

They weren't very reliable (i.e. Mom's match blew itself out in record time) but we were too busy laughing and singing to mind. 

First off, Coquette's Carrot cake. All the slices were huge, but Mom's chunk was especially intimidating. The best part of this cake was its moistness, but I also loved how the carrot flavor was noticeable but not overpowering. The cream cheese icing made it our favorite cake flavor! 

The carrot cake!

Then I devoured some of the Black and white cake. It wasn't as moist as the carrot cake, but the layers of white icing and chocolate fudge between the white and black cake stripes made up for it. I loved the vanilla-chocolate combo and the thin layer of melted chocolate on the top won over my taste buds. 

Black and white!

Finally, we tried the New York Style Cheesecake. For being gluten, wheat and soy free, it nailed the cheesecake texture! Perfectly soft, light and creamy with the same rich tartness that every good cheesecake is known for. Mom and I thought it would be better with some fresh strawberries on the side, but my Dad loved it plain. 

Cheesecake!

In the end, our cakes survived three days of snacking and Mom loved her birthday dessert (even though our favorite Pamela's chocolate birthday cake is baking in the oven right now!). Birthdays are about celebrating growth, embracing change and exploring the world and Coquette's during our Colorado vacation helped us do just that! 


**This article is also found at Runningwithspoon's Link Party!**