We've had steak, we've had pasta, hot dog.

What better way to end this season

than to finish it off with cake.

- What is this jacket?

Is it cutoff trench coat?

- So cake or not? What's going on?

- How many jackets do you own?

- For our season finale, the food above all food.

- Or that you eat at the end of others foods.

- And that is

cake. - Mints.

- What?

- Mints.

No, it's cake.

- We are going to eat three cakes in three days

at three drastically different price points

to find out which one is the most worth it

at its given price point.

I love cake.

Cake represents celebration, it represents happiness.

It's a symbol of joy and coming together.

- I'm not crazy about cake, honestly.

I think most cake, it's just too sweet, it's one note.

I'm not saying cake is bad.

I wanna have some honestly good cake today.

Can I have that?

- For you? We'll do that for you.

- Wonder which one of these is going to

take the cake.

- Hey-Oh.

That was pretty good.

(slow indie music)

- My name is Betty Porto, one of the owners

of Porto's Bakery and Cafe.

My sister,

- Margarita.

- And we work together.

Porto's was started by my mother.

We came from Cuba as immigrants.

Started making cakes at home and selling them

to the neighbors for whatever they could give her.

People would bring other people, telling each other

there's a lady on Silver Lake and Sunset

that makes incredible cakes and the rest is just hard work.

- And how many cakes are you doing these days?

- Oh my God, we do hundreds.

You know, we have maybe 15 or 16 cakes

that we make on a regular basis everyday.

- [Andrew] Just kinds of cakes.

- [Betty] Yes, and the ones that we're gonna be showcasing,

which is the Milk n' Berry.

- So yeah, tell us about the recipe.

- It's a tres leches, so we take the tres leches sponge,

which is a sponge that's soaked in a milk syrup,

and then we filled it with whipped cream and fresh berries.

We tried all kinds of different fillings,

and this was the one that everybody liked the most.

And ever since we put it out,

it's only been growing and growing.

It's our number one best-seller.

- [Margarita] I think because they have

the sweetness of the tres leches which is the condensed milk

but then the tart berries that we ended up using

kinda cut it down so

- [Betty] There's a balance.

- [Margarita] Yeah.

- When I first about Porto's,

I asked somebody where I should go to eat.

They told me about the potato balls?

- Yes.

- [Steven] And the cheese rolls.

- [Betty] Yes.

- I know we're not eating those today,

- Well, why not? We could feed you all day long.

- We're gonna get those to-go.

- Okay. (laughter)

- We have now been presented with

the famous Milk 'n Berries cake.

It is a tres leches cake

- Stuffed with berries.

- It's a beautiful thing.

I think first, we take a sip of the

- Porto's cortadito.

- Two shots of espresso with condensed milk and milk in it.

And this heart represents the love that I have for Adam.

Cheers.

(upbeat acoustic music)

- Oh I love the condensed milk in there.

If you don't like the bitter taste of coffee,

this is perfect for you.

- It still has a nice balance of bitterness though.

- It's there.

- This will teach you how to like coffee, I think.

This cake, I can already tell I'm gonna like this cake.

- [Steven] Off the bat,

- I mean it's very pretty.

It's pretty but it's like still very natural, you know?

My big complain is when cakes are like neon yellow.

- [Steven and Andrew] Oh. (laughter)

- This looks like it wants to be in my mouth right now.

- So the underside that was on the plate is just so moist.

Moist is a word we're gonna be saying a lot in this episode.

It's the best use of a not great word.

- Cheers.

- Boop.

- Boop boop.

(upbeat acoustic music)

- [Andrew] This cake is very good.

- Look how it stays in your fork.

- Tres leches cake, it's all about being saturated

with that syrup, dense with moisture.

The creaminess that the sponge becomes

is different than the creaminess of the whipped cream.

And then you bite into a berry,

and that's actually the hardest texture,

but then it explodes with more moisture in your mouth.

They should rename it three moistures.

- My favorite part of this cake,

how it feels like I'm drinking

the most satisfying glass of milk.

You would think that a cake milk doesn't taste good,

you'd be wrong.

(Andrew sighing)

- I mean, the bar has been set very high.

Let's get out of here.

It's pretty good cake, right?

Guys, they gave us sandwiches. Mm.

- Tres leches Milk 'n Berries cake, $27.

- It's a cake you can take home to your mother.

- My mother will accept any cake.

She loves me like that.

Ooh, they also got us some potato balls.

- Cake fact.

(symbol crash)

I love cake.

- We did it.

One cake, any old cake.

- Hit me with a moist cake fact.

(symbol crash)

- Did you know that German chocolate cake

was not invented by the Germans.

- Who's it invented by?

- An Englishman with the last name German.

- That's just confusing.

- You invent a cake, what would you name it?

Ilnyckyj cake?

- I could name it Il-nasty.

Alright, so see you tomorrow?

- You guys want another ball?

- Yes please.

- Just pop it in.

Shove it in there.

(chuckle)

Where are we going tomorrow?

- Proof Bakery.

(laughter)

(upbeat jazz music))

- My name's Darby Aldaco.

I am the pastry chef here at Proof Bakery,

and today we're gonna serve you an espresso chocolate cake.

- So walk us through that process, building that cake.

- First off, we make the devil's food cake.

They're trimmed, broken down into three layers.

First layer, soak.

It's basically a little espresso sugar water.

Cremeux, which is a creamy pudding.

We cook ours a little bit further than normal.

We take it almost to the breaking point,

so it's really thick because we actually use it

as an icing as well, so it's gotta be really thick.

Next is the espresso buttercream.

And then just build again, repeat the whole process.

And then we crumb coat it,

which basically protects the whole cake,

so when you ice it, none of the crumbs fall out.

And then glaze them right before they go out into the store.

We save all the scraps that we cut off the cakes, actually.

Those get baked, dried out, and we grind those

for the crumbs that go on the side of the cake.

Pretty much our biggest seller here, besides our croissants.

Its not overly sweet, it's not overly powerful.

The espresso, it's just balance.

And we serve it at room temp.

Otherwise, the flavors get muddled in the cold.

I think you need to have all the flavors

kinda brighten up when they're room temperature.

- [Andrew] Do you have a favorite cake?

- [Darby] I mean this espresso cake, I eat for my birthday.

- [Andrew] Yeah, that's a good measure.

- [Darby] Yeah.

- [Andrew] Whatever cake you eat for your birthday.

- [Darby] Chocolate cake, I mean you can't go wrong.

- [Andrew] Yeah, you can't go wrong.

- Let's start with our cappuccinos.

- Cappuccino?

- Cup-uccino.

- Cappuccino.

- Ah, delightful.

- Powerful.

- You would become very easily addicted to drugs.

- Yes.

This whole thing is so satisfying to look at.

I also really like when she used the blow torch knife,

it left this little ridge of melted chocolate

at the seem of every slice.

- It's a perfect cut. - I find that very satisfying.

- [Steven] Oh yeah.

- Are you left handed?

- Yes, that's why I sit on the left side.

- Cake boop.

- [Steven and Andrew] Boop.

(jazz orchestral music)

- Here we go.

- Ho.

- Yum.

- Did you just try that with me?

Outstanding, incredible.

What word am I looking for right now?

- Maybe the best cake I've ever had

in my life.

- It's room temperature cake.

That's the difference, I think.

- It's room temperature, it's alive in my mouth.

- It's not two sweet, but it's perfectly sweet.

It doesn't fall apart, it's not too crumby.

Everything is like in perfect order.

- Has structural integrity.

- Whoa whoa whoa.

- That means the textures are balanced.

I can do this, I can make my points with the cake.

- Okay.

- It's a tight cake, you know?

That's what I like.

Not to much going on, but everything

that is going on's going on good.

I'm gonna say it, this cake wins.

- You haven't even seen our last cake yet.

- It's just gonna have truffles on it.

- Adam, you're turn.

- Give me those croissants.

- Oh, what the

I'm driving.

- Respect the croissant.

- Ah.

- Look at those flaky layers though.

Look at that, yeah.

- So what do you think about Proof?

- I mean the proof is in the cremeux, you know?

- Did the cremeux turn you into a cremeux-geon?

(chuckle)

- That was pretty good.

Baby cakes should be saying

"I wanna be like that cake when I grow up."

- Cake fact three.

- Cake fact.

(symbol crash)

- Cake fact: Did you know that FDR's favorite cake

was fruitcake, also my favorite.

- My favorite cake is carrot cake.

- Did you know Bill Clinton's favorite cake is carrot cake.

Cake is delightful. I saw you smile at Proof.

- Yeah, I was having a good time.

- Three cakes, three days.

To the last spot, Bottega Louie.