Cake Tuesday. (Frog on the Pond Coffee Shop, Poringland)

Note Frog on the Pond Coffee Shop has closed and been replaced by the community cafe at the same location.


After Black Friday and Cyber Monday I decided to make today Cake Tuesday. Despite telling all my twitter followers and Facebook friends I was unable to get Cake Tuesday to go viral and get it recognised as a national occasion. However this was not going to stop me celebrating it and I may have more luck next year.

Even though it was drizzling and there was a poor weather forecast I still managed to persuade Chris (Wife) to join me on Cake Tuesday as today's guest. We were planning to find cake at the Frog on The Pond coffee shop in Poringland and would be going there on a nice 25 mile loop.

As part of my new blog feature 'guest cyclist top cycling tip' I asked Chris for her top tip. Which she instantly gave me.

Guest cyclist top cycling tip no 3. To look fashionable whilst staying safe in the winter make sure you wear your high viz overshoe booties. see photo

With the help of top tip no 3 we safely made it to Poringland despite getting rather wet. We found the Frog on the Pond coffee shop at the back of the Poringland community centre. As well as the Frog on The Pond coffee shop there is also the library and police station in the building so I felt our bikes would be very safe in the covered bike rack (although I still locked them up).

Outside the Frog on the Pond Coffee Shop
standing where the outdoor seating area would be on a nice day

Although there is an outside seating area available we decided that we would be better off drying off inside. There are lots of comfy sofas as well as standard tables and chairs so we used the standard chairs to dry our jackets and sat on the sofas.

It turned out that today was also Toddler Tuesday as a lot of mothers and toddlers were also enjoying the coffee shop and community centre. I'm always pleased to see a busy coffee shop and vibrant local community full of nattering mums and happy children although preferably when I'm not there as it was a bit noisy.

There was a nice selection of cakes available including a very large chocolate cake and Victoria sponge as well as cup cakes and scones. I therefore awarded a decent effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Out of focus photo of cakes but gives the idea of what was available

As it was cake Tuesday I rather surprised myself when I chose a cheese scone to go with my Hot Chocolate. Chris had already picked the chocolate cake but as it was a very large slice I was confident I would be given some, especially if I got our conversation on to topics such as diets and healthy eating.

Drinks and very large slice of cake

My plan worked well and I was able to have plenty of cake and all of my scone. They were both of a good standard although I was slightly disappointed that my cheese scone had not been warmed.

Chris thought her Mocha was the best she had had for a long time although my Hot Chocolate was fairly ordinary.

Overall the Frog in the Pond was a good stop providing a nice standard of cakes and drinks.
The one problem was the obvious spoon vs cup mismatch issue which, as you can see, made it impossible to stir your drink without burning your fingers. 

Cup vs spoon mismatch issue

From my cafe cycle reviewing experience I have seen other establishments solve this particular issue with the introduction of longer spoons or shorter cups. I'm happy for either of these ideas to be adopted without being credited with them.

The short ride home got colder and wetter and as a result I didn't stop to tweet an Egg News flash about the eggs I found in Poringland, that will have to wait for a warmer day. 

With cake Tuesday out of the way for another year I can now turn my attention to the other big day in December. The announcement of the Cycle Cafe Tours 2014 award winners. I have not much time left to gather in the votes and make the certificates before the big day.

Scores for Frog on the Pond Coffee shop

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	8.0	6.5	7.0	5.5	6.60

Route

Click here to dowload 25 mile Norwich Poringland loop GPX file for your GPS