MoMA P.S.1's Carrot Cake [16 Miles of Sweets]

Carrot cake at MoMA P.S.1 Photo: 16 Miles [more]

16 Miles of Sweets is an irregularly appearing column that searches for the best desserts in and around art destinations. Previously, baklava in the East Village.

Steven Spielberg supposedly once said that watching Stanley Kubrick’s period film Barry Lyndon was like “walking through the Louvre without lunch”: beautiful but exhausting. The idea of getting through the messy, sprawling “Greater New York” at MoMA P.S.1 without the aid of a hearty meal is even more daunting. Thankfully, the art center’s Le Rosier Cafe never fails to provide the sustenance necessary to endure even the most video-art-heavy shows.

While the cafe's encyclopedic beer menu and homemade sorbets have major supporters, its carrot cake is equally worthy of a fan club: two moist layers adorned with a thick coat of cream-cheese frosting. Flecks of rich orange carrot are scattered throughout the amber cake, muting the potent sweetness of the frosting. It’s a model dessert and easily deserves 6 out of 7 taste points. However, aesthetically, it's a rather typical cake, and while $5.96 is slightly pricey for a slim slice, that is a quibble: good art is expensive (16 Miles of Sweets does not award points based on value), and MoMA P.S.1’s carrot cake is a solid investment.

Taste: 6 out of 7
Look: 1.5 out of 3
Total: 7.5 out of 10