August Culbert stops by the Danish Café for lunch, coffee and a danish for dessert. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
“It wouldn’t be the Danish Café without danish,” says August Culbert, a 25-year-old Fair Haven resident and owner of Apogee Technology Services, a Red Bank information technology business.
“The coffee is the best here, and they offer free refills,” says Culbert, who’s been a regular since about 2013 and has “tried everything on the menu.” But it’s the “soft, flaky European-style pastry” of the Danish’s danish that Culbert says he finds particularly appealing.
The flaky crusted apple danish at the Danish Café. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
Culbert describes it as having “a consistency more like a buttery croissant, and less heavy and doughy” than the danish you might get elsewhere.
He’s right about the lighter pastry. The dough for the danish is imported from Denmark and made with Danish butter, which has a fat content of 82 percent, while the fat content of butter in America caps out at 80 percent. A tedious process of combining layers of dough with butter creates air pockets resulting in flakier crusts.
