The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

One of the busiest roads in Zamalek is Brazil Street; not least because of the number of dessert specialists lined along it – from Nola and Khameera, to Lo2met 3eish and Gelato Mio, there are certianly plenty of optionsfor the sweet-toothed. That didn’t, however, worry The Four Fat Ladies when it moved from El Yamama Center to join the Brazil Street dessert battle.

The small bakery only has four tables attached to each other to form one long table with four chairs on one side and one big couch on the other. The couch isn’t the most practical of set-ups, but from the white and orange walls and the hung wooden spoons on the window, to the cute “Peanut Butter is my boyfriend” frame and the blackboard menu, the ambiance of TFFL is the definition of less is more, with its simple yet neat interior.

The simplicity isn’t shown only in their interior, but in their mouth-watering desserts, too. With a fantastic variety of desserts ranging from classic cakes and muffins, to pies and cheesecakes, TFFL’s desserts have a taste of home to them, different to the more commercial bakeries; they've even brough back classics like Marble Cakes and Bundt Cakes.

After 15 minutes of wandering and staring like a lost kid at the fridge display, we finally settled on Carrot Cake in a Pot (16LE), a Salted Caramel Brownie Bite (4.50LE) and S’mores Brownie Bites (4.50LE), but we started with slice of Chocolate Fudge with Peanut Butter Frosting (19.50LE).

What made this simple doubl-layered chocolate fudge cake different than any other is how moist it was; it had a melt-in-your-mouth texture and the smooth and fluffy peanut butter frosting had a spot-on amount of sugar.

Served as a trifle in a plastic pot, with a remarkable cinnamon flavour, meanwhile, the carrot cake on its own lacked sugar while the cream cheese frosting – which by the way had a fantastic smooth consistency – was overly sweet. Even though you could argue that each element had its flaws, the cake and the cream cheese frosting balanced each other and made one great carrot cake.

We saved the best for last with those little pieces of heaven, aka the brownie bites. As two pieces of fudgy brownies filled with salted caramel, the salted caramel brownies were more brownie sandwiches, but had a dense, yet moist, texture and an intense chocolate flavour which worked really well with the salted caramel. Filled with chocolate chips and stretchy marshmallow, the s’mores brownie – or should we say blondie – had a perfect chewy texture, but was more of a cookie-variation than a brownie.

Overall, there was little to complain about at the time of our visit and we can happily declare The Four Fat Ladies as the winner of the Brazil Street Dessert Battles. The ambiance is cosy and the staff is helpful, but the key to TFFL is the fact that it does the basics well and doesn’t go overboard when it chooses to add a twist to classic desserts.