More treats from Hong Kong, also from Kee Wah... this time, roll cakes in East Asian flavours. What I love about these roll cakes is that they don't just use ordinary milky creams, but rather East Asian themed pastes, which I absolutely love.
I also love the strong colours, especially the jet black one, which makes for a very interesting visual experience.
Red Bean Green Tea Roll Cake
Both cakes were well baked and stored - they were moist with a slight fluff.
The cake part of this one had a very fragrant green tea flavour... not matcha, but more like jasmine green tea or sencha, which is the lighter and more fragrant variety of green tea.
The red bean paste's flavour was faint and kinda overwhelmed by the green tea's fragrance. It was also a bit on the sweet side. Nonetheless, the paste was important for adding that hint of the woody-earthy taste which complemented the tea fragrance, as well as the textures of the bean coats and pasty cotyledons.
Overall, very nice and flavourful!
Black Sesame Bamboo Charcoal Roll Cake
This was interesting because it was my first time trying charcoal in a cake. I usually find it in breads. Also, I wasn't sure if bamboo being the source of the charcoal made a gastronomical difference... but to me, the charcoal seemed to give a very very fine gritty crunch. It was a very interesting experience in mastication indeed, and quite pleasant actually!
The paste in the middle was a thick and rich sesame paste. Although the cake didn't have any specific flavour like the green tea one, the sesame paste's flavour folded into the cake in my mouth as I munched on it, so the overall effect was a lightly but distinctly sesame-flavoured cake.
Some people might like the relatively light sesame flavour because they see it as subtle and refined, but I thought the sesame flavour could have been stronger. Perhaps they should have spread more sesame paste onto the cake.
Still though, I enjoyed it very much and would rank it as being on par with the green tea version, because what it lacks in taste, it makes up in texture.
I also love the strong colours, especially the jet black one, which makes for a very interesting visual experience.
The cake part of this one had a very fragrant green tea flavour... not matcha, but more like jasmine green tea or sencha, which is the lighter and more fragrant variety of green tea.
The red bean paste's flavour was faint and kinda overwhelmed by the green tea's fragrance. It was also a bit on the sweet side. Nonetheless, the paste was important for adding that hint of the woody-earthy taste which complemented the tea fragrance, as well as the textures of the bean coats and pasty cotyledons.
Overall, very nice and flavourful!
Black Sesame Bamboo Charcoal Roll Cake
The paste in the middle was a thick and rich sesame paste. Although the cake didn't have any specific flavour like the green tea one, the sesame paste's flavour folded into the cake in my mouth as I munched on it, so the overall effect was a lightly but distinctly sesame-flavoured cake.
Some people might like the relatively light sesame flavour because they see it as subtle and refined, but I thought the sesame flavour could have been stronger. Perhaps they should have spread more sesame paste onto the cake.
Still though, I enjoyed it very much and would rank it as being on par with the green tea version, because what it lacks in taste, it makes up in texture.
~~~
Random musing: I was wondering if these were called roll cakes or Swiss rolls. But "East Asian Swiss rolls", "green tea red bean Swiss roll" or "black sesame bamboo charcoal Swiss roll" were just too much of an oxymoron eheh. *sweatz* Also, in many other languages, they're just called "roll cake" or something, no "Swiss" word. I wonder... did they really come from Swiss culture???Found this cake interesting? Check out more unusual cakes here!
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