This wasn't explicitly related to Chinese New Year,
but it was officially called Spring Longan Wolfberry Loaf Cake. (Oh
look, the blogger spelling dictionary doesn't know what longans or
wolfberries are... -_-;;) So it's definitely seasonal... and an idea
that was extremely tantalising to my curiosity. I got this from dessert cup @ Raffles City, Singapore.
And if the name wasn't glitzy enough, just take a look at the marvelously glamourous icing! I loved the red and gold combination... reminds me so much of striking red luxurious Chinese silk.
And I loved how they arranged the wolfberries like petals of flowers.
They even threw in some pearl-like food decoration. All I can say is
that it was absolutely splendid, like a high-class imperial Chinese
display. Just remember to remove the beady pearl-like balls before you
bite into the cake or you'll run into some unpleasant hardness. (It's
all edible though.)
The taste, however, was nowhere nearly as exotic or sensational as its icing made it out to be. It can be summed up simply - it tasted like American carrot cake. They totally replicated the effect in both the icing, which was cream cheese, as well as the spices in the cake batter.
Perhaps the only differences were that of the longans compared to raisins. The longans were sweeter, firmer and crunchier than raisins which tend to be soggy and slightly sour. Also, longans are larger than raisins, so it's a more substantial fruity chewing experience than the raisins, if any, in the usual carrot cake.
I couldn't taste the wolfberries much. Those in the cake were just a tiny, soft and moist lump of slight sweetness, although the cake was already sweet and the longans more so, so it didn't make their sweetness stand out. And they tended to get buried in the cake so it was relatively difficult to locate them even though you could see tiny slivers of red here and there... like that little red patch in the image below that I worked so hard to isolate.
The wolfberries on the icing were much drier, firmer and chewier, like sweet Asian preserved fruit...
just not as sour like, say, sour plum. These seemed to have a slight
saltiness to it too, so they were interesting, but more as a standalone
rather than complementing the entire experience.
The other points of the cake were otherwise very well done - it was moist and tasty like a good American carrot cake.
On the one hand, I do think that it's a great idea to use longans instead of raisins for the same American carrot cake recipe. I prefer the sweetness and crunchier texture of the larger longans; they're just more... plump and satisfying. They're also more fragrant in a soft way rather than punchy like raisins. And it was interesting to note that they went nonetheless very well with the American carrot cake spice mix (which I would think is similar to pumpkin spice mix). So it was overall a wonderful idea... even to throw in the wolfberries for added x factor effect.
On the other hand however, I thought it would have been more interesting if they had explored a more Asian dessert angle to the taste, like in cheng teng, luo han guo drink, or longan drink. This means the use of red or black dates instead of wolfberries, although that may understandably complicate the mixture too much, since dates are just as large as longans. If you had too many large fruits in it, I'm sure it'll have a disastrous effect on the cake's texture and consistency. They could also have used walnuts; although these are found in the American carrot cake recipe, walnuts are also associated with dates and longans in Asian desserts and snacks, like this flavour of candy that I'd featured before. THAT would really be novel.
The price was very reasonable - just S$4 per slice... I might have expected $5-6 since they seem to have all the paraphernalia of an upmarket boutique dessert shop.
Although I must say that I wasn't too impressed with the takeaway packaging - even though they're just a small stall and don't have any dine-in option. Their packaging alone kicked it out of the upmarket bracket that their fancy sense of aesthetics tried to put them in... They just put the slice, precariously standing upright, into a plain paper back that wasn't even particularly oil-proof... at least, I could see oil blotches on it after a short 10-metre walk. Furthermore, the bag being so flimsy meant that if I hadn't eated the cake almost immediately while I was still in the vicinity, it might have been completely messed up by the time I'd reached my destination. There wasn't even any handle on the bag. I felt that they should at least have had a paper or plastic box, like almost every other cake shop I'd patronised before. I suppose that's what they saved money on to be able to offer it for just S$4.
Perhaps the only differences were that of the longans compared to raisins. The longans were sweeter, firmer and crunchier than raisins which tend to be soggy and slightly sour. Also, longans are larger than raisins, so it's a more substantial fruity chewing experience than the raisins, if any, in the usual carrot cake.
I couldn't taste the wolfberries much. Those in the cake were just a tiny, soft and moist lump of slight sweetness, although the cake was already sweet and the longans more so, so it didn't make their sweetness stand out. And they tended to get buried in the cake so it was relatively difficult to locate them even though you could see tiny slivers of red here and there... like that little red patch in the image below that I worked so hard to isolate.
On the one hand, I do think that it's a great idea to use longans instead of raisins for the same American carrot cake recipe. I prefer the sweetness and crunchier texture of the larger longans; they're just more... plump and satisfying. They're also more fragrant in a soft way rather than punchy like raisins. And it was interesting to note that they went nonetheless very well with the American carrot cake spice mix (which I would think is similar to pumpkin spice mix). So it was overall a wonderful idea... even to throw in the wolfberries for added x factor effect.
On the other hand however, I thought it would have been more interesting if they had explored a more Asian dessert angle to the taste, like in cheng teng, luo han guo drink, or longan drink. This means the use of red or black dates instead of wolfberries, although that may understandably complicate the mixture too much, since dates are just as large as longans. If you had too many large fruits in it, I'm sure it'll have a disastrous effect on the cake's texture and consistency. They could also have used walnuts; although these are found in the American carrot cake recipe, walnuts are also associated with dates and longans in Asian desserts and snacks, like this flavour of candy that I'd featured before. THAT would really be novel.
The price was very reasonable - just S$4 per slice... I might have expected $5-6 since they seem to have all the paraphernalia of an upmarket boutique dessert shop.
Although I must say that I wasn't too impressed with the takeaway packaging - even though they're just a small stall and don't have any dine-in option. Their packaging alone kicked it out of the upmarket bracket that their fancy sense of aesthetics tried to put them in... They just put the slice, precariously standing upright, into a plain paper back that wasn't even particularly oil-proof... at least, I could see oil blotches on it after a short 10-metre walk. Furthermore, the bag being so flimsy meant that if I hadn't eated the cake almost immediately while I was still in the vicinity, it might have been completely messed up by the time I'd reached my destination. There wasn't even any handle on the bag. I felt that they should at least have had a paper or plastic box, like almost every other cake shop I'd patronised before. I suppose that's what they saved money on to be able to offer it for just S$4.
Found this cake interesting? Check out other unusual cakes here!
Comments
Post a Comment