The Poof is in the Pudding

So we're on a brief pudding run... and this time, it's pudding roll cake! (Or Swiss rolls.) I'm beginning to think that any dessert with pudding would be lovely, hence the magical "poof" being in the pudding. These cakes support that notion. They were from a Kyuushuu fair by Isetan @ West Gate, Singapore.
Whole kuromitsu and maple pudding roll cakes.
They had three flavours - kuromitsu (brown sugar), matcha and maple pudding Swiss rolls... however, while the kuromitsu pudding roll cake looked like they actually used kuromitsu pudding due to the brown colour, the matcha pudding roll cake seemed to use ordinary yellow pudding. (While the maple pudding roll cake also had yellow pudding, I thought yellow could also represent maple flavour, so the pudding's flavour wasn't apparent from the presentation.)
The display at the stall, featuring the pastry chef.Zen-designed boxes.Each roll cake was simply, yet very neatly packed.
Kuromitsu Pudding Roll Cake

My favourite was by far the kuromitsu pudding Swiss roll, and I suppose it was also the most unique. It had a rich, sweet caramel-like burnt taste typical of brown sugar, and the fragrance and taste permeated the whole cake and pudding.
A slice of the kuromitsu pudding roll cake, my favourite.
The sponge was light, fluffy and moist. The cream was pure and rich, adding some fullness to the sweetness of the kuromitsu. An awesome combination between the pudding, sponge and cream indeed!

Maple Pudding Roll Cake
Sliced maple pudding roll cake.
I thought this was a pretty interesting flavour too, since I had never tried a maple roll cake, let alone one with pudding, potentially maple-flavoured.

However, I was disappointed because I really couldn't taste much of a maple flavour, whether in the sponge or the pudding, which was a huge contrast to the kuromitsu one. In fact, if you had told me this was a "plain"-flavoured pudding roll cake, I wouldn't have known the difference. This lack of a distinct maple flavour was also puzzling because the slightly tanner spots on the yellow sponge cake looked like they might have been drizzled with maple syrup... but it didn't translate into the taste regardless.

I suppose as a plain cake, it would still have been delicious, with the bounce and slight caramel taste of the pudding, the rich cream and the fluffy and moist sponge. Still, as my blog makes obvious, I am usually most impressed only by slightly unusual flavours.

Matcha Pudding Roll Cake
Sliced matcha pudding roll cake.
This one was actually quite nice, but I thought it was relatively normal, so I featured it last. Basically, the sponge had a standard nice matcha flavour, and I suppose the bouncy, creamy and sweet pudding went quite well with the fluffy matcha sponge. Probably my second favourite after the kuromitsu flavour!

Verdict: Following up on the idiom in the title, the pudding has proven itself! It definitely adds a refreshing and comforting dimension to the normal roll cake, and I would probably love a pudding in every roll cake I have! (^o^) (Although, that could just be my arbitrary preference for soft and bouncy things like pudding.) Still, I do think its texture and custard flavour are generally very complimentary to most sponge cakes, and the generic plain pudding should go well with most sponge flavours!

I would probably only try these once, but would look for a chance to buy them for a friend, some tea time gathering or a potluck as a dessert item.

Found these cakes interesting? Check out more unusual cakes here!

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