Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts

Saturday, July 2, 2016

[Promotion] Buttertrade - Online Marketplace Connecting Boutique Bakeries and One-Stop Solution for Cake Buying

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Once in a while, we will see an online post or instagram pictures of non-mainstream bakers and their bakes. Kind of intriguing as there will be custom designs or unique flavours that might not be so readily available at the larger mainstream bakeries. Most of these boutique bakers will have their own media portal for customers to access and order their bakes. However, consumers will still need to search for these individually. Wouldn't it be nice if these are consolidated and accessible by a single portal?

Now we can, with Buttertrade (http://www.buttertrade.com.sg/). Just got to know of this site and found it interesting and useful. Consumers can access to about 11 boutique bakers through this website and place their order for the cakes offered by these unique bakeries. Shop from Ugly Cake Shop (mentioned by Alvinology), Bloomsbury Bakers (mentioned by Miss Tam Chiak), My Fat Lady Cakes and Bakes (mentioned by Daniel Food Diary), and A Han Bakes amongst others.



A Han Bakes specializes in custom cakes, and desserts table for weddings or parties. Have not tried their bakes yet, but if you would like to, here is what readers of Purple Taste could enjoy (courtesy of Buttertrade):

30% off all cakes (including bespoke miniature cake)  from A Han Bakes on weekdays.

Promotion code:  30%offwithpurpletaste
 
Terms and conditions

  • Expiry date: 30th July 2016
  • Buttertrade reserves the right of final decision

Here are some screenshots on how to enter the promo code in Buttertrade:
how to redeem
30%offwithpurpletaste promo code applied

To learn more about Buttertrade's delivery charges, here is the link: http://www.buttertrade.com.sg/faq.php

Happy Shopping!

Special thanks to Buttertrade for extending the promo code to Purple Taste readers.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Bakes n Bites @ 51 Old Airport Road

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This stall is located at the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre. Nearest MRT would be either Dakota or Mountbatten. From Dakota MRT, take Exit B, turn left and walk straight and you will be able to see the Old Airport Road hawker centre across the road. Stop at the traffic light and cross over and you will be standing near to the alfresco seats shaded by big umbrellas. Head on straight into the hawker centre, turn right and look for stall #01-164.

Bakes n Bites has a variety of sweet bakes including cakes, muffins, puffs, swiss rolls, cheesecakes while its savoury selection is currently limited to shepherd's pies.

cakes and shepherd's pies

The stall owners; Christopher and Christina are both jovial and friendly. They started the business not too long ago, and it was actually borned through sheer determination and hardwork. Christopher had learnt baking after he was retrenched from work when he was in his fifties. His wife, Christina, supports him in his endeavour as she helps him tirelessly in ingredients prepping, attending to orders and various other activities.

Had the chance to converse with them and it was evident that they take pride in the things that they do. Christina had shared that they tend to use natural ingredients and no preservatives. They are open to requests from customers and not adverse to having to tweak their bakes in order to cater to most customers.

For instance, their "asian shepherd's pie" doesn't use any cheese nor tomato paste. This was so that customers whom are not tolerant to cheese could still enjoy the pie. However, should there be customers whom prefers cheese in their shepherd's pie, just let Christina know in advance and she might just be able to cater to your request.

guess the meat-fillings of this pie~
(front) beef  @$3.70 and (back) chicken @$3.00

The shepherd's pie uses on russet potatoes and are handmade daily. Most of their goods are baked on-site at the stall. The potatoes tasted fluffy, light and moist.

There are quite a bit more variety for the muffins. The usuals include blueberry, blueberry chocolate chips, orange, double chocolate and banana muffins. The unusual would be the chinese herb flavoured muffin. The price ranges from $2.10 to $2.30 for muffins.

(top clockwise) banana chocolate chip, orange, double chocolate muffin and vanilla
(front clockwise) herbal (litsea cubeba), blueberry chocolate, blueberry muffins

The muffins could be eaten either chilled or warm. For blueberry and herbal muffins, these are recommended to be eaten warmed as its fragrance and flavour would have been enhanced.

The warm muffins were indeed soft and bouncy.

segments of double chocolate muffin

Christina had shared that the litsea cubeba was boiled for 12 hours before it was chilled and consumed as a drink. On its own, it tasted bitter with licorice-like finish (苦甘味). This herb is said to be good in dispelling flu and cold, plus able to relieve fatigue. However, not many would be acceptable to this bitter taste, so Christopher made use of it in a muffin form so that the benefits of this herb could be enjoyed by most.

Next, we sampled quite a bit of its no frills cakes. First, we had the mixed fruit cake, butter cake and the banana cake.

(top clockwise) fruit cake, butter cake and banana cake

The butter cake was made with Golden Churn butter and it was indeed very rich, creamy and buttery. The banana cake was slightly drier and it contained about 80% banana. Am not a fruit cake person, so no comments for that.

butter cake
banana cake
Was more interested in the swiss rolls. Tried three flavours that night; latte coffee, vanilla and pandan. All were good. The swiss rolls here were purposedly made to be slightly more dense and compact. Its texture was more chewy-bouncy kueh-like rather than fluffy cake type. Interestingly, meringue is used instead of the usual cream for the swiss rolls. Meringue is lighter yet tasted similar to cream. The coffee and pandan fragrances were really strong and enticing. Lovely.

(front anti-clockwise) pandan, vanilla and latte coffee

The chewy brownie here was quite good as well. Preferred it over the choc fudge cake.

(bottom) chewy brownie and (top) choc fudge

And for the finale, we had the Five Layer Cake. This was created in-lieue of rainbow cake. Each layer has its own flavour; chocolate, coffee, orange, vanilla and one more that I cannot remember. Very likeable especially if you like kek-lapis.

Bakes n Bites also do baby full-month packages and custom-made birthday cakes, so do email/call Christina, to find out more.

Five Layer Cake

This was an invited tasting. Thank you Christopher and Christina for hosting us and the HWG team for the invite.

Bakes n Bites

Location: #01-164, 51 Old Airport Road, Singapore 390051
Contact:  +65 90083463
Website: http://www.bakesnbites.sg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakesnbites/
Business Hours:
Tue - Sat: 11:00 - 21:00
Sun: 09:30 - 21:00

Sunday, October 11, 2015

CreatureS @ 120 Desker Road

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It was an impromptu decision to visit. All of us were packed into Ivan's car, and Kris punched a few numbers on her phone, talked abit and voila, we had a table at CreatureS on a Saturday evening. Interesting district, this Desker Road. Think dark lanes, some cafes and plenty of traffic. Parking was tricky, though there was one pretty near the junction about 100 metres away from the shop.

menu

Our table was upstairs and noted that there's an alfresco seating at Level 2 as well. Place was well decorated with plenty of flowers and plants. The washroom has a spa-ish feel to it.

centerpiece at Level 2
table for party of 8
table with a view

Ordered desserts as we already had our dinner elsewhere. Got two of their bestsellers to try, and some fries for munchies.

The Asian Herb Fries tasted a bit like, uhm...twisties. Haha, yeah. Mainly of curry, pepper and salt seasonings. Bar food for the cocktails, perhaps. Speaking of cocktails, spotted one that I'd like to try in future; Creamy CreatureS thats concocted with dark rum, gula melaka, and rosemary perfurmed milk froth. Sounds good but didn't order that night since we were there for desserts. Desserts and cocktail? Hmm, not for me.

Asian Herb Fries @$12++

If you'd like a cake with local flavours, try the orh nee (yam) or durian cake. Since we had to make a choice, we chose the durian cake. Made of pandan genoise sponge, pandan vanilla chantilly cream and of course, most importantly, the mao shan wang durian paste. Pardon my ignorance, had to look up the wiki for genoise (genoese) cake which is basically Italian sponge cake, where whole egg is used as opposed to yolk and white beaten separately.

Durian Cake @$12++
I like sponge cake, cream and durian and this slice had all of those, so this was pleasant. The durian paste tasted good and has strong fragrance but unfortunately, there were some dry bits in there as well.

Next up, was the heavy duty CreatureS Chocolate Cake. If the item carries the shop's name, it better live up to the expectation! No worries, as this one did and did it well. Bouncy espresso chocolate sponge layered with thick soft layers of chocolate sitting ontop of homemade salted caramel sauce and sprinkled with himalyan salt, resulted in a very intense and right-in your face saltiness and chocolatey gooeyness. Yums. When it gets a tad too heavy, the coconut ice-cream is there to balance things up a bit.

CreatureS Chocolate Cake @$18++

Would strongly suggest that the cakes to be shared. Durian cake as desserts between 2 pax, and the Chocolate Cake between 4 pax (at least!).

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Whisk & Paddle @ Tebing Lane

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Tebing Lane is at the 'other' part of the world for someone who lives in the west. Located all the way in far-away Punggol for us westies. This was our last stop during one of the cafe hopping weekend. and I must say, the cafe has some very pretty table-tops. Choose those tables for instant 'chio' backdrop for the food.

Disclaimer: Our group got a plain black coloured glass table-top.

This place also has a corner where children can play while parents enjoy their coffees.

menu
 After having way too much coffee and the sun was burning down on us, decided to have cold non-caffeinated drinks instead. Thatcher's Rose cider for $18 per bottle. They do have quite an extensive alcoholic drinks in the menu ranging from beer, ciders, wine, cocktails, whiskies and cocktails.

rose cider

Feel free to have a look at its desserts counter. The chocolate fudge cake was calling out to us. Resistance is futile.
how about a slice of cake?

Ordered a couple of items to share.

cheesecake with berries compote @$6
warm chocolate fudge cake @$6 (with single scoop ice-cream $10.50)

The cheesecake was rather light, and I think I had forgotten to sample the berries compote. Haha! The fudge cake looked really good. Liked those chocolatey gooey goodness. Of course, two is not enough. We had some waffles as well.

Tropical Brulee @$13.50
Only half a waffle though. The chocolate waffle was of the crispy kind. Ice-cream on waffles, what's there not to like? The caramelized banana was pleasant.

For people who lives around the area, Whisk & Paddle seemed like a nice place to visit on weekends and there's ample parking.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Yahava KoffeeWorks @ Jalan Gelenggang

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One of those places that either you are staying near the area, or need a car to get there. Or, you may want to follow Derrick's tips on navigating to Yahava via public transportation. How did I get there? Hehe, friends get you everywhere! Special thanks to Ivan and Hence. If you're driving, there's a public car park nearby, with limited capacity of course.

The shop itself has a large sign-board and viewable from afar. Once, you're at its doorstep, you'll notice its door handle/knob that's different from others.

Yahava has a fairly large space to accommodate cafe-goers. At its backroom, one could probably see an on-going coffee appreciation workshop in session. Barista courses are available too. Find out more from this link.

what's available
beans and brews
the mechanics

The place was pretty cosy, very relaxed vibe. Felt almost as if it has a do-as-you-wish kind of atmosphere. Ordered some koffees and cakes to sample.

collective order - affagato, the rose late (for SG50), hot chokolate, mokha and black coffee
danish and scones
cakes

Spent some time choosing the cakes. Finally, made the decision to try matcha and the earl grey cakes.

matcha cake
earl grey cake

Preferred the green tea cake for its spongier and lighter texture. The earl grey cake was a tad too dense for my liking.

In terms of drinks, I totally dig the Rose Latte. You'll love this if you like drinking bandung. However, it can do with more coffee. Well, I did mix it a bit with the Kintamani black coffee and it tasted good!

Rose Latte
my order of Mokha @$5

Yahava KoffeeWorks

Website: www.yahava.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YahavaSG

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

TOBY'S - The Dessert Asylum @ Parkway Parade

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Was invited to try TOBY'S in a far away location that is known as Parkway Parade. For travellers from north-west, one could take bus #966 from Woodlands Bus Interchange. It is an hour ride away and bus interval is about 15 minutes on weekends.

TOBY'S is located at Level 2 of Parkway Parade, and quite easy to spot with its bright purple signage.

TOBY'S - The Dessert Asylum
seats
menu

Seems like its online menu and the actual menu are a bit different. For example, wanted to try the "New" Taco Fried Chicken Wings but its menu only listed Spicy Hot Wings. Hmm.

Nonetheless, its menu looked pretty extensive with starters, salads, burwiches (a cross of burger and sandwich?), pasta, pizza, baked rice and house specials.

For 2 pax, we ordered one starter, two mains and two desserts.

Spicy Hot Wings @$8.95++

The fried wings were coated with spicy sauce and packed some heat though not overwhelmingly so. Thought there was tabasco in the sauce but it was revealed to be sambal instead. Nice asian twist. Best eaten while it is hot.

Was thirsty, so got myself a glass of "Hulk A Mania", or simply put, it is green apple juice with  lime and sour plum.

Hulk A Mania @ $6.95++

Realisation hits when the pasta was brought to the table. Had ordered a main course that was similar to the appetiser! Both were spicy and tomato based sauce also had sambal for spiciness.

Spicy Marinara Spaghetti @$17.95++

The spicy marinara came loaded with crunchy prawns, squid and fish chunks. Plenty of carbs here. 

BBQ Baby Ribs (pork) looked good and tasted good. BBQ sauce was slightly on the sweeter side. The meat was fork tender and enjoyable. There was quite a bit of potato salad too. It wasn't just a small mound, it was a tower of potato salad! Nicely seasoned.

BBQ Baby Ribs @$19.95++
fork tender meat

After the mains, then it was time for desserts. Cakes or ice-cream? How about both!

selection of cakes and tarts
more cakes

For the ice-cream variant, got ourselves a mudpie called "TO-BY or Not TO-BY". My dining companion described the rum & raisin ice-cream as having 'punch'. I liked the crunchy bits in the mudpie.

rum and raisin ice-cream, chocolate ice-cream with choc chips and waffle bits @$10.95++

Pretty sweet. Has been quite a while since I had any rum and raisin ice-cream. Used to be the de-facto selection way back in those days when salted caramel has yet to be introduced.

If you're a durian lover, then Spike D is one dessert here that you wouldn't want to miss. Was glancing at its online menu and this was the dessert that I wanted to get.

Spike D @$5.95++

A nondescript looking round choco globe but inside, ooh, its inside is soo good! Cut a section and one gets that strong whiff of durian. The taste was heavenly. One simply must have this.

fresh durian with chocolate fudge

On the day of visit, I spied that there were only two Spike Ds left at 5pm. So weekend diners who are coming for dinner, you may not get to taste this wonderful dessert.

Overall pick would be BBQ Baby Ribs for the main course and no prize for guessing, yes Spike D for desserts.

Special thanks to Francis for the invite and for being a generous host. The service crew were friendly and helpful.

TOBY'S - The Dessert Asylum

Address: #02-68/69/70 Parkway Parade, 80 Marine Parade Road, Singapore
Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm
Contact: 6346 2435
Website: http://www.tobys.com.sg
Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/TobysTheDessertAsylum/
 
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