Ms Skinnyfat: Desserts

Searching for ideas to sweeten up this Christmas? Indulge in Antoinette’s Yuletide Elegance. With many magical creations in store, you can make this Christmas with family and friends special. If like us, you also associate Christmas with log cakes, then Antoinette has your perfect Xmas covered with their two new log cakes— Superlova and Marronette.

Chestnut is one of our favorite fall food and it's used generously in the Marronette ($55/$110), a chestnut cake layered with chestnut crème chantilly and perfumed with Myer’s dark rum and orange confiture. Decorated with a thick ribbon of vanilla crème chantilly and candied French chestnuts, this log cake is bursting with warm nutty flavors!

Superlova ($50/$100) in contrast, is a feminine creation of all things pink. A finer rose sponge, rose petal mousse, raspberry jelly, rose petal glaze, more rose coral sponge, raspberry caviar, rose macaron, raspberry crumble, raspberry marshmallow.. You get the picture. However, it is not merely a rose and raspberry log, as there are also yuzu cream and lychee that bring a tangy kick to the tastebuds.

Don't like logs? How about a rose? Red Rosette ($150) makes a sexy centerpiece on the festive table, and is an elegant conversation starter. A chocolate cake with orange, layered with almond nougatine, and dressed with dark chocolate Chantilly with edible red cocoa spray, this red Christmas tree is more than a luscious eye candy.

Fetish Chocolat. Just the sound of it makes me weak in my knees. No naughty thoughts my dear, I’m referring to the Fetish Chocolat at Antoinette that is happening from 1 September till the end of October. Following the success of Fetish Matcha that ended last month, Antoinette has partnered Valrhona (THE chocolate for any chocolate creation) to bring you Fetish Chocolat that promises more savory indulgence.

Artistically plated, Roasted Carrot with Balsamic and Dark Chocolate Dressing ($18) was a light dish to start with. The dish bursts with distinct flavors of Serrano ham, strawberries and feta, and I would have missed the Equatoriale 55% chocolate in the balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing if I had not read the menu.

Chocolate and pasta do not sound like a match made in heaven but this pairing on Chef Pang’s menu tastes brilliant! In Chocolate Ravioli filled with Wild Mushroom Ragout and cooked in a Light Sausage Cream Sauce ($22), Caraibe 66% chocolate is used as a coloring in the making of the pasta, hence the taste of chocolate is subtle.

In contrast, Braised Wagyu Brisket with Mustard and Dark Chocolate served with Buttered Parpadelle ($30) has strong earthy Guanaja 70% dark chocolate notes in every bite of brisket. Now which will you pick?

Dazzling Cafe's natural association with desserts (think thick towering honey toast) is hard to shake off given the insane dessert queue that formed when they first opened. BUT this Taiwan branded cafe is more than just the sweets now that Chef Cliff Tan has taken over the kitchen at the Capitol Piazza outlet! I discounted Dazzling before, but with their new western fusion menu, you can consider me dazzled.

The new plates at the flagship store use only quality ingredients (carefully sourced and imported, or made from scratch) but are extremely affordably priced (think regular cafe prices).

A light start to the meal is the Mozzarella & Cucumber Granita Salad ($10). Cool and crunchy it was, with cucumber swirls, cucumber sorbet, loose leaves, beetroot jelly, olive crumble, and balsamic reduction. We could certainly see Chef's past experience in the fine dining scene coming through in his pretty plates.

What I'd recommend though is the Shrimp Paste Winglets ($11) which is even better than the Har Cheong Gai sold at many zi char stores! Love that pungent and savory fermented prawn paste in that marinate and the CRUNCHY skin and juicy meat. That lemongrass sweet chili sauce was the icing on the cake. LOVE!

We see strong French and Italian cooking in the mains but with well integrated Asian flavors. While the Scallop risotto in prawn miso broth ($24) may be more than al dente (towards the more mushy end of the spectrum), but that rich crustacean broth and perfectly seared fatty pieces of scallop more than compensated for it.

If you want a creamy based pasta, the Fregola Sarde Grande Pasta ($25) is yums. This is a seldom seen type of pasta which is imported from Italy (of course) and provided a chewy and interested texture to the dish, plus it' so easy to pick up and send into your watering mouth. Simply scoop up some of that pasta with the garlic white wine cream sauce, Parmesan, and that earthy flavorful mushrooms. It may be a vegetarian dish, but it was certainly not lacking in the flavor department. We did not even miss the meat in this one!

Like spice? Then the Spicy Thai Tom Yum Seafood Rigatoni ($21) is a must. The tubular Rigatoni picks up the fiery sauce so well! The sauce is made from scratch btw and I think Chef can open a Thai restaurant if he wants! Very very addictive I say!

Boys, if you're worried that cafe food ain't gonna fill you, well, the portions are quite big imo. Also, you can protein load with the hearty meaty meals.

Chicken Cordon Bleu ($23) has this tendency to be dry because the traditional recipe calls for breast meat. However, there were no issues with this particular rendition due to the use of the French yellow Poulet chicken, and it certainly helped that the meat wasn't deep fried. Expect the cheesy Gruyere flow when you cut into the Parma ham wrapped meat.

The Dazzling Potato Doughnut with Bratwurst filling ($21) looked better than it tasted. #eggporn BUT the dense and slightly undercooked dough, plus oily taste isn't quite worth the calories.

The Pork bratwurst was also on the dry side and the sauce was kinda sweet. Meh.

Another dish that showcased Chef's fine dining background is the Butter Poached Salmon ($23)., in terms of the plating that is. I thought the meat was a tad overcooked and thus more flaky.. The squid ink cous cous is made to look like caviar, and this was accompanied by a naturally sweet carrot purée and mustard Beurre Blanc.

Dazzling Cafe is not a bad spot to chill over drinks and sweets as well. Their Forget Me Not iced tea is a refreshing light floral sakura green tea sweetened with brown sugar. For something sweeter, the Rose latte with baileys and espresso is quite wicked.

But of course, the famous Honey Toasts, which are priced from $17 onwards. Honestly, toast shouldn't be this expensive even if it's tasty or pretty but yea it's quite enjoyable with the filled chocolate center.

Regardless, I'm dazzled now. Go check Dazzling Cafe out for yourself!

Dazzling Cafe Mint Singapore
15 Stamford Road, #01-85 Capitol Piazza, Singapore 178906
Tel: +65 6384 3310
Sun - Thu: 12 - 9.30pm
Fri – Sat: 12 - 10pm

Dazzling Cafe Pink Singapore
#01-12/13/14 277 Orchard Road Orchard Gateway, Singapore 238858
Sun - Thu: 11am - 9pm
Fri - Sat: 11am - 9.30pm
Tel: +65 65 6385 3639

It's the Mooncake season again a.k.a. Mid Autumn Festival and based on the mooncakes that i've been sampling, i think the trend this year is... YAM. We aren't strangers to this gorgeous purple pink root in our desserts and i love how it's presented in the flaky filo pastry! Also, Mao Shan Wang Durian is still a hot favorite in the snowskin collection of many restaurants.

Hai Tien Lo at Pan Pacific Singapore

With seven delicately handcrafted mooncakes, you will be spoilt for choice by Hai Tien Lo at Pan Pacific Singapore. Their highly popular Mao Shan Wang Durian Snowskin Mooncake is also making a comeback this year!

Well i'm certainly going Japanese with the Green Tea Paste with Single Yolk in a golden brown pastry! Also, how can anyone resist the Black Sesame with Single Yolk that has the most amazing fragrance. Pre order these now to be the first to get your hands on these golden parcels, available from 15 Aug to 15 Sep.

Hai Tien Lo is also doing a specially crafted Six-Course Mid Autumn Reunion Set Menu available for dine in in the same period! Might as well gather the whole clan and celebrate!

I’ve been having a yearning for fine pastries and cakes lately. The gloomy afternoons might have played a role in my craving, but don’t you agree that a little sugar and colors are needed to brighten the day? So i wished and I got more than just that at Patisserie Platine, the latest patisserie by the award-winning restaurant Waku Ghin.

Designed by Chef Yasushi Ishino, Executive Pastry Chef of Waku Ghin, and created by Waku Ghin’s pastry team, expect exquisite masterpieces of pastries and cakes made using premium ingredients and fresh seasonal fruits from Japan and Europe.

The Ghin Cheese Cake ($12), a Waku Ghin signature, will change your mind on cheesecakes (even if you're not a fan)! True to Japanese cakes, this white dome features a lemon cheese mousse and a lemon curd in the center that is refreshing and light. Just like the intricate white chocolate feather lying elegantly on top.

There’s also the Strawberry Cheesecake ($10) if you just got to have strawberries in everything. The surprise in this lovely cake is the unique combination of strawberry mousse and orange cheese mousse layers. Too pretty!

Coconut Mousse with Mango & Passionfruit ($10) is a delight to the tropical at heart. Under the vibrant orange is coconut mousse and layers of mango and passionfruit. Expect bursts of flavors in this pretty little thing!

I could live and breathe matcha #alldayerrday and upon hearing that Chef Pang of Antoinette has created a Fetish Matcha series, i promptly sprinted over. With 22 matcha creations, expect a full-sensorial sweet green tea experience from now till end July 2016.

The selection is insane with hot items, cakes, pastry, confectionery and drinks. I was amazed at how the lovely tea (from Nishio Japan) was showcased in each of the items: some flavors bold and expressive, others subtle and unexpected.

My my all that green!

Starting with the hot items, the one and only savory green tea item is the Matcha Pasta ($26). The hand-cut pasta is made with a matcha and flour dough, then garnished with marinated konbu and sakura ebi with matcha powder on the side. The morel mushrooms and black truffle paste give a deliciously earthy hint to the dish. Umami flavors in this one with a light green tea scent. Lovely.

Baked Cheese Tarts are the new in thing people! Especially with the famous Japanese BAKE Inc. (BAKE) leading the trend come 29 Apr 2016 with their first S.E.A flagship in Singapore! Located at ION Orchard, the Singapore store will be BAKE CHEESE TART’s flagship store for Southeast Asia. YAY.

For those not in the know yet, BAKE hails from Hokkaido, Japan, and that ensures the creamiest and smoothest cream cheese mousse in the snappiest shortcrust tart. The cheese mousse is created by blending three different types of cream cheese together - two from Hokkaido and one from France. The pastry goes through a two-step process which leaves it with a distinct crunchy yet fluffy texture. Absolutely gorgeous i tell you.

To ensure the highest quality, the cheese tarts are actually produced in Hokkaido and flown over to Singapore! Baking is done here so that we can piping hot, creamy and flowy cheese tarts. Such dedication to excellence i say. We can certainly expect the same flavor and quality from BAKE and it's even fresher than if you beg a friend to bring it back for you.

For $3.50 a pop, you can dig into one of these rich creamy babies. I can't imagine why anyone would stop at 1 though! Get a box of 6 for $19.50 and share the love (WITH ME PLEASE)!

BAKE Cheese Tarts

ION Orchard #B4-33

2 Orchard Turn 238801

Daily: 10am - 10pm

Oriole Coffee + Bar has been around in the Somerset area for a bit now but it was never a choice cafe for me until recently. With its refreshed food and beverage menu at its Pan Pacific outlet, there are now more choices for my picking!

All day breakfast FTW! I really liked the Humble Baked Egg Skillet ($16), which is a hearty mix of tender and flavorful roasted lamb stew with sweet potatoes, sous vide eggs and Emmental cheese to add on that creamy and stringy texture. They really ought to serve bread with this massive pan.

I highly recommend that you have this to share because it's really quite a huge portion. While i don't see myself having this at 8am in the morning, this is certainly perfect for brunch, or dinner.

Ethereal light Japanese-French desserts, you have my heart and tummy already. Flor Patisserie has been my go to for these delicious sweets since the days when Chef Yamashita was still heading Flor at Duxton. Well, the brand has grown over the years and the tiny shop at Duxton has now expanded into a full blown cafe with a more relaxing and softer vibe.

The sweets menu has been revamped with many more new creations, using the only the freshest and highest quality ingredients sourced from Japan, Belgium, France, Malaysia, Thailand and locally. Let me start with my favorites! The Bara ($9.10) is a pretty rose cremeux piped on longan bavarois and sponge cake. This is the perfect sweet for your sweet. It's delicate, lightly sweetened, just like a rose.

The Mango Soufle ($7.50) is a light-baked cheesecake. Egg yolk is kneaded into the cream cheese for that smooth texture. I would love for more cheesecake flavor in this one though as it felt a bit more like a mango cream cake (there's a lot of cream) but still very tasty!

In a feeble attempt to try to keep up with the Singapore cafe scene, i headed back to the Jalan Besar enclave, a now established spot for coffee and all day breakfasts. Competition is insane with players like CSHH (heard their food is in the s* now), The Bravery (still don't get why it's crowded), and AEIOU for the savories mostly; and Windowsill and Antoinette for sweets (you can forget about Tiramisu Hero). Adding to the mix is Two Bakers, an 8 mth old artisanal dessert cafe overseen by 2 Le Cordon Bleu Paris trained chefs.

We popped by after brunch at AEIOU and regretted immediately as we found out Two Bakers has quite a good selection of savories (we thought they only do desserts). Daily brunch is available till 3pm, with options of eggs, burgers and pastas for under $15.

I don't imagine anyone would dislike ice cream or soft serve unless you are lactose intolerant (then that's too sad). Surely many of you would have already tried the popular Taiwanese brand Honey Creme at 313@Somerset. I first tried their soft serve sometime back and found it kind of rich and oily (high cream content). Truth be told, I didn't think it was worth my buck. However, when i visited recently to sample their new flavors, i found myself liking their improved soft serve formula which is more milky and less sweet and yes i'm a fan of a particular flavor (which i'll intro in a bit)!

Many of the people in Honey Creme's snaking queue will agree that their soft serve is really smooth. Premium fresh milk and cream are used and there is no added preservatives or artificial sweeteners. The owners Sherry and Jo have taken in feedback and tweaked the soft serve to suit the Sg palate- more milk and less cream (it's healthier too).

The original Honey Comb ($5.90) features honeycombs imported from New Zealand and Australia and are cut directly from its frame and. The Comb Honey cup uses honey from Taiwan and has a distinct fruity longan taste which I preferred. I also liked the Organic Mixed Grains ($5.90) which has a mixed grains topping of ground millet, black sweet rice, buckwheat, oats, brown rice, and black sesame. It's very fragrant and less sinful.

A popular flavor is the Honey Creme Alishan Milk Tea, a Alishan milk tea soft serve ice cream layered with Alishan tea jelly, cookie crumbs and honey-coated pearls. This is like a bubble tea in solid form. The tea jelly is made in house and i could taste the tea in this one but i can't say the same of the soft serve. They also have the same milk tea soft serve in Teh C (half tea-half original soft serve) and Gah Dai (sweeter with candy floss) versions.

Now, about the 2 new flavors which will be available starting 1 June 2015. Presenting my favorite- the Cereal Milk ($5.90) . If you have tried Momofuku Milk Bar, you would not be a stranger to this flavor.

This is a cereal-infused soft serve which tastes like the milk at the bottom of your cereal milk breakfast. Think a sweet and salty oat and cornflake tasting concoction. Layered with cornflake crunch, this is the perfect breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner, supper snack. Hohoho can you sense my excitement? The cereal flavor could be stronger in the soft serve but i just kept going and eventually unknowingly finishing every single bit of this one. My favorite bit is the part at the bottom that has soaked up the melted cream!

In celebration of SG50, another addictive flavor introduced is the Honey Creme Pandan Gula Melaka.

The limited edition Honey Creme Pandan Gula Melaka is inspired by out local desserts of pandan cake, chendol and ice kachang! The local ingredients like attap chee (palm seeds), crispy puffed rice, toasted coconut chips (specially imported from Thailand and lovingly toasted here), and gula melaka gave the dessert contrasting flavors and textures. This is another one that i gladly finished. No artificial coloring is used in this one as the pandan concentrate is extracted the manual and traditional way.

If anything, I would love for the gula melaka to be richer, and for it to be layered with the coconut chips too! Just for the National Day weekend (7 – 10 Aug 2015), Honey Creme will also add a Merlion-shaped biscuit to the top of the pandan parfait as a special SG50 treat. Make this one a permanent feature already! Oh and this is exclusive to Singers! Yay!

Both Cereal Milk and Pandan Gula Melaka ($6) will be available from 1 Jun 2015 at the 313@Somerset outlet. Remember that the Pandan Gula Melaka will only be around till 30 Sep 2015!

Honey Creme will also be opening their second outlet in Singapore at the third largest suburban mall, Jem. Slated to launch in mid-July 2015, the new space will be a takeaway kiosk where customers may enjoy all of Honey Creme’s distinctive soft serves on the go.

Honey Creme (313@Somerset)

313 Orchard Road, 313@Somerset #01-37, Singapore 238895

Daily; 11am – 10pm

Honey Creme (Jem)

50 Jurong Gateway Road, #B1-06, Singapore 608549

Daily; 11am – 10pm

"If it aint broke, don't fix it. Don't reinvent the wheel." Those were the thoughts that ran through my head as i sat through the preview of The Fabulous Baker Boy's new dinner menu. If only Juwanda were to stick to his brunch fare and cakes, I'm pretty sure people would love to have that for dinner as well (read my previous review here)..

Let's start with my favorite part of the meal- the cakes. TFBB is known for their cakes and while there were hits and misses (Green Tea Praline was too dry, Red Velvet a tad sweet), the latest addition, the Pam D'OR stole the limelight. This cake was created in honor of Juwanda's muse, actress Pamela Oei, a dear friend of his.

What's better than sticky date pudding? A sticky date cake sandwiched with layers of butterscotch and cream cheese. Oh brown sugar, latte butter cream, and Valrhona chocolate. This cake wouldn't always be available in store but i think it should be made a staple. A 3kg 9" cake will set you back by $105 and each slice is $10. Love this one!

Back to the dinner menu, skip the salads and starters as they are quite blah. The Almond Encrusted Salmon with a mango hollandaise ($22) had several decent elements, such as the fragrant fat-free mango hollandaise sauce that had just a hint of sweetness. The salmon was a little overcooked but still palatable and would certainly do well with more sauce. The contrasting textures could be enhanced with a creamier spinach rather than one that looked like it came through the cold pressed machine but the flavor of the veg was on point.

I thought the Duck Confit ($21) was regular and by regular i do mean that it's not too bad. One of the more flavorful dishes of the night and the plus points were that it was fork tender and not too dry. I liked the cranberry plum compote that accompanied the duck.

Steak Frites ($25) 230g NZ grass fed sirloin, grilled on the griddle, dressed with mushrooms and caramelised onions and the horrible fries. No comments on this one as it was forgettable. The fries were just horrid i can't even begin to describe them (gosh the oil).

Serious room for improvement in the Fish Burger ($14.50). The components that i liked about this dish don't maketh a burger- the tangy Siracha tartar sauce, hint of curry leaves in the batter and the buttery billowing brioche. The batter needs to be WAAAY thinner and the fish needs more flavor on its own. Comes with the same horrible fries.

The bastardized Fried Chicken & Waffles ($21) which was served with a half chicken. The horrors!!! Always chicken fillet. ONLY chicken fillet. I didn't like this dish due to the super hard and dense waffle and the overdose of syrup on this one (it was already drenched when served). TFBB definitely needs to work this one out man. That said, the meat was sufficiently moist though the buttermilk flavor could be enhanced.

Well well, that's my honest take on TFBB's dinner menu. Honestly i'm pretty certain customers would be happy with an all day brunch menu here with some heartier options. I do hope they work things the kinks out for dinner. In the meantime, be glad that you can now enjoy a slice (or two) with the extended opening hours at TFBB!