Marmalade Toast

A testament to my weakness for cakes, 3 days later on Thursday, 8 december, I went with my lovely classmates for tea (a break from all that shopping) at Marmalade Toast.

Having heard all the rave reviews, I had pretty high expectations of the cakes available and thankfully, they didn't disappoint!
There is a tea time promotion going on, where one can order any cake (except the meringue cake and chocolate fudge cake) and tea or coffee for $6.90. An extremely affordable price :)

Being extremely pragmatic( the typical Singaporean behavior), I chose the most expensive cake available, which was the carrot cake.

The carrot cake was moist and sweet, with ample walnuts to provide the needed crunch to the cake. The cream cheese frosting was lovely as well, although a tad too sweet for my liking.

My friends chose the chocolate truffle cake (which i also tried). This extremely sinful cake was worth the amount of calories that it contained. The "truffle" layer of the cake(2 thick layers) was smooth and velvety, and of course, rightfully chocolatety.

I have a personal preference for more cake-y chocolate cakes, so this truffle cake didn't resonate with me much.

The tea and coffee were of a decent standard and definitely a good companion with the cakes.

Overall, Marmalade Toast does live up to its reputation :) I would come back to try the chocolate fudge cake, or even maybe the cupcakes available. However, the obscure location means that some searching around needs to be done before locating the shop in Takashimaya.

A 8/10 :) (the great company made everything even better (: )

3 Inch Sin

Ah it's been some time since I last updated the food blog so there will be a simultaneous posting of 3 blog posts :)
Also look out for the high tea buffet at Barrack House at Dempsey road post :) can't wait to have high tea there!
3 inch sin, as the name suggests, offers cakes (literally 3 inch tall) that ooze of chocolate and other calorie laden goodness ( think caramel and crunchy bases)
I visited 3 inch sin at Cluny Court on 5th dec with Joey and Benji. However disappointingly there were only 3 types of desert on offer because it was a Monday.

Thus, we got a death by chocolate (chocolate cupcake with a generou

s serving of chocolate ganache, sprinkled with crunchy chocolate balls) and a 3 inch sin( something similiar to a lava cake, with an oozy centre that you can customize)

-death by chocolate

Contrary to the rather pompous name, the chocolate cupcake was slightly disappointing. The ganache was average, thick, creamy, chocolate-ty but lacking in complexity in flavour. Every bite of the chocolate ganache tasted the same and after a while it became a little gelat (Malay word to represent that something is over cloying )
The cake base was even more disappointing, tasting like an average cake that you can get at any bakery.

My friend(benji) tried the molten cake and commented that it was gelat after a while as well. It was also too sweet for him, although it may be due to him picking white chocolate as the molten centre.

Perhaps the catchy name gave me high expectations of the cakes available at 3 inch sin, eventually leading to disappointment when they are not as delightfully sinful as purported.

But I'm willing to give it another try, in believe that the other cakes available will be 3 inch sin's saving grace.

6/10

Strictly Pancakes-Room for improvement (review)

The menu on the first story--I love how the chalkboard menu invokes a sense nostalgia

I love this quote <3

My dad and I came across a programme advertisement featuring Strictly Pancakes and he decided to bring my mum and myself(my sis woke up at 2pm so she wasn't with us) to Strictly Pancakes before the crowds flock to it when the actual programme shows.

Reviews from my friends (Vanesse and Joey) were generally positive so I had pretty high expectations of the food at Strictly Pancakes.

Thankfully they didn't disappoint(for most part)!

Apple and Cinnamon Pancakes-ordered by the table beside mine. The cinnamon aroma was extremely strong, but I am sceptical of how drenched(maybe even soggy) pancakes will taste.

Tiramisu Pancakes--Comes with Chocolate Pancakes, a scoop of vanila ice cream and mascarpone cream--$12

Chicken A-la-King--$14

Pancakes are like instant cakes. They only require 5-10 mins of cooking and you'll get a cooked pancake. If done well, the pancakes will be thick, fluffy and flavourful.

The pancakes at Strictly Pancakes certainly met the minimum requirement of a thick and fluffy pancake. However, I have one gripe against it--that it was flavourless on its own.(for the plain ones that accompanied the grilled chicken) I would have hoped that it was a little tastier(maybe saltier or sweeter). However, with the butter (my dad picked the salted one), the pancakes tasted lovely :)

The chocolate pancakes that accompanied the tiramisu pancakes were slightly better. The chocolate flavour was strong and it tasted like eating a real chocolate cake. However, the vanilla ice cream , although spotting vanilla beans, lacked the fragrance of vanilla and tasted merely creamy. The mascarpone cream was slightly better, though I would have hoped for a more generous serving of it instead of the mediocre vanilla icecream.

For drinks, I ordered the iced vanilla latte, which unfortunately, was too sweet and left a bad aftertaste.

In conclusion, the pancakes at the pancakes Strictly Pancakes nailed the texture but still requires certain refinement on the taste. Given that pancakes are the main focus at this eatery, it would be in the best interest of them to improve on their pancakes.

For those comparing Strictly Pancakes with the pancakes available at Hatched, those at Strictly Pancakes are definitely nicer and more consistent.

A 6/10. I probably would return in a month's time and hope that further improvements are made.

Cheers!

Michelle

Barcook Bakery-The king of cream cheese buns

(I'm sorry this is unsightly but I just had to highlight how creamy the cream cheese was!-and I was also too absorbed in gobbling the bun :/)

Good food often takes you by surprise and of course, leaving you unprepared and at mercy of your cravings. Walking around aimlessly today at one raffles place, I came across barcook bakery. Instantly my stomach demanded the raisin cream cheese bun which impressed me thoroughly when I first ate it in the beginning of the year. Forgoing my diet before prom (ah well, theres always a reason why the dietingstartstomorrow ), I bought a cream cheese bun for myself and devoured it in less than 5 minutes

9 months has past since I last ate it and I'm very glad to say that the quality of the cream cheese bun remains extremely good. The velvety cream cheese with plump raisins inside the soft bun simply melts in your mouth(I mean literally--and was also because of it that I finished the bun in 5 minutes) After one bite it is impossible to stop(unless you don't like cream cheese in the first place) : D

In the monopolistic competitive market for cream cheese buns, Barcook's generous cream cheese filling and extremely soft buns differentiates its buns from the other bakeries where the cream cheese tends to be a pathetic layer of curd like substance. The high turnover of buns also means that you can be guaranteed of freshness and if you are lucky, buns fresh from the oven!

A clear front runner in the race of cream cheese buns(and of other variety of buns that I'll try after prom ;) ),I firmly believe barcook bakery is here to stay

4.5/5

(0.5 was subtracted because it was so sinful I have no choice but to hit the pool and swim 20 laps today :( )

Che *burps* ers

Michelle