Mother’s Day is coming soon and we were thankful to The Pine Garden for dropping off some samples of their Mother’s Day specials:
- Melondious Parfait Cake
- TW Peanut Brittle, Orh-Ni, Mochi and Popiah Cake
- Jujube Chiffon Cake with Honey Yuja
As usual, we will be honest with our reviews and will say it as we see/taste it. As we were given the whole TW Peanut Brittle cake, our review is based on the opinions of 4 people.
Ready? Let’s go!
Melondious Parfait Cake
The Melondious Parfait Cake features green melon with a mellow aroma and paired with a light vanilla sponge. This was quite a delight because it is a simple, fruity, creamy cake. The Pine Garden didn’t try to go too far out with this cake and delivered on the aromas while I personally felt that it could be a bit more melon-y and maybe have a layer of chopped melons to add to the juiciness that one associates melons with? This was very well received by the hubs who prefers his cakes sweet and creamy.
Jujube Chiffon Cake with Honey Yuja
So this cake is a new spin on their Chinese New Year special of the Jujube Chiffon Cake. This time, they have added cream that’s flavoured with the Korean Yuja fruit, lending it a slightly tangy and bittersweet flavour. Personally, I like this version more than the plain Jujube Chiffon Cake as it keeps the cake moist and acts as a bit of a foil to the sometimes, very sweet red dates. Hubby felt that the red dates embedded throughout the chiffon cake gave it a slightly nutty flavour and he would’ve preferred more cream.
TW Peanut Brittle, Orh-Ni, Mochi and Popiah Cake
This cake is definitely impressive in terms of looks and my mum gave an immediate “wow” when she first saw it. The popiah skin made a “skirt” for the cake and it is clear that this cake was inspired by the insanely popular Peanut Ice Cream Popiah from the Taiwanese night market. And because it is inspired by that dessert, there was A LOT of cilantro on this cake – much to my hubs, my bro and my own horror.
The Pine Garden did warn that cutting this cake is a messy affair and I’d have to agree with them. The popiah skin is slightly damp from the cake and that created a bit of resistance when cutting through. Then there was a lot of peanut brittle shavings and cilantro (puke) which would naturally spill out as you cut. Then when you finally hit the bottom layer with the mochi, it gives you another sticky texture to go through. Did we enjoy the process? No.
Due to the sheer amount of cilantro and my utter hatred for it, the hubs had to slowly pick every single offending leaf out. Don’t worry, he didn’t complain because he hates it as much as I do. After removing the cilantro, then came the taste test. I’m sorry but if we were to eat each element on it’s own, I’d have no complaints because the orh-ni itself was good, the peanut brittle was yum, the mochi was chewy…but together, it was a mess. And not in a good way.
I’ve eaten the Peanut Ice Cream Popiah itself and that made a lot more sense because the ice cream and peanut (plus cilantro if you didn’t make any request to remove) were wrapped in the popiah skin…very much like how we Singaporeans like to eat ice cream sandwiched between a slice of bread. The popiah skin held everything in (kinda) and was the contrast to the sweet and slightly minty centre (if you had cilantro). However, The Pine Garden’s creation felt like a badly deconstructed version.
Could they have done it better? In my opinion, definitely. For example, I would’ve toasted the popiah skin to make it crispy and used it as the top decoration instead. Another idea is to make this cake a giant popiah with the fillings inside…but perhaps this wouldn’t look very presentable? The orh-ni is what lends the most flavour and is the star of the cake so rather than giving two balls of it on the top, have it as the base or main filling of the cake and have mochi bits in there to give the delightful, chewy texture. Love the generous serving of peanut brittle and that should be continued but as for the cilantro, thank goodness this cake requires 3-day advance order so you can opt to not have this.
None of us enjoyed the cake, which is saying something since we’re all fans of orh-ni and peanut as well as mochi.
Conclusion
Please go ahead and get the Melondious Parfait Cake or the Jujube Chiffon Cake but I’m hesitant to recommend the TW Peanut Brittle. But you know your queen the best so go get her the cake that you know she’ll enjoy the most!
Images: The Pine Garden
Video: The Wellness Insider/ In Chef Mode
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