CC had somehow done it again. Just as I thought I had sampled the best of her cakes, she came up with an avocado cake!
Here’s my loot just yesterday, a reward for myself after appearing on Bella Society on NTV7, marking a great start to the year 2013. 🙂
Thanks to Daphne for the pictures of us on air, live on NTV7 Bella! :DD
But more on Bella TV and the avocado cake later! I’m going to show now you the 3 cakes that I sampled earlier last week, starting with the intriguing Mangosteen Cake.
This must be the first mangosteen cake (that I have heard of anyways) in KL.
Quoted from Swich’s FB Page: “A light Mangosteen Cake made with mangosteens and a touch of pomegranate (another wonder fruit!), frosted with mangosteen cream and topped with more fresh mangosteens, served optionally with caramelized cashew. ”
At first glance the misshapen free form cake wasn’t exactly a work of art. While it might not win awards for presentation, do allow yourself to judge only after you had taken a bite.
Here’s a scenario.
You order a cute and prettily decorated cake from a bakery, cafe or restaurant, more likely than not priced at a premium, took a bite and then wondered what could have possibly justify it’s price. Often, it is either too sweet, too greasy, too dry or it tasted like a 10 year old’s school baking project.
Familiar?
If “YES”, then I’ll like to introduce you to Swich Cafe’s repertoire of cakes. You can check out my previous pictures on the Durian Mud Pie, Hummingbird Cake, Fruit, Cempedak and Carrot Cake HERE. None of Swich’s cakes had disappointed me so far and this is one cafe that I can confidently recommend to my friends who are seeking good quality, wholesome cakes. Even if they do not like all of Swich’s cakes, there’s also very little chance that they will hate any. LOL! 😀
For this round, I made my way to Publika to pick up ONE “limited” edition Mangosteen Cake. I was lucky to bump into CC again, ever smiling and cheery as usual.
I spied on the display a Red Velvet, and after sampling so many of Swich’s cakes, I had to try if their Red Velvet is as good. After all, Red Velvet is really popular and finding a good one has been a challenge.
Thus here goes, the prerequisite pictures and the guessing game that I play each time I eat; what’s in what I’m eating? 🙂
The light sponge appears to me to be ordinary cake sponge. The middle section had a layer of mangosteen puree (or more like mangosteen jam), the only part I dislike as I find it too sweet. I failed detect any form of pomegranate. In a nutshell, the best part was the frosting which had a very distinctive mangosteen flavour and the juicy fresh mangosteens circling the cake.
After having eaten most red velvet cakes in KL and now officially jaded with the whole Red Velvet craze, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to sample Swich’s Red Velvet the moment I saw it. After all, Swich had not disappointed so far so I figured that their Red Velvet can’t fail too badly.
The moist Red Velvet has a fine crumb with a hint of cocoa, so it remained subtly chocolatey but didn’t sell itself out as a pure chocolate cake. Based on what I have read over the years, the taste of red velvet should be somewhere along those lines.
There was a slight tart taste at the end (just as I swallow) that I couldn’t explain but my other taster Kevin argued that there isn’t so that left me in doubt. The cream cheese frosting was similar to the same one on Swich’s Carrot Cranberry cake; thick and sweet. We found some orange peel embedded within the cream cheese, which we presumed was supposed to give it a very light touch of zest.
Finally, the Burnt Sugar Cake. I cringed at the thought of a cake that has the word “sugar” in its name. As if we need to be reminded that a cake might be sweet. This outright tells you that it’s sweet! However CC gave this and the Mangosteen Cake as complimentary for me to sample so I obligingly bagged it home.
It turned out to be a surprise cos I actually enjoyed it immensely. Firstly, the almond brittle was addictive to nibble on. Be forewarned that it could get cloyingly sweet after a while unless you have a super sweet tooth.
One layer below, the thick burnt sugar frosting tread the fine line between tasting unpleasantly burnt and delicately smoky. This state of caramelization is difficult to master but in CC capable hands the frosting turned out perfect; smoky though expectedly sweet. At least it wasn’t the straight-on, slap you in the face sickly sweetness like those coating commercial popcorns. It wasn’t as runny either. Perhaps it’s the butter.
As for the cake itself, it is a dense butter cake base but with the aroma of caramel. Definitely a butter cake with a smooth twist! 🙂
I hold Swich Cafe and CC responsible for my expanding waistline. But on second thoughts; to heck with that, cakes like these are worth the calories! :DD
Next up, my review on Swich’s Avocado Cake, Banana Cake and Apple Cake!
Swich Café,
Mezzanine floor, HP Towers,
12 Jalan Gelenggang, Bukit Damansara, KL
(018 5995 152/www.swichcafe.com).
Open Mon – Fri, 8am – 5.30pm.
OR
Level UG – Near Eat Village, front of Sushi Q.
OMG babe! So delish! The earlier post already got me drooling! I can’t wait for your next post – avocado cake – wonder it it would taste like 🙂
Yes yes coming up soon – the post! Veron, the cakes here are really good 😀
Hi Rebecca
Gosh, that mangosteen cake isn’t going to win any prizes in the looks department, is it?! Mangosteens do oxidize into a very unappealing brown :(. It’s one of those cakes, like our cempedak cake, that we recommend be consumed soon after frosting. The pomegranate plays a supporting role to the queen here, and is added to the mangosteen reduction to enhance its tanginess, you’re right that its flavour is not perceptible.
Thanks so much for trying out our cakes and for sharing your positive experience here! It really makes our day when people enjoy our bakes. We’ll be creating more cakes soon to keep it exciting, and when our outlet at Level G3 opens soon we’ll be able to offer our chilled cakes as well 🙂
PS – Congratulations on your Bella appearance!
Thanks, and see you soon!
CC
HAhaha! Don’t worry CC. It’s the taste that count! :))
I understand the oxidization very well 🙂
Yes, Im looking forward to all your cakes now CC. I believe I still have yet to try the valhorna, butterscoth, french apple & a few more!
Thanks, Rebecca! Yes, please try our Valrhona and Butterscotch, 2 of our best sellers :). We do a Salted Caramel version for the Valrhona cake too. The French apple came must be eaten freshly baked, my son can eat almost the entire cake by himself :). I hope you’ll try our Hokkaido cakes with cempedak cream and durian cream…can’t wait til we open our full outlet @Publika so that we can offer these treats and others like our bread and butter pudding, sticky date pudding, cheesecakes… 🙂 Gosh, thinking of them makes me happy 🙂
Cheers!
Being a cakeaholic, hah, I actually bought 2 cakes from them on Tuesday. While the chocolate cake was calling out my name, I decided to try the red velvet cake coz it looked really promising. I was rather disappointed with the cake though – it was dry and the topping had a tangy taste to it which was surely a first for me. I was expecting more out of it to be honest. But either way, the Valrhorna chocolate cake did look like it’s worth a try so who knows, might pick it up next. Perhaps you could review it soon 🙂
Hello Cas
I am sorry to hear that the red velvet you had was dry. I can only attribute it possibly to it not being covered in an air conditioned environment during the course of the day. If you come by tomorrow or anytime at your convenience, we will be happy to provide you another slice free of charge. All our cakes are made fresh and are supposed to have a moist crumb. Unfortunately the limited storage options at the temporary stall does pose a challenge. The frosting is infused with citrus juice and zest and is slightly tangy. We have considered frosting the cake with a coconut cream cheese frosting but it will not keep long at room temperature.
We hope you will try our other cakes. Thanks for coming by!
Cheers!
CC