Fruit Cake

Yippee! It's that time of year again for rich colourful fruit cakes, brandy-soaked puddings, and yummy eggnog drenched in alcohol!
One of our X'mas creations is this yummy fruit cake covered in nuts.
The gorgeous reds and greens definitely put us in the mood to be jolly!

Our Baker's Tip: Here's my twist on the traditional fruitcake. Top a lemon-flavoured butter cake with honey, mixed fruits and almonds and you've got something new for the festive season.

Pineapple Cake

Nothing fancy about this recipe - just a modest, unfussy pineapple upside-down cake. Traditional in its simplicity, yet extremely satisfying.
Loved it.

Our Baker's Tip: A quick fuss-free recipe. Mine's a little plain but there's lots you can do to decorate this - use walnuts, glaced cherries, macadamia nuts and dried apricots.

Oscar's

If you're craving fine sweets after 11pm, head to Oscar's Cafe and Terrace at Conrad Hotel for tiramisu.
The 24-hour cafe has a limited supper menu, but lack of variety is made up for with quality.
Apart from ice cream, the tiramisu is the only other dessert available, but it's definitely a treat both for the eyes and the palate.
I like this one cos it's rocking with alcohol. Moist, fluffy, and not too sweet.
The biscuits and strawberries provided the perfect icing.

Sweeet factor: 4/5

Oscar's Cafe and Terrace
2 Temasek Boulevard
Lobby Level
Conrad Centennial

Lemon cream cake

Our thoughtful baker used low-fat milk in this recipe and lemons cos she, too, can tell that I'm losing something fast - my waistline!
Anyway, although our perfectionist baker wasn't too pleased with her own creation, picking on the texture of the lemon cream, I found it pretty yummy and appetising. Four others who tried it agreed with me!

Our Baker's Tip: Who says butter cakes have to be boring? Slice the cake in half, fill with lots of lemon curd, slap lemon butter cream on top and jazz it up with lemon slices and you've got a brand-new cake!

Ah Yat Abalone

Ok, the pastries and bird's nest with mango sago (below) at Ah Yat were not bad, but get real. Who goes to a Chinese abalone restaurant for desserts?


So I'm gonna make an exception on this blog and include some savoury stuff for once.
Well, it was my birthday dinner after all. So, indulge me la.
Anyway, I'll just let the pictures do most of the talking.
For $78++ per person, we had:


Super yummy soupy xiao long bao (Chinese dumplings).


Double-boiled shark's fin with chicken and Matsutake mushroom. No tiny shreds of crab meat disguised as shark's fin, but chunks of the real thing!


Stewed South African abalone with Japanese sea cucumber and mushroom.
Cooked to perfection, the sea cucumber literally melts in your mouth, and the abalone was tender and fragrant.


Deep-fried smoked duck with red wine.


Pan-fried cod fish in XO sauce. Love the fried garlic and shrimp that were added as toppings.


Stir-fried shrimp paste with broccoli.


Baked pork rib with honey sauce.
The meat was extremely tender, yet not too fatty. The sauce was a tad salty though.


No birthday meal is complete without noodles, so we had Japanese vermicelli soup. In all, it was a super satisfying birthday meal.

Sweeet factor: 5/5

Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant
Allson Hotel
101 Victoria Street

Chocolate Walnut Cake

Check out our fudgey yummy gorgeous chocolate walnut cake! We're mighty proud of it cos the aroma of the chocolate was absolutely heavenly, it was jammed pack with fresh walnuts, and the cake was dense and sweet.
Yikes, there goes my DIE-T!

Our Baker's Tip: This chocolate ganache (ie. the cake topping) was a little of an experiment, combining a recipe for icing and a recipe for frosting. It's just cream, bittersweet chocolate and icing sugar!

Drinks at Aerin's

Ok, all those sweets have put my waistline in serious trouble lately, and so, I'm declaring the start of my DIE-T from today!
Anyway, was at Aerin's today, and despite the to-die-for spread of desserts (including their signature die die must-try baked apple and rhubarb pie, their recommended carrot cake and double chocolate fudge cake), I resisted and had only a mint hot chocolate.
Just a drink, but it was good - topped with thick froth and not too sweet, with a hint of mint. And palatable despite the strange greenish hue!
Will work on that waistline and be back for more real sweeet stuff!

Aerin's
252 North Bridge Road
Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-11/12