BrendyMandy|Two Girls With A Lifestyle Blog : (Review) Tea Time at The Audacious Cakery

Happy Midweek, Everyone!:)

As you know, Valentines Day is round the corner and today I'm really excited to share with you about some place nice you can visit with your special someone or your group of friends this coming weekend! Or, for some good unwinding time if you too feel like you need a breather.

Brend and I have recently taken a liking for indulging in sweet treats together during the breaks we have from school work and our crazy schedules.

So we were Super Stoked to receive an invite to tea and cake at The Audacious Cakery on a Saturday afternoon
(who would say no to that?!) and we are so glad that we can get down to sharing with you all about the dessert we had that day.

If you haven't heard of The Audacious Cakery before, they would probably be a name you would come to be familiar with in time to come, with features of them increasing on blogs, magazines and social media.

An up-and-coming cake and dessert cafe nestled away in Everton Park estate, I really liked how there was nothing 'neighbourhood' about the quality that the cafe managed to deliver-from their desserts, to its cosy interior and even the quality of the tea they serve(we enjoyed some amazing Alexandria tea from TWG from while eating dessert. The floral and mint hints in the green tea lent such a pleasant aftertaste with each sip. Try it with your cakes if you go down! *o*)

Also worth mentioning is that Audacious Cakery gets their Coffee beans from Papa Palheta

(the people behind Chye Seng Huat Hardware)

Enough of my lengthy Pre-emble.

You Ready?

We tasted the cakes and dessert based on their flavor profiles, from lightest to richest so that we could enjoy their distinct flavors fully.

Strawberry Shortcake ($6.80)
Made with fluffy white sponge, layered with succulent strawberries and luscious vanilla cream

The Strawberry Shortcake was the first cake that we tried and one of my favorites that afternoon, and that I had in a long while. I'm definitely not exaggerating when I tell you that I loved everything about it. Specifically, I really liked how light it was on the palate, how smooth the vanilla mousse(and not forgetting the really delicious vanilla aftertaste that came through with every bit! It was probably because real vanilla beans were used, I noticed them speckled on the mousse) and the juicy strawberries! I enjoyed the cake so much, I couldn't help but reach for more even when we were sampling other cakes and desserts throughout tea time. Needless to say, I was majorly responsible for wiping out the shortcake eventually.

Zacharie($7.80)
Mango passionfruit cheese mousse with a mango passionfruit centre on a ginger biscuit base

I always like desserts that are nicely balanced, without verging on a sugar overkill. If I am to attempt describe this unique cake, think: a super light and sufficiently sweet mousse-like texture on a crumbly biscuit base and a tangy-acidity (that the mango-passionfruit centre lends it) Definitely worth a shot if you like light desserts, or happen to favour tangy fruit in your dessert over the conventional sweet ones.

Zen(New On The Menu!)

Aromatic Yuzu and Fromage Blanc with
a citrus center on a jaconde sponge

Lemon Meringue($5.80)
Luscious tangy lemon tart made with French churned butter on a biscuit base

Brendy loved this one best, out of the many we tried that afternoon; she said that it was one of the most legit Lemon Meringue tarts she tried in a long while. The acidity of the lemon curd was on point, and so was the texture of the butter tart that it was enclosed in(its harder exterior it definitely trumped the soft and lackluster tart textures we sampled in the past).
Once again, I must commend the nice balance of flavours that they managed to achieve, of sweet(with the fluffy meringue) with sour(the lemon curd). Far from being overtly sweet and rich, the Lemon Meringue was definitely a refreshing offering and a standout number from the many we tried that day.

Chocolate Tart ($6.80)
Dark chocolate.Soufflé centre.

Crunchy chocolate biscuit base.

The second tart we sampled was the chocolate tart, that they warmed up for us.

We were told that warming up the tart would allow for the chocolate center to liquify and for us to enjoy the rich flavours of the tart at its best. We think you chocolate lovers/ fans of rich flavours would love this especially for the warm thick, gooey chocolate lava enclosed within the chocolate biscuit tart. It is worth mentioning too that there was a nice balance of sweetness and bitterness of the dark chocolate ganache.

Foret Noir($9.80)
Alcoholic

Valrhona dark chocolate mousse, Kirsh soaked cherries and Kirsh Cream on a dark Valrhona chocolate genoise

To be completely honest, I've never been much of a chocolate lover for quite a while.

Also, not being much of a fan of rich desserts of late, (the both of us, really) we were a tad unsure about whether we were going to enjoy the Foret Noir but on hearing that it was one of Audacious Cakery's signature cakes, we decided to give it a go and give it a chance to surprise us. And surprise us it did.

I cannot begin to tell you how amazingly intricate this dish is. Check this out, gold dust sprinkled on the cake, and Kirsh-soaked cherries found on top and inside the cake found in layers and layers of chocolate mousse.

Just. Wow.

Alcoholic cakes often taste too sweet and fruity for my liking, with the sweetness of the confectionery often drowning out any taste or trace of alcohol. This cake surprised me with how the strong flavours of brandy remained at the forefront of my palate, while nicely complementing the fruitness of the cherries and richness of the soft layers of chocolate mousse. Really good combination of cherries and chocolate, I must say.

Earl Grey Crème brûlée
(New On The Menu)

TWG Gentlemen Earl Grey Tea leaves lends another dimension to this custard dessert.
Topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel.

Who doesn't love a good Crème brûlée?
I particularly loved how the rich vanilla flavors came through in the custard and how the tea nicely complemented the custard, giving it an earthy and not-too-sweet flavor. Though we would have preferred a brulee of a more consistent and smooth texture, it's unique taste and aftertaste kept us reaching for
more that afternoon.

We were also treated to three of Audacious Cakery's most popular cupcakes! Cupcakes are always a fun pick-me-up and they definitely caught our eye when we entered the cafe!

Cupcake Flavors We Sampled:Lemon Raspberry, Matcha and Irish Cream Cupcakes

($3.50 Each)

Lemon Raspberry

Lemon cake with lemon buttercream with a homemade raspberry jam centre

Irish Cream Cupcake
Guinness stout cupcakes with whiskey ganache filling and Baileys Irish Cream Cheese Frosting

This was my next favorite sweet treat that I tried all afternoon(after the Strawberry Shortcake and Zacherie) This was definitely one of the most unique cupcake flavors that I tried and loved in a long time, and in my opinion, one of the best flavors that Audacious Cakery offers!

Once again, the amazing taste of Baileys comes right at you when you take a bite, and it adds a layer of complexity and sophistication to the classic chocolate cupcake. Definitely worth checking out if you enjoy Baileys and a fantastic (but atypical) chocolate cupcake!

Matcha Cupcake ($3.50)

Green tea cupcake with matcha butter cream dusted with green tea powder and white chocolate curls

The Matcha cupcake took the spot of being Brend's favorite cupcake of the day. According to her, she loved how it packed quite a bit of matcha flavour. Which probably meant that it wasn't the typical weak tea concoction you would usually expect of matcha products. The frosting was light enough to complement the dense cake, which did make it a lot more appealing.

For all of you skeptics out there, we totally understand how you might be doubtful whenever you are told something is a matcha dessert because some local dessert parlors/bakeries somehow have a penchant for serving up some weird green stuff that look like but don't taste like matcha.

That even led Brend to say once that she's often scared of sampling matcha desserts locally, if they aren't from Japanese patisseries or from Japanese origin.

Let me just say too that we both weren't expecting to enjoy this one as much as we did. This one's got our stamp of approval!

Far from being a pretentious new-kid-on-the-block, we both feel that you can expect to find unique and wholesome desserts here, while catching up with the ones you love in a snug and cosy setting, set apart from the hustle and bustle we are used to, as cafes should be!

We had a really pleasant experience at The Audacious Cakery, really enjoyed your cakes, and most of all, your amazing hospitality! Thank you for having us over once again! We will be back again sometime!