Cakes at The Line (Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore)

Since our focus has always been desserts and cakes, I shall only focus on these 2 sections. Just for your information, this buffets has one of the largest selection I have ever since but as usual, the food is good but not the best...

Have a peep at the dessert bar...

Simply irresistible...

Alright, since Yuan allocate this page for cakes, I will post another link for the remaining desserts...

1. Chocolate cake
Tastes pretty ordinary. A bit like the cold version of the typical warm chocolate cake.

"When I first saw this, I thought it was a soufflé but having ate it... it is actually a chocolate cake. Thought it would taste better warmed up. This texture is pretty soft and smooth but was disappointed that it was a cake rather than a soufflé or chiffon,,, I actually like the chocolate taste, not too sweet and it is very rich...

Anyway, the best-seller of the Line (in terms of cakes) is their Chocolate Truffle Cake... I suspect the luscious dark chocolate sponge base will share a similar characteristics as this cake except that the truffle cake is coasted in smooth dark chocolate with raspberries.

Having talked about dark chocolate and raspberries, all the chocolate I have is rich, smooth and not too sweet while the raspberries I have eaten during the buffet is sweet and fresh..."

2. Starting from top left (clockwise)

Cheesecake with chocolate walnut; Caramel Pie; Mango Mousse

For the cheese cake, the layers are excellent on their own, however i feel that cheese and walnut are a bad match. As for the caramel pie, only the true caramel lover will love it, its kinda sweet and has a slight burnt smell. As for the mango mousse, it is sort of sour, the top layer seem to be coated with some jam which makes the mousse very sour. I would say that the mango mousse from ritz is better.

" The texture of the cheesecake is smooth but I prefer the conventional New York Cheesecake. Maybe because it didn't have the slight saltiness of cheese and that the choco walnut taste was a little strong. Thus, it fails to bring out the goodness of both.

The caramel tart was surprisingly not tat sweet nor did it stick to my teeth. However, the tart base is not the crunchy sort but rather a soft buttery biscuit. The after-taste of this dessert is pretty strong, thus leaving an impression that the caramel is burnt.

This little cutie mango mousse looks tempting but was a complete disappointment. After the review on the Mango Mousse from Greenhouse, Ritz Carlton, my expectation of mango mousse certainly has increased. The taste of the mango is not as refreshing as the one from Greenhouse and the extreme chocolate base with a nutty hazelnut biscuit tasted better on its own. Bottom line, mango and chocolate seems to be extreme on both ends."

3. Choco Banana Mousse

This chocolate mousse is smashed because it is kind of soft thus difficult to slice from the desert bar. Despite its ugly sight, it is worth the try. The sweet banana paste coupe with the excellent chocolate mousse is an excellent combination.

"Haha, chocolate mousse... Ahh... not easy to pass our taste buds after all the chocolate goodies yuan and I had over the past 2 mths... I am never a fan of bananas, if you catch me eating one, it means I am suffering from constipation... I am serious...

From the state of this cake, the mousse has melted and is no doubt, extremely smooth that it melts in my mouth. It actually has a crunchy chocolate crisp with a rich banana paste.

I can only say it will be a fave for those who likes chocolate banana cakes..."

4. Tiramisu

This tiramisu tastes more like a coffee cake as the coffee taste covers that of the cheese and alcohol."
Shangri-la's description of their Tiramisu...
A Charlotte of creamy mascarpone mousse & kahlua-soaked sponge nestled in espresso-dripped savoiardi biscuits, topped with milk & white chocolate shavingsI thought the balance between the mascarpone cheese and cake sponge is just right.

Usually, Tiramisu has very high content of mascarpone cheese and at times, it can be quite a nightmare to finish it when you are weight conscious. Hence, at times, Tiramisu with a higher cake content like this one, can be a black beauty."

6. Orange chocolate cake
This is one of the slightly better choco orange cakes which i tried. The chocolate taste is stronger than that of the orange.

"I didn't quite like this one. I thought it was ordinary and frankly speaking, unlike yuan, I would prefer the orange taste to be a little stronger to show a difference from the rest. The cake didn't have the springy texture like the flourless chocolate sponge of the chocolate amer from Baker's Inn.So, nothing special apart from the high quality chocolate used..."

Here are the desserts we have tried at the line. Keep in mind that we didn't try all the flavours of the ice-creams and crepes. I think I missed out one of the cakes too. We are just too full...
Let's start off with the desserts served in the glass. Starting from the left

1. I couldn't figure out the flavour of the cream on top but Yuan claims that it tasted alittle like Crème brûlée minus off the burnt caramel taste and is too sweet to his liking. I didn't try them separately so if you combine both mousse, it is a pretty smooth and light desserts. Somehow or rather the top layer didn't make this desserts as chocolately as the other chocolate desserts.
2. Mango Sago... Whenever I drop by traditional desserts hut, I will never fail to order either 杨枝甘露 (aka mango with pomelo) or 白果,薏米和腐竹 (ginkgo beancurd with barley) and frankly speaking I prefer the traditional mango desserts over mango mousse. This dessert, as you can see in the picture has a mango custard which is sweet, not sour and is layered with soft and chewy sago. This is one of my favourite among the 4.
3. Chocolate mousse with fruity jelly... The chocolate mousse is nice (I think this is the 3rd time I have praised their mousse) but the moment you mixed this with the jelly and fruits at the bottom layer... You will get a combination of sweet and sour taste. Didn't quite like it actually, thought it would be better with nuts than something so extreme that stimulates your taste buds all together.
4. Raspberry jelly... It is just sour with a tint of alcohol. Either you like it or you don't. Basically, Yuan and I don't.

The line actually have a crepe section and Yuan ordered a crepe s with Vanilia ice-cream and Chocolate fudge. The crepe has an ideal thickness which is not oily nor dry. The chocolate filling enhances the soft and chewy taste of the crepe. The ice-cream makes it just right, not soggy at all.

I thought this one is one of the better ones I had. In fact, I thought the one from Haagan Dazs is too plain and thin while the one from Shokudo has an artificial vegetable oil taste though the texture is more or less the same.

The only setback about this is, too huge for one person to finish as there are plenty more things to eat in this buffet.

The ice-cream is the yummiest of the entire dessert bar. If I am not mistaken, there were a total of 6-8 flavours, a mixture of sorbet and ice-cream and a wide range of ice-cream toppings ranging from gummy, biscuits, candies and nuts.

The vanilia ice-cream has a rich and fragrant vanilia taste which makes it as good as the one from Haagan Dazs (Swensons have nice old-fashioned vanilia ice-cream too). In fact, I always find that most vanilia ice-cream has a tint of articifical essence and more to the watery side. However, this one is velvetly smooth and is not as rich as Haagan Dazs. Thus, you won't feel so sin after eating it.

The green tea ice-cream has a very light matcha taste and is better than most matcha gelatos or soft-serve since it has a very smooth texture and is not very sweet. It is like drinking the Starbucks' green tea latte (without classic syrup). A good blend of cream and matcha...

There are 2 versions of this desserts and we took the passion fruit one. The nicest thing I felt was the toppings since the biscuit is not rich and buttery enough to be termed as a shortbread, neither was it crunchy enough to be a cookie.

The only macaron I have tried are from Baker's Inn and Canele and I don't quite like them as they are always very sweet. I never know how to appreciate this traditional French pastry despite the hard work needed to make this smooth and paper-thin, dome-shaped shells which its underneath is supposed to be a chewy, cake-like layer.

Hmm... sounds pretty technical...Anyway, I will include the photos of the macaron I had in Baker's Inn and Canele later at night since my photo database is at home...

Back to this, I simply fall in love with this baby. The vanilia taste is so distinct and the texture is just right. The shells literally melts in your mouth with the soft cream enhancing its vanilia taste. I clearly remember me looking at it and savouring as slow as I can. Even looking at this picture reminds me how much I have enjoyed this desserts, sending my saliva to drool...

In short, THUMBS UP!!!

I have no idea what is this but top white crown tasted like the softer version of either a mashmallow or meringue... It will be nice if it is not that sweet. Beneath this crown, is a raspberry tartlet which is like the Arnott tartlets.

Of course, chocolate fountain with strawberries and cookies were also served in the buffet. Need me to say more, the chocolate is dark, not too sweet and simply coats your mouth, sending your hormones rocket high...

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The Line
Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore
Orange Grove Road
SIngapore 258 350
Tel: 6213 4275

Lunch (Mon-Fri) - S$45++ (adult), S23++ (child, 6 to 11 years old), 12pm - 2:30pm(Sat) - S$48++ (adult), S24++ (child, 6 to 11 years old), 12pm - 3pm(Sun) - S$78++ (adult), S39++ (child, 6 to 11 years old), 12pm - 3pm or S$95++ (adult with 1/2 btl of Veuve Clicquot Champagne)

Dinner, 6:30pm-10:30pm(Mon-Sun, except Tues/Thurs) - S$68++ (adult), S34++ (child, 6 to 11 years old)(Tues, Oyster's night) - S$88++ (adult), S44++ (child, 6 to 11 years old)(Thurs, Marine Harvest Night) - S$88++ (adult), S44++ (child, 6 to 11 years old)
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