Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A paradise of strawberries

If there is a prize for creativity for a particular ingredient, I would give it to Pâtisserie Glacé for the many versions of strawberry cakes. Not only they look lovely, they taste really good and refreshing.

Strawberry paradise

For those who has patronize his humble bakery, one will not miss out his Strawberry Soufflé. Although souffle is often associated with egg whites, his version is a Japanese-style cheesecake which is light and fluffy. The strawberries are generously topped and not sour at all. According to Kay Boon, Strawberry Soufflé is popular among the local and Japanese customers.

Strawberry Souffle
Strawberry Soufflé ($5.00)
Chef Yamashita's Soufflé does not overwhelm and complements the freshest strawberries perfectly, scrumptious!

Other strawberry creations includes

Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake ($4.80)
A standard in any de rigueur Japanese Cake Shop, with the freshest strawberries, delicious fresh cream and the most naturally soft sponge cake sandwiching strawberry slices.

Strawberry Hill
Strawberry Hill ($5.00)
Starting from a delicious tart base, Chef Yamashita layer it with strawberry slices and custard cream; topping it off with strawberry quarters and fresh cream on the most naturally soft sponge.

Strawberry Mille-Feuille
Strawberry Mille-feuille ($4.70)
Also known as Napoleon in other parts of the world, the "thousand sheets" is hard to bake and gives a balance to the sponge cake. Chocolate crisp, strawberry round it off perfectly.
Yes, it tastes as good as it looks.


The beauty of Japanese cakes is its light and refreshing taste and Pâtisserie Glacé pride themselves for not using any baking powder, stabilisers and preservatives. In addition, they ensure all cakes are sold by the end of the day by having a 20% discount for their cakes (not including whole cakes, organic cakes and promotion packs) from Mon to Fri after 5pm.
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Fen's comments


The Strawberry Soufflé is so smooth that my mum finds it hard to believe it is a cheesecake. Unlike conventional Japanese light cheesecakes which are sticky due to the addition of corn starch, Strawberry Soufflé is extremely light and fluffy but yet the taste of cream cheese is not compromised.

Strawberry Shortcake has a similar sponge like Sun Moulin's version, which is dense and springy but softer than the latter. As for its cream, it is not as light as Tampopo's Scoop cake and has a higher cream content than the strawberry shortcakes available in Rive Gauche and BakerZin.

Strawberry Hills, is one cake that will make me come back for more. Uniquely available at Pâtisserie Glacé (at least this is the first we have come across), this is a hybrid of tart and sponge cake with custard cream and fresh strawberries. The tart pastry is amazingly crunchy while the sponge cake is soft and springy.

I didn't get to try the Strawberry Mille-feuille since it was bought back home for my family. My sister finds it refreshing. The pastry sheets were crisp despite keeping in the fridge for a night but similarly to the strawberry shortcake, the cream is not as light as Rive Gauche and BakerZin.

The niche which Pâtisserie Glacé has is the use of almond powder which provides a different texture and fragrance from a conventional chiffon cake. Although it is not the softest cake I have tried, it is definitely something unique when different combinations of tart, cream, custard and strawberries are incoporated.

Anyway, my favourite among the entire lot is Strawberry Hills.
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Yuan's comments


Strawberry Soufflé: Readers of the blog might have noticed that we have covered many desserts which called themselves souffle but they all look different. This one essentially is a light Japanese cheesecake. No fanciful flavouring, just strawberries on top.

Strawberry Hill: This is simply sponge cake on top of a tart with a thin layer of fresh cream. There is probably nothing special about the sponge and cream but the winner I guess would be the tart. Those who loved butter cookie will probably find the resemblance with the tart.
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Pâtisserie Glacé

34 Craig Road
#01-10 Chinatown Plaza
Singapore 089673
Tel: 6400 0247

Operating hours -
11am - 6pm (Mon-Fri)
11am - 5pm (Sat-Sun)

12 Gopeng Street,
#01-33/34 Icon Village
Singapore 078877.
Tel: 6400 0247

Operating hours: 11am to 7pm (Mon to Fri)
11am to 6pm (Weekends and P.H)
http://cakeglace.com/

Do note that Patisserie Glace has relocated to Icon Village. It is on the ground floor of the Icon Condominium which is next to Tanjong Pagar MRT, behind Amara Hotel.

9 comments:

Sihan said...

strawberry attack!!! haha. i love the description for strawberry hills. sounds exciting. think I'll go for this one! haah.

red fir said...

omg you are so fast! I had planned to check out this stall since long ago! You literally ate all the cakes available at the shop! I think I will like strawberry hills too. Custard & strawberry & cream & tart... yums.

fen, you mentioned use of almond powder. Which cake was that and how do you know?

Fen said...

Yeh, don't miss out on the strawberry hills... It is recommended...

Ice, the owner told us that all their cakes contain almond powder. It is relatively stronger in Strawberry Hills but subtle for the rest (in my opinion).

red fir said...

Stronger as in? I don't quite get what you mean. Almond powder is just more grainy right? Taste & smell-wise? Doesn't it make the chiffon less fluffy?

Fen said...

Yuan pointed out there is a strong egg taste in Strawberry Hills and Kay Boon re-confirmed that taste came from almond powder and not eggs. This was re-confirmed since Yuan, at times will comment the "egg taste" in some macarons. So, think Yuan will be able to comment more on taste-wise derived from almond powder...

The chiffon with be less fluffly but the texture is has more punch... slight chewiness (or springiness) and soft...You won't feel the graininess. I personally thought it improve the texture...

SLYuan said...

To me it was this strong egg taste that you get when you eat egg roll. More prominent in the strawberry hill. But Kay Boon said that it was almond powder

red fir said...

fen & Yuan: Ok I did some surfing online and it seems that japanese confectioneries tend to use some almond powder to enhance the texture of their cakes. It's not almond meal which is more coarse or almond powder used in the Chinese almond paste dessert. It's something unique used in Japanese desserts. haha ok I've just answered my own query... :)

Maybe that's why Japanese desserts are so awesomely delicious & Parisian-Japanese pastry chef Sadaharu Aoki's desserts are one the best in the world!

Fen said...

Actually, Laurent uses almond powder in their flourless chocolate cake so it is not necessary found in Japanese pastries...

Macaron is also another sweet treat that uses almond powder as a base, I guess it is getting common... but I was wondering would it be dangerous for people who are allergic to nuts or old folks suffering from arthritis but yet they are not sure about the content of these pastries...

Wow, thank you for sharing the information and and I really appreciate it... Looking forward to you blogging about Patisserie Glace, I am curious what you will write...

red fir said...

hmm... I know about the almond flour used in flourless cakes like in Laurent's & in macarons, but this almond powder I'm referring to is different from that. It is unique to Jap confectioneries & imported from Japan. Not too sure though.

haha ok watch out for my review(S)...

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