Today @ La Renaissance Café Patisserie

July 13th 2010

Today Rae and me went to La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie, as this Cafe was recommended by Chef Michael during our Practical Lesson. Hence Una and me went to do some 'research' some time ago. However, I did not take any pictures then, so when I suggested to Rae that perhaps we could go there for some dessert and she was all for the idea, I reminded myself to take pictures of the cakes we would have today. Oh No! I realised that I looked pale in the picture and to make me look worse, my dark eye rings are really obvious. So I will have to start catching some sleep by trying to turn in early @ night.

So what did we have today?

Rae and I, each ordered a cake and decided to have a taste of each others.

Let's look @ Rae's choice first.

Rae decided on my recommendations, which was Larme de Gaugin. This is an exotic tear-drop shaped cake, with a silky and creamy raspberry mousse on the inside, wearing a colourfully marbled almond sponge known as Joconde and decorated with fresh berries.

My first impression of the cake was that it looked very artistic as the tear drop shape is not commonly found and that the sponge surrounding the mousse is very colourful as well.

My first bite into the cake was a bit disappointing, as the bite consisted of mainly the sponge, which was kind of hard as it was kept in a chilled display cabinet. So I guessed the sponge had dried up a bit, causing it to be dry and hard. However, the silky and creamy mousse inside had compensated for the 'not-so-yummy' sponge. The taste was slightly to the 'fruity-sour' side, as the fruits included in this cake are berries and berries will always have a tinge of 'soury-ness' to them. Towards the middle, there was an unexpected taste of sweetness, which was contributed by Raspberry Jam, I think. As the 'soury-ness' was brought down by a subtle sweetness from the jam. This is really one of my favourite cake to have as I really enjoyed the fruity 'soury-ness' of the mousse and if the sponge wasn't so dry/hard, this will be the perfect cake for me on a summer afternoon with a hot cup of Earl Grey Tea.

So what did I have today?

Originally, I wanted to have a nice chocolate cake, but not too rich. However, after recommendations from the counter staff, whereby almost every cake with chocolate were rich and creamy. I had decided on a fruity choice as well.

The yellow and odd-shaped cake caught my attention and made me want to bite into it @ once. Hence, I had decided on the Passion de Pierre, which was also a mousse cake. This is a light creamy mousse cake with a layer of raspberry jam right in the middle of the mousse and encased in a Joconde. The decoration for this cake consisted of Passion Fruit Pulp and a Strawberry Quarter. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with the way the cake was decorated, which was on the simple and not really artistic side.

But the taste of the cake was fantastic, for me, as I am passionate about Passion fruit and the fragrance of the fruit is intoxicating to me. This cake had a tinge of 'soury-ness' in it but I did not mind this @ all as the fragrance of passion fruit had blocked all my other senses and all I could do was to continue to take bite after bite of the cake until the every last mouthful. Of course, I was sure that the thin layer of Raspberry Jam in the middle of the Passion Fruit Mousse had already enhanced the experience of the cake, rather than overpowering the cake.

However, this cake had the same problem as the Larme de Gaugin, which was the sponge surrounding the mousse was quite hard and dry. Hence, this cake also did not score 100% today. 

Talking about jam, reminded me of Chef Gert and his passion for Apricot Jam. As throughout the lessons in Basic Patisserie, as long as Apricot Jam can be added to the pastry we were making that day. You can trust Chef Gert to add the jam. From then on, every time I see a jug of Apricot Jam, I will be reminded of Chef Gert.

By the way, if Chef Karen is looking @ this blog, could you explain on how to get those patterns on the sponge? Is it a similar method as while we were doing Chocolate, whereby the cocoa butter pattern is placed onto the sponge to get the pattern imprinted onto the sponge?

@ 6.00pm, which was closing time, Rae and me left La Renaissance and made our way home. This visit to the Cafe and having the cakes had made my day sweet + fulfilling...

Stay tuned for more sweets and savouries in the coming week as I will be posting some of my works from school.

Till then, Take Care!!