This was for a recent order for my friend's sister's son birthday. This is one of my favorite cakes. I pleaded for a small bite and I was lucky to get one.. haha.
This Death by Chocolate Cake is initially made with dark chocolate ganache, but knowing kids' dislike of dark chocolate, I've opted for a milk chocolate ganache instead. I used Nick Malgieri's recipe for both the cake and frosting and I can understand why he says it's one of his favorites. This is a cake meant to be savored in small bites and self professed, die-hard chocoholics like myself will enjoy it as much as I do.

Updated Menu.

By request, this is my updated menu. I wasn't even aware that anyone read this blog.. it's nice to know I have readers out there!

The Cakes (All cakes come in either 7 inch or 9 inch rounds. Prices are listed accordingly. Items denoted * are my personal favorites. Cakes intended for gifts will be beautifully boxed and ribboned in a transparent box at an extra charge.

1. Ferrero Rocher* - hazelnut sponge layers, brushed with vanilla syrup, layered with chocolate whipped cream and crushed ferrero rochers.($50/$70)

2. Death by Chocolate* - Devil's food cake layers, layered with your choice of dark chocolate or milk chocolate ganache. ($50/$70)

3. Tiramisu* - Italian sponge cake, soaked in strong brewed expresso, layered with mascarpone mousse. ($45/$65)

4. New York CheeseCake* - Sour Cream contributes to the creaminess and softness of this traditional style Cheesecake, with a coconut cookie base, topped with strawberries and peaches. ($30/$60)

5. Carrot Cake - A supertall 4 layer moist carrot cake, layered with traditional cream cheese frosting and candied carrot discs. ($45/$65)

6. Orangette* - Sponge cake layers, hazelnut dacquoise layers with orange mousse and milk chocolate mousse. ($45/$65)

7. Gateau Des Iles - Coconut white cake layers soaked in pineapple juice, layered with coconut mousse and banana slices. ($40/$60)

8. Jasmine Green Tea - Green Tea Chiffon, Almond Japonaise layers, Jasmine and Vanilla Bean Mousse. ($45/$65)

9. Strawberries and Cream - Shortbread cookie base, chiffon layers, vanilla pastry cream, whipped cream layered with strawberries, coated with caramelised almond flakes. ($45/$65)

10. Queen Coconut - A classic Southern favourite. Tall stacks of rich, luscious coconut cake frosted and layered with coconut cream and white chocolate ganache. ($50/$70)

11. Concorde - invented by a French pastry chef in the early 1970's in celebration of the plane Concorde, this cake is composed exclusively of chocolate meringue layers layered with chocolate mousse and broken cylinders of meringue. ($40/$60)

12. Chubby Monkey - Layers of moist banana cake layered with peanut butter frosting, frosted with dark chocolate ganache and caramelised peanuts. ($45/$65)

Cookies, Pastries and Miscellaneous.

1. Baklava - Greek Style Pastry consisting of filo pastry layers, interspersed with pistachios and walnuts and soaked in a honey and orange syrup ($40 per tray)

2. Pecan Pie - The classic pecan pie. Sweet gooey pecan filling on top of a buttery crust ($25 for a 9 inch tart, $20 for six 3 inch tartelettes)

3. Strawberry Tart - Delicate Sugar Crust filled with pastry cream and strawberries. ($30 for a 9 inch tart, $25 for six 3 inch tartelettes)

4. Baked Chocolate Mousse Tart ($35 for a 9 inch tart, $28 for six 3 inch tartelettes)

5. Salted Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart ($35 for a 9 inch tart, $28 for six 3 inch tartelettes)

5. Pumpkin Pie/ Sweet Potato Pie - Classic American favourite with sweet pumpkin/sweet potato custard and gingersnap cookie crust ($18 for a 9 inch tart, $15 for six 3 inch tartelettes)

7. Classic Chocolate Chunk Cookies - with semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate Chunks)

8. Dark Sin Cookies - incredibly soft and indulgent fudge like cookies, with chili* (optional) and pecan pieces

9. Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies - with chunks of white, milk and dark chocolate.

10. White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies with Sea Salt and Macadamias.

11. Orange Cranberry Macadamia Cookies.

12. Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin Cookies.

13. Toffee Praline Cookies.

All cookies retail for 2.20 a piece (with the exception of Dark Sin at 2.40), with a minimum order of 10 pieces. All cookies are the big and soft kind. I used to do the crisp ones but not anymore.

Macarons ($1.60 each - minimum of 6 of one flavor per order) - currently unavailable.

*Milk Chocolate Orange *Hazelnut-nutella *pistachio-rose *rose-lychee *pandan *coconut *cassis *strawberry *Lemon pie *vanilla *teh tarik *dark chocolate *jasmine tea *matcha tea *coffee

Financiers - (classic/hazelnut/pistachio) Classic French tea cakes in the shapes of gold ingots. Minimum 8 per order - $2 each.

*

NB: Only high quality ingredients are used. That means full dairy cream (not the vegetable fat kind), liberal lashings of nuts, 100% butter, and quality chocolate (I don't use the cheap compound kind, which is really a pet peeve of mine in bakeries, you get elaborate beautiful cakes concocted out of this really nasty chocolate.. ugh).

Lemon Meringue Cake.

I've always found the combination of tangy citrus and sweet billowy meringue a marriage made in heaven.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of far too much meringue - there's something about egg whites as a frosting which puts me off - salmonella anyone? That is why I heat the egg whites slightly in a double boiler before whipping and only use a small amount of frosting as opposed to covering the whole pie or cake with huge glops.

Oh Macaron.

Come to think of it - a macaron is the most ingenious piece of pastry there is. It's hard to think how just 3 ingredients - egg whites, almond flour and icing sugar can produce this perfectly delicate confection.
To be perfectly honest, I never had a macaron before until late 2008. I was walking past a pastry shop at ION Orchard when I saw these gems for $1.80 each. I thought maybe I'll give it a try and see what the hoo-ha about macarons were all about.
well - I guess I was converted. Upon first bite, the crust of the cookie delicately snapped and my teeth made their way in this delightfully soft and moist interior.
It wasn't till much later on when I attempted to make my own macarons that I heard all the horror stories about them and how notoriously finicky and challenging they're to make, which explains why they're quite expensive to buy.
More than 40 attempts later, these are what I've come up with. No, they're not perfect but I'm glad I'm on the right track as last.