Residents of numerous neighbourhoods, time to rejoice! Japan's Chateraise had set up outlets at a fast and furious pace around Singapore. It is great that Chateraise decided to go for the heartlands' market so we does not always have to go down to
Orchard,
Marina Area,
Outram,
Shenton Way and such for delicately made cakes.
The sheer variety of the cakes and Japanese snacks can be pretty overwhelming, in a good way. It is so tempting to buy them all to try! I finally decided on the Blueberry Rare Cheesecake, Happy Little Bunny, and of course, their best seller: Legendary Cream Cake. Check out this site for updates on other cakes when I get around to try them.
Blueberry Rare Cheesecake - My favourite of Chateraise's offerings. The rare Cheese mousse has that slight saltiness and nutty flavour of cheese that I very appreciate. Coupled with fresh cream, and layered between two types of cake sponge—yes, two types, the middle looks like butter cake sponge to adds that hint of buttery goodness—we have a cake that is unique in taste, creamy yet light and pleasing to the palates.
Legendary Cream Cake - The light moist sponge and fresh whipped cream are the highlights, but the layer of real strawberry jam at the bottom does not stuck a chord in me. It is commendable that real strawberry jam is used but the incorporation of it into the cake does not work for me. The taste is too sharp, eclipsing the nuanced flavours of other components of the cake.
Happy Little Bunny - A sure winner with the kids. This kind looks so cute. And the shop is very generous with the amount of cream used since the dome, saved for the base is made up of strawberry flavoured whipped cream. Though it does not win with me, as it seems like artificial flavouring is used—tell-tale sign: no tart taste, but a dome of real strawberry cream is not going to be a crowd-pleaser anyway.
Lemon Cheese Cake - Double fromage cake with addition of lemon zest is a sweet creation that works! Double formage is always my favourite type of cheese cheese since the pronounced nutty flavour of baked complements the light and airy texture of non-baked cheese cake so well. In this case, the non-baked part is made up of my preferred rare cheese, which is creamy and rich but still light and airy. The lemon adds a refreshing element to the overall taste. I would love the taste of lemon to be stronger. Though the current amount of lemon is more suited to different palates.
Real Grape Tart - This is like the favourite among my favourites because this is such a unique creation and the combination of Kyoho grapes, fresh cream, aloe vera cubes and almond tart base works so well. I love it that the crumbly, flavourful tart base is made from almond flour, which has this sweet aroma. Lots of flavours packed into this confectionery.
Real Melon cake - Sweet blissful delight! With pastry base and cream followed by cake sponge and then melon cream, the texture and myriad of flavours get the thumbs up from me. Best to savour all the layers together.
Strawberry and Darjeeling Chiboust is an interesting creation, but who would have known that strawberry, black tea and light cream works beautifully? Yes, I love the super light chiboust, which is cream whipped with egg white to get that extra lightness. But note that the cream cannot sit out too long at hot weather. This lightness of chiboust allows the delicate aroma of Darjeeling to come through, and the bits of strawberry adds dots of excitement to the overall taste. A very light yet very flavourful cake.
Real White Peach cake - Another beautiful treat like Real Melon cake, except that the star is peach instead.
Berry Rare Cheese Fluffy Roll - A must-try. Probably one of the best swiss roll due to the insane cream to cake ratio. And definitely helps that the cream is made up of real berry jam mixed into rare cheese, which is a match made in heaven since the tart taste of berries complements cheese so well. There are bits of berries added in too.
Strawberry Bombe Cake - Another one of my favourite due to the multitude of flavours incorporated harmoniously into this cake. Fresh vanilla cream decked on top of a strip of cake sponge, and below this is a generous dollop of strawberry cream enveloping a ganache of strawberry compote. To add on to the strawberriness of the cake, there is a paper-thin layer of strawberry jam sandwiched between the strawberry cream and thin cake sponge—I love it that this cake has high cream to cake sponge ratio. And the part that elevates this cake from nice to awesome is the baked cheese cake, which is slightly salty, thus adding a great extra dimension and kick to the taste. This cake can do without the chocolate cake sponge at the bottom though, since the chocolate does not mesh well with the delicate flavour of strawberry.
Double Fantasy - Stuffing lots of fresh cream and custard into the puff pastry shell simply works wonders, period. And it is only $1.90!
Strawberry Ice-cream Cheesecake - This is like the ultimate ice-cream cake due to layering in taste profile resulted from pairing cream cheese with its mild nutty flavour and strawberry cream with its sweet aroma and slight tang. The macarons on top gives a nice variation to the texture.
Purple Potato and Sweet Potato Cake - Just imagine on the nice crumbly biscuit base, there are chopped crunchy sweet potato bits hidden in a dome of light sweet potato mousse with strands of purple potato cream and Naruto sweet potato cream decked on top. Sounds good? I sure think so, and it definitely tastes good. This is earthy flavours galore! Another one of my favourite cakes.
Cream Soufflé Cheese Cake - It looks plainer than its counterparts, but in terms of taste, it is a winner. Saved for the somewhat dry cake base, the huge slab of soufflé cheesecake in the centre has the cake consistency yet it is also has that unbelievably melt-in-mouth texture. Paired with the light-as-air cream for that extra creaminess to complement the mildly salty cream cheese, this cake induces a blissful feeling when indulging in it.
Sumo Orange Tart is filled with floral citrus goodness of sumo orang, the light creaminess and nuanced tang of rare cheese and the flaky puff pastry. A delight to enjoy.
Mochi Mont Blanc - I never like mochi, but the novelty of using Japanese Chestnut cream as filling compels me to try this. While this does not convert me into a mochi lover, I will say this is the best mochi I ever have. The glutinous rice dough is incredibly thin, to the point that it tears up the moment I scratch the surface with a fork. And I think this is one of the reasons that makes it so much more delectable than any other mochi. Just a bit of the dough for that extra chewy texture and let the filling runs the show. The distinctively earthy flavour of fresh Japanese Chestnut cream is always a joy to savour. This is definitely worth a try, and it is not like one can get Japanese Chestnut Mochi everywhere.
Kuri Manju - As a fan of Japanese Chestnut, I must try this Japanese Chestnut bun, naturally. The skin is reminiscent of the one of baked mooncakes. The filling is consisted of mashed white kidney beans and the huge Japanese chestnut hidden in the centre. Considerably less oily than our mooncake, it is nice and healthy alternative to consider if in the mood to eat mooncake. But I would not say this is a must-try since it is really not bad, but not outstanding in anyway.
Fluffy Cream Roll - Being someone who prefers high cream-to-cake ratio, this cake, regretfully, does not meet my expectations. The fresh cream is of course nice, but there is not enough of it to add moisture to the slightly dry sponge—I am starting to think that maybe only butter cake sponge and cheesecake are not dry in my opinion. But this is great to give as gift since most people, not as particular about cream-to-cake ration as me, will like them and it is only $1.90 a piece.
As for the service, they tried to emulate Japanese kind of service. They are sort of there, but my box was sealed in the wrong way. I realized this when I got home and saw that the box top was supposed to be folded in such a way that a handle is formed. Intentional or not, I don't know. Anyway, this is a minor thing.
The shop looks very pretty due to the light brown wooden panels and shelves, and display of scores of cakes and snacks. The ambience does make it so tempting to get lots of the cakes.
More updates and photos coming soon after I visit the shop again!
My Thoughts: Nice!
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Chateraise's website for locations:
