Antoinette Dazzles Winter Wonderland!
Christmas gives everyone that warm fuzzy feeling of the Christmas spirit and the surprise of gift exchanges. With work winding down to the year’s end, parties and gift exchanges is nearly obligatory. Antoinette has become my default choice when it comes to cakes and desserts – offerings by Antoinette for the 2015 Christmas are just so mouth-watering.
For their cakes, I have tried the Snow Queen ($10/$55/$90 for S/M/L, respectively), which is essentially Antoinette’s interpretation of the Christmas log cake. I have brought the Snow Queen to my clinic and shared it with my nurses. We have jokingly called it a block of ice, but once we have tasted it, we were craving for more!
The vanilla cream cheese parfait, milk chocolate praline crispy intertwined with exotic fruit cream, raspberry marmalade and financier cake with kirsch had all the right tastes and textures to make the Snow Queen a stand out among the mundane chunk of log(cakes) out there.
Antoinette has also made the macaron version of the Snow Queen ($3.50 per piece), and I have loved it even more! In its smaller version, it has allowed me to indulge even more. The crispy praline, which I really liked from the larger Snow Queen, was lacking in the macaron – this was forgivable, having understandably limited by its size. For me, it was love at first bite – this is a must-try!
There are 2 other new flavours in Antoinette repertoire of macarons (all $3.50 per piece) that are tributes to two of Antoinette’s popular cakes of the same name. Jasmine is made from white chocolate, jasmine tea cream and mango coulis; and the Orangette that features dark chocolate with orange marmalade. These were delectable, but it was the Snow Queen that has stolen my heart.
There are two other Christmas items that will visually wow us – the oh-what-a-surprise Jingle Ball, and the it-is-too-pretty-to-eat Terrarium. Just take a look at these and you will know what I mean.
The Jingle Ball ($18 each) comes in the form of a Christmas bauble – its covering is made of chocolate, and within it comes more surprises – chocolate nougatine, swiss rocks, roses and chocolate bretonne! It does not come with a hammer to break the bauble covering, but the Jingle Ball is going to be a party favorite!
The Terrarium ($20 each) is destined to become a hit among the young ones – it is a cake in a globe (but do not shake it like a snow globe, though). Meticulously made like a picturesque garden with butterflies, ladybugs surrounded by fauna – the Terrarium seems to be too pretty to be eaten!
Antoinette has made this from dark chocolate mousse, passion fruit parfait, dark-rum-infused caramelised banana flambé and light cocoa sponge cake, and smoked almond nougatine. Taste-wise, it felt almost like eating a tiramisu, and the passion fruit parfait carries a crescendo of sourness in its core. All I had to do was to get over the illusion of eating butterflies, ladybugs, plants and garden “dirt”!
And so, Antoinette has done it again! They surely rise to every occasion and all of their offerings also comes in gift sets with opulent gift boxes. If you are looking for something different this Christmas season, be it for a party or as gifts, Antoinette’s cakes and desserts will surely fit the bill.
Antoinette at Mandarin Gallery: 333A Orchard Road, Mandarin Gallery, #02-33/34, Singapore 238897 | Tel (65) 6836 9527
Antoinette at Penhas Road: 30 PenhasRoad (off Lavender Street), Singapore 208188 | Tel (65) 6293 3121
Antoinette at Sofitel So Singapore: 35 Robinson Road, Singapore 068876, Lobby Level
