As part of Singapore Chee Cheong Fun’s CNY special release, Ben Yeo partnered up with scientist-turned-chef instructor, Dr Susanne Ng to create this Ong Lai Chiffon Cake.
We ordered this pineapple tart-shaped chiffon cake along with our SG Chee Cheong Fun order, and after giving it a taste-test, here’s what we think!
The packaging
We were very impressed with the chee cheong fun packaging, so we expected nothing less for this collaboration and we were not disappointed. The cake comes in an extremely pretty and presentable box with the Chinese character for ‘prosperity’ emblazoned on it.
When you open up the box, it even unfolds into a very pretty flower shape!
The cake
The seven-inch cake looks exactly like a pineapple tart, which warranted ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from everyone at the table, and also plenty of phones were whipped out for the ‘gram. It’s almost too cute to cut into!
Having worked with and featured by media outlets all over the world, we’ve seen many of Dr Susanne’s creations over the years. But visually, this novel creation truly takes the cake (pun intended).
Alas, it was time to cut into the cake...
And we were plesantly surprised by a pineapple jam core!
The taste
Now let’s get onto the most important part – how does it taste?
No, it doesn’t really taste like pineapple tarts…
But there is a mild pineapple fragrance to the chiffon cake, and it is also wonderfully light, airy and spongy. The pineapple jam filling is tart and not as sweet as ones you get in traditional pineapple tarts. But it cuts through the sweetness and pairs nicely with the cake! It was our first time having a chiffon cake with jam, so the combination of both textures was certainly new, but nothing hard to get used to.
However, we felt that it was lacking a wow-factor in terms of taste. Individually, the cake and the jam both tasted good, but we weren’t as blown away as we were by its packaging and the fact that it looked exactly like a pineapple tart.
We also recommend eating the cake cold. At least, it tasted better to us that way when we went back to it the next day! The cake is good in the chiller for two to three days, but we went over the recommended time (sorry Dr Susanne and Ben!) Despite that, the cake still retained its sponginess and was sufficiently soft.
If you'd like to try it for yourself, each cake is priced at $38, and you can get on SGCCF’s website here. There are only 1,000 cakes available and since it was a CNY special, we reckon it will be pulled off the shelves soon. Get it while you can!