tea trio chiffon cakes

I love baking, but I’m not very good at it. Most of the time the end products will taste better than they look, so please believe me when I say these chiffon cakes were wonderful!

I’ve been on a bit of a tea kick lately, as evidenced by the last few posts, so I decided to incorporate various flavours into a pillow-soft cake. A chiffon cake recipe seemed perfect for the job, and after scouring the net for some recipes, I came across Tham Jiak’s recipe for green tea chiffon cake. I simply replaced the green tea with earl grey tea and loose earl grey tea leaves to sprinkle into the mixture, and for subsequent batches, experimented with osmanthus green tea and ceylon tea with dried rosebuds!

The earl grey chiffon was simply made with brewed tea and loose tea leaves sprinkled into the mixture, and the other two followed a pretty similar method. I had some osmanthus green tea bags (TenRen, excellent Taiwanese tea company), as well as some loose dried osmanthus flowers. For the last one, I used loose ceylon tea leaves and crushed the pink leaves from some dried rosebud tea. The osmanthus and rose petals made for some pretty decorations on top of the cakes! But the ceylon tea and rose version was the least successful, because (1) I must have somehow measured out the tea wrong, so the end batter was too liquid, resulting in a too-moist cake, and (2) I couldn’t think of any way to invert my tins to allow the cake to cool without squashing the tops flat, so I left it as is – and as expected, they collapsed and have a dip in the middle!

Out of the three cakes I made, my favourite is still the earl grey version. The other two were too subtle, so I may have to make adjustments to the quantities of tea I use next time. I was afraid of going overboard with the osmanthus, but turns out that I could have been a lot more heavy-handed with the delicate golden flowers. Nevertheless, the aroma came through, if not a bit too lightly. The ceylon tea with rosebuds was very nice but I didn’t add enough of the ceylon, because I didn’t want it to overpower the rose! It was really fragrant and not too floral (which I hate – why would you want to eat a soap-flavoured cake?), and again, I think it was only let down by its over-moist texture.

I really like chiffon cake because it’s so light and airy (there’s no butter involved), and you definitely don’t feel bloated after eating an entire one (err… which may be what I did after they came out of the oven…). It’s also a really great base for incorporating any flavour you want. Now that I’ve made these chiffon cakes, my next mission will be to create tea macarons. Mmm, osmanthus-scented macarons? I can imagine that would be divine. But that shall have to wait, for I’d need a million more implements and I really shouldn’t be cluttering up my parents’ tiny kitchen with more frivolous bakers’ “essentials”!

The recipe for earl grey chiffon lies under the entry cut.

a little tea heaven

The next best thing after discovering a really fabulous place to eat/drink is to have someone else show you one of their favourite destinations. So on Thursday, a certain Ms Wong took me to the Sunsing Teahouse, located on the 32nd floor of the Soundwill Plaza in Causeway Bay. It’s a clean, quiet and sophisticated (yet unintimidating) teahouse overlooking the Times Square area, and from the moment you walk in you will feel calm, serene, and oh-so-far removed from the noise and chaos down on street level. Just the way a perfect tea house should make you feel.

It’s also clearly a haven for tea connoisseurs and lovers alike; on our visit there was a large group of Japanese women who stayed for hours, participating in what looked like a lesson on tea given by one of the group. The group pictured on the far left, we assumed, were true-blue tea fanatics congregating to enjoy several precious teas. The room is filled with quality teas, including rare aged puehr, gorgeous tea ware, and tea literature.

Each table has its own wooden water tray (with a discreet tube that draws the excess water away into a wooden bucket under the table), glass tea ware and china cups, and a black ceramic (?) kettle with an electric heating device to heat the water. A complimentary plate of Macanese treats were presented, which included phoenix egg rolls filled with dried pork floss and sesame seeds, wrapped with nori, and mini almond cakes (which I polished off with relish).

I took the liberty to order our first pot of tea – osmanthus oolong, one of my favourites and a tea that will always cheer me up with its uplifting, peachy aroma and clean taste. Being somewhat intimidated by the fiddly tea ware, I let Angie take over in the tea-pouring business. But to make things short, Sunsing’s website has a rather charming little tutorial on how to properly prepare and drink your tea. The tea was lovely as expected, and once we’d gotten all we could out of the leaves, we ordered a pot of west lake dragon well tea. All vibrant green leaves, the tea had a strong, very earthy, almost roasted rice-like aroma, so it was a good tea to follow after the gentle and floral osmanthus oolong.

The teahouse doubles as a shop, and virtually any kind of tea or teaware you can think of is available. From clay teapots for brewing that perfect oolong, to traditional, classy gaiwans. To my delight, they also sold the little double-walled glass teacups that I’ve always been meaning to buy from Jing Teas back in London. Each are handmade (in Taiwan) and unique. These little cups are not only delicate and beautiful (a real work of art), but extremely practical – the double wall is designed so that you don’t burn your fingers on the cup. At only $15HKD (£1) per glass, it was a steal considering the £2.50 price tag from Jing. And I have to thank Angie for sneakily paying for them as well as all our tea!

Teas start from $30HKD per pot (though note there is a minimum charge of $30 per person) and can go up to over $150 for the more expensive, rare teas. Unfortunately there’s a time limit on how long you can stay – two hours, though we found that was just enough for us – by the end of it, we were totally ‘tea-ed out’ and full to the brim. The service was, of course, impeccable.

Conclusion: A brilliant place, and a good one to go to if you’d like to learn more about teas.

Sunsing Tea House (新星茶莊)
38 Soundwill Plaza, 32/F, Shop 3201
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: 2832 2889
www.sunsingtea.com

antique patisserie

My favourite activity as of late has been trundling up and down the roads of Central Noho/Soho, especially around the Wellington/Gage/Graham St areas. ‘Twas a mere coincidence that I came across this lovely little tea room in all its pastel-coloured glory while prying my eyes away from Tai Cheong Bakery’s famous egg tarts (located right across from Antique). Of course, walking up the steep steps of Graham Street in spikey heels had rendered me sweaty and red in the face (alas, too much eating, too little moving) and I deemed myself unsuitable to take tea that afternoon. I did, however, take a peek at the wonderful display of cakes and macarons just inside the door. Delectable looking macarons with creamy complexions waited languorously inside their bell jar-like confinements to be devoured (“saucy little minxes”, as Bill Bailey would say); the assortment of little cakes vyed for my attention with their cute and creative designs – the chocolate cake with the three little macarons caught my eye and two days later I dragged my mom there to indulge a bit.

With a tinkle of the door, we were in. The waitress who showed us into the tea room was absolutely charming – soft-spoken and very hospitable. Reading a few reviews afterwards, it seems quite a few people have become quite enamoured by her (though less could be said about her colleague, but more on that later). The tea room is quite small, with around 6 tables – three on one side of the room with ‘antique’ styled chairs (I’m afraid my decor lingo is rather limited) and low tables, the other side held ivory coloured tables and chairs, very classy. Everything about the room was lovely, from the flock pattern on the armchairs to the (faux) crystal-trimmed lampshades.

‘Chocolate forest’ cake

We each ordered the cake tea set, which obviously included a cake as well as a pot of tea or coffee of your choice. I had the ‘chocolate forest’, as pictured above – a wonderful black forest-inspired gâteau with layers of raspberry cream and jelly, topped with three macarons of varying sizes (though their flavours were practically indistinguishable from each other). My mom had the ‘berry basket’ – a tart berry mousse-cake topped with various berries, including a very pretty physallis fruit.

She stuck with Earl Grey tea (which had a very sharp scent and tasted a tad bitter) while I pondered over the very-appealing sounding ‘Gorgeous Geisha’ and ‘Sencha Vanilla’. At this point we’d been sitting for well over 10 minutes and no one had came to take our order, so we decided to simply go up to the counter instead.

The waitress that served us eventually was simply rude – she acted as if taking our orders was a chore, and somehow throughout the whole exchange, had an expression on her face that made it seem like I was offending her with my very presence (!). When I asked her what the Geisha tea was made of, she said it was ‘just green tea’, as if it were obvious. Ah well, so I opted for the sencha vanilla in the end. She was quite short with us, and after we’d ordered there was a brief awkward moment where no one said anything and she just stared at us as if waiting for us to waste more of her time. Scary. Maybe she was just in a bad mood that day.

Other than that, we had a marvellous time. There were only two other patrons in the tea room for a while, followed by a small group of girls. Soothing classical music plays in the background that adds to the mellowing experience (and I liked it – often I find classical music pretentious and distracting, but this was pleasant). No one bothers you. And of course, the cakes are magnificent – I really enjoyed my chocolate forest, which was a nice contrast between the tart raspberry and bittersweet chocolate. Yum. Somehow it reminded me of that not-so-good raspberry star dessert at Ducasse, except it was so much better. Next time I aim to try their signature cheesecake and ‘misu misu’ (tiramisu). And the sencha vanilla tea was extraordinary. I drank cup after cup, just breathing in that wonderful light vanilla scent.

Their macarons also looked so delectable, sell for $11HKD each, and they also do a macaron tea set ($50HKD) that includes two macarons of your choice along with the choice of tea/coffee/hot chocolate. Did I mention that they also have a million other tea sets as well, including a scone set, as well as the full traditional afternoon tea set (a bit pricey though, I’d rather go to a hotel for that). Another large display is dedicated to Whittamer chocolates and truffles, which are imported from Belgium. And the tea is served in lovely bone china from Royal Albert. Dainty! All in all, a lovely destination for tea and cake lovers.

Antique Patisserie Tea Room
Shop 1, G/F, 46 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2542 2816

Antique Patisserie stores
Shop 309-310, The Lee Gardens, 33 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: 2907 2908

Basement 2, Sogo Department Store, 555 Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: 2573 6998

ode to an egg tart

Hot, silky custard
in a crumbly puff pastry -
an eggy delight.

Far better than
those cold, stodgy custard tarts
sold back in Britain.

wellcome to peyton & byrne

What amuses me most about the Wellcome Collection is the fact that it reminds me of a chain supermarket in Hong Kong called Wellcome. I could never figure out if it was a case of poor engrish (did they mean Welcome?) or some strange amalgamation of ‘welcome’ and ‘well, come on in!’, but I digress. I’ve been wanting to go and explore the strange and wonderful objects there (Collection, not the supermarket, though the description can fit both…) for a while, and the draw of being able to sit down afterwards and have cakes and tea at the Peyton & Byrne cafe afterwards was too much to resist. Of course, I made such a big fuss over the cafe that my flatmate became suspicious that the museum itelf had no other redeeming features. But oh, how wrong was she!