A good dessert can make my heart skip a beat, bring a smile to my face, make my eyes flutter and brighten up my mood. And when it’s Christmas, you just have to take it up a notch. Because Santa said so! He also said to share the love, or maybe the dessert? I don’t remember, I was too busy licking my dessert spoon. So here are some of the season’s finest Christmas offerings . . . Ho Ho Ho…
Dessert stop number 1 is always – L’Opera. And only for their Mille Feuille. The heavenly combination of custard, caramel, and crispy pastry does a magical ballet on my taste buds. The caramel is just the right amount of salty and sticky, balanced by a perfectly creamy custard that is just the right amount of sweet. L’Opera is the only place I have Mille Feuille from, and if you haven’t had this yet I insist you go try it too. Now.
Dessert stop number 2 – The Artful Baker – was highly recommended by many and I finally managed to visit them with a friend.
Their Christmas Tree Plum Cake looked delightful and different, but plum cakes are best left for the final countdown to Christmas, so I decided to concentrate on the other stuff.
Their carrot cake caught my attention immediately. It looked so inviting, the yellow icing looked soft and gooey, with a tiny orange carrot on top. I was sold. My friend chose their very popular dessert Monte Cristo. The Monte Cristo is a chocolate and hazelnut dessert, which was devoured in not more than 2.5 minutes. And she said it was really good!
I have one word for the carrot cake – YUM! The cake was light and fluffy, and you could taste real grated carrots in it. It was like the carrot cake your aunt would make at home. The icing really was soft and creamy and the perfect consistency. Its sharp sweetness balanced the cake’s mild flavour so well.
This was not the end. I was paying the bill when I noticed their chocolate muffins. They come with their own injection shots of chocolate frosting. Now, I’m not one to discourage innovation so the muffin was taken home, and eaten with much joy and childlike wonder. You inject the chocolate frosting into the muffin, and like their other desserts, the mildly sweet muffin was wonderfully balanced by the extra sweet and chocolaty frosting. But what sealed the deal for this chocolate muffin is my Dad finishing off the muffin, and wiping the plate clean later!
I firmly believe in keeping the best for the last, and that’s why Big Chill desserts are the last on this list. I was heading for lunch to my dearest friend’s house, and although Banoffee Pie is my go-to dessert at Big Chill, I felt the Christmas cheer could be spread better with some chocolate.
Enter Chocolate Mousse Cake. Do I need to explain why? Why this super-rich cocoa mousse covered in a thick layer of chocolate icing is what dreams are made of? No, I don’t. Because you already know what I mean, or you need to go find out for yourself. Make your own chocolate dream come true.
Writing this article has got me craving some more desserts. I’m going back… who’s joining me?
Thanks to Shruti Sharma for her photography skills.
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