Sweet potato and chestnut cream cake @ Maxim’s

Autumn is here~ Not only is the weather changing noticeably for the cooler, but you can now find a new range of chestnut cakes Maxim’s is promoting to herald the season. I am normally not one to buy cakes from Maxim’s since the flavours are too light and they always use too much cream, but recently passing by the displays a certain cake caught my eye. All covered in piped rosettes of chestnut cream and sweet potato cream it was the striking purple colour of the sweet potato that made it so alluring for me.

So on the way home today, I could not resist and bought one to share with my dad.

Removing the cake from the box, I could catch a scent of the cream which although had hints of chestnut, smelt a little too sweet.

Slicing into the cake, I could feel the resistance from the layers of sponge cake attesting to its springiness. A three layered cake, filled with golden sweet potato, purple sweet potato and diced chestnut pieces. Although the cream smelled sweet the overall cake as expected was not very sweet, in fact I could barely detect any sweetness in the potato fillings. The sponge cake was nice though, not just a puff of air, but actually with some texture.

At least I have finally satisfied my curiosity, no more passing by and wondering what that pretty cake tastes like :p

Seriously good pineapple buns~ @ Kam Wa Cafe

On Bute St (more to Prince Edward side than Mong Kok), Kam Wa is a little Hong Kong cafe that does a bustling trade for both eat-in and take-away customers. Even late in the afternoon, a rainy afternoon I might add, there were still a fair amount of people enjoying afternoon snacks of fried chicken wings, flaky egg tarts and of course their famous pineapple bun sandwiched with a thick slice of butter (bo lo yau).

Service was extremely quick as they expect you to know what you want as soon as you sit down. I already knew that I wanted bo lo yao, but luckily no one gave me attitude or dirty looks when I asked for a couple of minutes to decide what I wanted to drink. Within minutes, my pineapple bun arrived with a glass bottle of fresh milk.

To those not in the know, pineapple buns are only named so because they faintly look like the fruit hence please do not be surprised when there is no hint of tropical flavour evident.

For bread, this certainly looked attractive. Big and fluffy with a crisp, crunchy sugary topping~ It was not served warm, but that was actually more suitable for bo lo yao as the room temperature butter retained its solid texture rather than melting into a liquid puddle. Spread the butter more evenly around the bun or just bite straight into it, either way you will experience the satisfaction of sugar and creamy butter melding in your mouth. So good!

Despite seeing all the positive reviews on this cafe, I still can not believe it has taken me this long to try the pineapple buns here! Those reviews were definitely not bluffing, this renowned bun of Hong Kong is most certainly worth trying here~