Page 71 - CWA MAY-JUNE 2020-v2

It’s D-Day at PARKROYAL COLLECTION on
Pg068 1. chocolate faberge egg with Peranakan-styled
beading Pg069 top image circled 2. Pastry Chef Edina
Si, of Pan Pacific Singapore, showcasing her beading skills chempedak crumble two cakes that are popular in
3. butterfly pea flower calamansi gâteau by Chef Edina Si
of Pan Pacific Singapore
WHAT GOES INTO CREATING A DESSERT
IN A HOTEL CHAIN, FROM START TO
FINISH? WHAT FACTORS DOES THE
TEAM CONSIDER WHEN IT COMES TO
CREATING DESSERTS AND CAKES THAT
GO INTO THE CAKE COUNTER? WE ASK
THE TEAM AT PAN PACIFIC HOTEL GROUP
TO SHARE THEIR CREATIVE PROCESS
AND THE RESULTS ARE FASCINATING.
Pickering. And the people I am watching are hard
at work, making sure that they are serving nothing
but perfection. These sweets aren’t things you
can easily make every day. These cakes take time,
effort, a good understanding of flavours, and the
artistic skills of someone who has been practicing
art every day. Pastry Chef Edina Si of Pan Pacific
Singapore presented one of her creations: a blue
metallic delicate chocolate eggshell that, when
opened, reveals a rose-shaped cake within.
The entire dessert is inspired by Russian Faberge
eggs, but with a Peranakan twist. The middle of
the eggshell is decorated with individual beads
reminiscent of cross-stitch embroidery seen
all over Peranakan clothing and art, and the
marketing team has helpfully informed me that
Chef Si took around 20 hours just for the beading
alone. The reveal is not one to be sniffed at either:
the blue of the rose-shaped cake is painted in a
way you only see in porcelain ceramics, in deep,
dreamy water colours. The entire sequence is
meant to be both showpiece and consumable,
and a tribute to both the inspiration of Russian
Faberge eggs and Peranakan flavours in desserts.
This is not just a tribute to desserts that are
showpieces, though. Hotels are more capable of
other styles of dishes. Chef Christopher Eng of
PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay presents
two cakes that are meant to be sliced and shared:
a tribute to the carrot patch garden in a carrot cake
with cream cheese filling, and a chocolate mousse
that has elements of fruit and styled into a garden.
The tree is the standout, with mint cotton candy
acting as the foliage of the tree. It’s a reference to
the hotel’s rebranding into a more eco-friendly,
sustainable hotel. Chef Ken Tan of PARKROYAL on
Kitchener Road showcases his work: rumballs and
the buffet restaurant Spice Brasserie housed in the
hotel. Both are a tribute to the Southeast Asian street
food and flavours that are readily available. Chef
Candy Lu, of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering,
presents cakes that can be plated desserts as well
as sold on the dessert counters: a vegan coconut
chocolate cake, and a raspberry Earl Grey Mousse
Cake. They are made using the eco-friendly,
sustainable ethos that Pickering is best known
for. All the cakes, as made by each of the chefs,
are created with the identity and heavy branding
of the different hotels in mind, yet still retaining
the aesthetic and talents of the individual chefs.
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