Light, fluffy, and moist, it’s easy to see why the chiffon is one of Singapore’s most loved cakes.
Although pandan chiffon is the evergreen choice, more and more bakeries have begun experimenting with exotic flavours. Chiffon cakes now appear in a rainbow of flavours such as blueberry, cream cheese, green tea, cranberry, and coffee. The latest trend is twin-flavoured cakes. Who said chiffons have to be monotonous?
In this round-up, we taste-test and rate the chiffon cakes of five bakeries, based on the classic pandan, as well as each brand’s unique offerings.
#B1-04A West Mall, #B2-37 AMK Hub, #03-84 Jurong Point 2 Shopping Centre
Opening hours: Daily: 11am-9.30pm
Price: $1.50 per slice
Rating: 4.5/5
Famous for twin-flavoured chiffons, Little Jerry’s Cookies’ signature flavour is chocolate pandan. We can see why this is their bestseller. Moist, airy, and delicate, the cake had a gorgeous melt-in-the-mouth quality. The pandan layer was subtly fragrant, while the chocolate was seductively rich and fudge-like, with a lingering bittersweet after-taste.
Only two twin-flavoured chiffons are available each day. Chocolate pandan is available daily; the other flavour is rotated. On the day of our visit, the special flavour was lemon raspberry. Although the lemon layer was rather tart, the fruity flavours of the lemon and raspberry were pleasantly refreshing.
For both cakes, we liked how they had good balance of natural, complex flavours, and well-rounded flavours and textures. With such a winning recipe, no wonder the chiffon cakes here sell out quickly!
Multiple outlets. Click here for a list.
Price: $0.90 per slice
Rating: 4/5
Mention pandan chiffon, and one instantly thinks of Bengawan Solo. Indeed, Bengawan Solo’s old-school pandan chiffon is still the gold standard to beat.
Of all the pandan chiffons in this round-up, Bengawan Solo’s version was the lightest. It had a remarkably rich and fresh coconut fragrance, although the pandan was faintly artificial. But that was more than redeemed by the superbly rich and fluffy cake.
While their pandan chiffon is the champ, their orange chiffon was clearly eclipsed by AsianBakes’ superior version. It had the same great fluffy texture as the pandan, but the orange flavour was very artificial and tasted too sweet.
#B1-43 The Central
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 11am-8.30pm; Sat-Sun; PH: 11am-6.30pm
Price: $1.20 per slice
Rating: 4/5
AsianBakes’ chiffon cakes are freshly baked on site, without any added preservatives. They make both single and twin-flavoured chiffons. We found that their cake texture was fine and light, but not as airy as Little Jerry’s Cookies or Bengawan Solo’s.
The pandan chiffon was very decent, with a lovely melt-in-mouth texture. However, it was slightly on the dry side, and could do with more pandan and coconut.
We much preferred the orange chocolate chiffon. The orange layer boasted real orange zest, and was imbued with a fabulously fresh and citrusy fragrance. Together with the bitter chocolate chiffon, this was a great marriage of flavours. The fruity orange cranberry was another pleasing combo.
#B1-04 Tanjong Pagar MRT Station
Opening hours: Mon-Fri: 6.30am-8pm, closed Sat, Sun, PH
Price: from $1.60 each
Rating: 3/5
Yummi Chiffon claims that their cakes have no artificial flavours and preservatives, and are low in fat and sugar. They score points for being the healthier choice, but unfortunately, lose out on taste and texture.
The cake texture here was a tad too dry and dense. Although the pandan chiffon had dessicated coconut in the batter, it only provided some texture but not sufficient fragrance. The cranberry soy was also quite forgettable. We detected cranberry, but not the soy milk flavour.
The one we enjoyed the most was the strawberry yogurt chiffon. It was more moist than the rest, probably due to the yogurt. The cake had a subtle, tangy sweetness that was “berry” nice.
Multiple outlets. Click here for a full list.
Price: $2.60 for per box of 6 baby chiffons
Rating: 2/5
Shaped in bite-sized blossoms and hearts, Prima Deli’s dainty baby chiffons look really adorable. If only they tasted as good as they looked! The most disappointing was the cream cheese chiffon. The cake was plain and dry, and the cream cheese was just a tiny blob in the centre. Blink and you’ll miss it!
Same for the pandan chiffon—there was a small dot of kaya in each cake. The chiffon itself was rather artificial in taste. It was sweet without the richness of pandan or coconut flavours. Only the chocolate chiffon, with reasonably rich (but still tiny) melted chocolate centres, was barely passable.
